At the age of 7, Mary Htoo and her family fled civil war and persecution in their native Burma. They spent the next seven-plus years living amidst the poverty and confinement of a mountaintop refugee camp just across the Thailand border.
Like Mary Htoo, most of the approximately 50,000 people in the Mae La refugee camp are members of the Karen ethnic group, a hill tribe that has been in conflict with the oppressive government of Burma (now known as Myanmar) since World War II.
But even in those conditions, the young Christian kept alive a childhood dream to serve others. “One day I want to go back to my village and help my people there,” said Mary Htoo (pronounced “too”).
In a way, her dream is coming true — but not in the way she imagined.
In March 2008, Mary Htoo, then 15, had a chance few other Karen people have — to leave the refugee camp and be resettled with her family in the United States. Since her arrival, she has graduated from high school and become the first in her family to attend college.
Now 23 years old, Mary Htoo lives with her parents and two brothers in Louisville, Ky., while studying to become an ultrasound technician. (Courtesy of baptistnews.com)
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