Sunshine North’s Mu Sey Nay has come a long way since arriving in Australia. 68505 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Belinda Nolan
WHEN she first arrived in Australia, Mu Sey Nay could hardly believe her eyes.
After more than two decades spent living in a refugee camp, the Sunshine North woman has learned to appreciate things most people take for granted.
Born in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Burma, Ms Nay was 24 years old before she saw outside the barbed wire walls.
Her family had fled to the camp before she was born to escape the violence of Burma’s military government.
She grew up with her two sisters dreaming of a life outside the camp.
Ms Nay never knew her mother, who died of kidney failure when she a baby.
“I was born in the camp and so I knew no other life,” Ms Nay told Star.
“It was very difficult living in the camp because you weren’t allowed to go outside.
“But for me it was just normal.”
At 17 she married a young man she met at the refugee camp school and later had two children.
In 2009 she was reunited with her family when she finally won a visa to make a new life in Australia.
Now 26, Ms Nay recently won a Medal of Excellence from Victoria University for her outstanding commitment to learn the language of her new country.
The dedicated student said she was thrilled to win the award.
“When I first came to Australia I found it very difficult to understand what people were saying,” Ms Nay said.
“I’m very proud that I have won the award.”
She is looking forward to teaching her children English and hopes to one day study nursing or teaching.
