Hla Tin
Ethnic Identity - Poe K'nyaw
For Hla Tin, a good life is measured in the well-being of the people she loves. A Pwo Karen woman born in Hpa-An, Myanmar, she has spent a lifetime caring for children across generations while navigating loss, displacement, and new beginnings. After arriving in the United States in her late sixties, she continued her lifelong pursuit of learning through English classes. Now living in Marshall, Minnesota, she finds joy in family, faith, and everyday connections. Her story carries memories of home and a hope that younger generations will embrace their opportunities while keeping their Pwo Karen language and heritage alive.
Hla Tin is an 87-year-old Pwo Karen woman born in Hpa-An, Myanmar. Her life has been shaped by education cut short, motherhood, displacement, war, faith, and an enduring love for the people and place she calls home.
As a child, Hla Tin enjoyed going to school. She completed fifth grade but was unable to continue because her parents could no longer afford her education. She began working instead, bringing an early end to her formal education. Still, she remembers her childhood with warmth. She recalls being young and healthy, spending time with friends, eating together, and enjoying life. Even now, she says she would still like to go to school if she could. Those memories of learning remain some of her happiest moments of her youth.
Hla Tin married young and became a mother to three children. Her first husband eventually became a soldier for Kawthoolei and later joined the Burmese army. When he decided he no longer wanted to serve, Burmese soldiers came to their home looking for him. Their family was forced to flee, but they were eventually found. Her husband was arrested and taken to prison, where he remained for about a month before he was killed. His death left Hla Tin to raise her family without him.
Hla Tin eventually remarried. She and her second husband continued raising their family, but their lives remained unstable because of conflict in Myanmar. They repeatedly had to flee as Burmese forces took control of the places where they lived. Hla Tin remembers running while gunfire rang around her, caring for her young children as they escaped. She witnessed people being killed and remembers homes and communities being burned or destroyed.
Her family eventually reached the Thai border and spent years moving between different locations and refugee camps. At one point, Hla Tin lived in a refugee camp for five years. During these years, Hla Tin worked whenever she could while caring for her children. Throughout her life, she estimates that she cared for twenty-two children, including her own children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and children belonging to other families. Her work helped her provide for those around her while also giving her a sense of purpose through years of hardship. She had spent much of her life working to make sure her children would not have to experience the same struggles she had endured.
After years of displacement, Hla Tin eventually immigrated to the United States. She first lived in St. Paul, then Fulda and Worthington, before settling in Marshall, Minnesota. She arrived in America when she was around sixty-eight years old, beginning another difficult chapter of learning how to live in yet a new place. Hla Tin hoped that she would learn English, read and write, and perhaps work. She attended English classes for several years in Worthington and tried to learn as much as she could. But learning a new language later in life proved to be difficult. She could understand some of what her teachers said but often forgot it after returning home. Today, she can recognize some words, especially dates and months, but her speaking and understanding of English remains difficult.
The language barrier has been one of the most difficult parts of her life in America. She worries when people call and she cannot communicate with them. At the same time, she appreciates the safety and stability she has found in the United States. She is grateful that her children and grandchildren have access to food, education, jobs, and opportunities that were unavailable to her.
Family remains at the center of Hla Tin's life. She deeply misses the children and relatives who remain in Myanmar and Thailand. She was away when her parents and siblings died, and she regrets not being able to be with them. She sometimes wonders who will be with her when she dies. Despite this sadness, she finds happiness in watching her grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow. They are attending school, working, and building lives with opportunities that she never had. Their well-being reminds her that the sacrifices of her generation were not made in vain. If her children and grandchildren have food, safety and a good life, she says, that is enough.
Faith has also become an important part of Hla Tin's story. She became a Christian after marrying her first husband, but during the years of fleeing and survival, she says she had little time to think about God. After coming to the United States, she returned to church, began reading the Bible again, and renewed her relationship with God. She believes that God ultimately brought her and her family to safety. As she has grown older, her priorities have changed. Material things, money, and possessions no longer hold the same importance for her. Instead, she wants to live with grace, help others, and return the kindness she receives. She sees helping others as one of the things that matters most in the life she has left.
Hla Tin is also deeply concerned about preserving her Pwo Karen identity. She wants younger generations to remember their language, culture, clothing, traditions, and the people who came before them. She speaks Pwo to her grandchildren in hopes that they will learn it, but she is saddened that many of them primarily speak English. To her, losing the language means losing a connection to the people and culture that came before them. She wants her grandchildren to remember who they are and where their family came from.
Her ties to home remain strong. Although Hla Tin does not want to return to Myanmar while it remains unsafe, she says her heart is still there. She was born there, and her parents, grandparents, and ancestors are buried there. If there were peace, she would want to return. At the very least, she hopes to visit Thailand again so she can see relatives who still live there.
Today, Hla Tin lives a quieter life. She cooks, cleans, rests, reads the Bible, prays, and goes to the store several times a week. Going outside and seeing other people makes her happy, while staying home alone can make her feel lonely. After a lifetime of hardship, her hopes have become simple: to remain healthy, see the people she loves, and know that her children and grandchildren are living well. She still dreams of traveling and seeing the world, but more than anything, she wants to spend time with the people she has spent her life caring for.
