I left my country when I was 24 years old. I was raised there. I graduated over there, and only less than 1% do. I'm very lucky to have had that chance.
I have various friends. Actually, Burma is a very diverse country. We have various ethnicities. We go to school together, Christian and Nepali. It's a very beautiful country. The problem is racism. The government uses religion as a profit base. Whenever they want to do something, they use religion. They put religion in front of them and put hatred in people. I experienced hatred when I was young. Even my very close friends, Buddhist friends, used slurs towards us. I know they didn't mean it, but in the community it was happening like that. Even some religious figures would use hatred.
I would like to see peaceful reunification. Perhaps our government, the Canadian government, could provide some workshops over there on the peace process. That would bring people together. They don't hate each other. They just get used by the Burmese government. There is beauty at the core of people. You just can't see it because of all the hatred and racism.