Born a refugee in Thailand, now an intern at UNHCR

This is an article I wrote for the UNHCR website. Here it goes...

Born a refugee in Thailand, now an intern at UNHCR

Yenly Thach, the daughter of refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. She is currently working as an intern at the UNHCR headquarters helping refugee children and youth. This is her story.

GENEVA, September 7 (UNHCR) - Growing up in a refugee camp in Thailand, I never dreamed that one day I would be interning at the UNHCR headquarters helping other refugees. I am assisting on UNHCR’s ninemillion.org campaign which provides sports and education to refugee children around the world.

Nong Chan, which at the time was run by the United Nation Border Relief Operation (UNBRO), was the largest refugee camp on the Thai/Cambodian border. We had limited medical facilities and food in Nong Chan. In addition, opportunities for sports and quality education were not a priority. I did not have time for a childhood, let alone personal growth. Often, my family did not know when the next meal would arrive; my father remembers me in those days as a starving child suffering from malnutrition and disease.

In 1989, after living in eight different camps, my family and I were finally accepted for resettlement to the USA, with the help of UNHCR and IOM. I was eight years old.

We resettled in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1990 though an organization called BRIDGE. We were sponsored by the Signal Mountain Baptist Church, who provided financial support, help in finding a home, jobs for my parents and care to ensure we were as healthy as Americans. Due to war injuries, my father suffered from the Tennessee winter, so after six months we moved to California.

Since my parents spoke only Cambodian and Vietnamese, I felt it was my responsibility as the eldest child to learn English to help my parents. This was my first experience in acquiring language skills, but my studies were a matter of my family’s survival rather than an abstract experience. The bullets that remain to this day within my father’s body are not the only scars my family carry. I often have to translate into English my mother’s post-traumatic stress symptoms.

I will always remember my father saying: “I brought you here, now it is your turn to finish.” I was determined to work hard to further my education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I received four years of scholarships, grants and financial aid -- the first person in my family to graduate from college, doing so with honors. Now I am determined to continue higher education and become a successful member of society.

I decided to give back by volunteering in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. Working with children, youth and families, I coordinated community development activities at the grass-roots level, focusing on youth education and sports in Las Delicias, Costa Rica.

As a former child refugee, I strongly advocate for every child’s right to education, health care, nutrition and sport because I have seen first hand the consequences of not having the opportunities.



I am in my second year as a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, focusing on Global and International Studies with an emphasis on humanitarian assistance and refugee rights. Duke University arranged this internship and I received financial support from the Boren NSEP Award and the Kendra Chiota Payne Global Studies Award.

This fall, I want to continue giving back and will do my MA thesis with six months research in Cambodia looking at Cambodian refugees who have returned home. I would like to thank UNHCR staff for all their hard work, help, support and sacrifice in making a difference in refugees’ lives.