Before I Became a Refugee Girl

This book is about the life of one little farm girl who lived in a village, in Laos’ rural, during the Vietnam War era. She was born into a Buddhism family, grew up in a rice-farming village, lived the bare minimum, and at times with barely enough food to eat.

In this book, you will discover how:

- A desperate mother, all by herself, cared for five young children during the first year of living under the communist rulers, before she helped them escape to a refugee camp in Thailand.

- One Buddhist family raised their children in a village where conformity was the rule as it passed down from generation to generation.

- Village children learned family responsibility by helping in the kitchen, farm, and rice paddies, side-by-side with their parents.

- Animals of all kinds, sizes, shapes, and forms could become the starving family’s dinner.

- Life experiences at the tender age of a child helped form her view of the world and people around her.

- One-floor school building was a blessing to a child with an innate and unquenchable desire to learning.

“Samly paints a picture of her childhood growing up in a Vietnam War Era Laos that is both sweet and poignant. Her story made me want to laugh and cry. I wanted to hug that little girl.” Elly Milne, Retired School Teacher