No, I’m not married. I’m only 19. Girls in the camp get married as young as 16.  But I don’t want to get married anytime soon. When we resettle, I want to learn about American culture. I want to be able to go to school and work. I want to do the same kind of work I do here in the camp—helping my community. I volunteer at the Youth Center. At first I didn’t know what it was. Now all my friends are from there. I like learning new things and then teaching it to my community. My parents always encourage me in my work. My relationship with my parents is very nice. Everyone has to take care of their parents, but my relationship with them is especially good.

We say that parents are the first teachers and teachers are the second parents. My parents taught me my first words. But my teachers in school taught me how to be something in life. School is like a temple. We learn how to walk in life. In life, we decide what we want.

If I lived in the host community, the village area, I would not go to government schools. I would have to take care of the house and field. They have no time to study. My parents encourage me to follow my education. My siblings and I coordinate time with chores so that we all have time to study. Even my older married sisters come and help. My younger brother too. Most boys are not expected to help in the house but my brother does. We have good relations. We have good relations in my family.

Some of my family have already resettled in the US. They call us sometimes. My uncle calls us. He told my parents that when we come we don’t need to change our religion. A lot of people call back and have been telling us in the camp that it will be better if we follow the Christian religion because it will be easier for us in the US. We are followers of the Manav Dharma. It incorporates the gods of all religions. My uncle says that he knows a priest in Colorado and that there’s a temple in Pennsylvania where we can worship. We’re resettling in Cleveland. That should be close right?

Sometimes, I feel tension when I think of resettling. I feel I will leave my friends. I won’t be able to follow my culture. I’ve heard that in the US we can’t follow dashain or tihar, and that we can only practice a funeral procession for one day instead of thirteen. In cultural orientation class, we learned that we won’t be able to do the same worship we do in home. If we sing holy songs with loud sounds, people will come and arrest us in the US. But I think that my new life in the US will be dutiful.

If my life were a book the title would be “My Words.”