BurmaGenocideRefugeeSurvivorWhat We Carried

Document, Myo Thu Gyi, Burma

Jim Lommasson
Jim Lommasson / What We Carried

Mohammad Ali:

This is my Family Registration Card which the Myanmar Immigration and Population Department issued. 

Description about the Registration  card

The Government of the Union of Myanmar 

Immigration and members 

State –  Rakhine   

Township- Maungdaw                       Ward/ Village – Myo Thu Gyi village        Date form issued 

(This family list contains–17 columns) 

1 -Serial number, 2 – Name, Date of birth) 3 -Date 4-Month 5 -Year, (Sex) 6 – Male 

7 -Female, 8 – Father’s name, 9 – Relationship to head of household, 10 – Occupation, 

11 – Township code, 12 – National Registration number, 13 – FRC number, 14 – Race 

15 – Country, 16 – Religion, 17 – Remarks.   

This list describes the detailed data for all family members (a kind of family history). Each and every year the list would be checked for any increase or decrease (births, marriages, deaths or departures). This list is a major document  for every Myanmar citizen.

My Family History

My family are indigenous people of Arakar (Rahotine) state called Rohingya. Arakar is my ancestral homeland. At first my father was head of household. Then I became head of household (1978 to 2008). Then my elder son became  the head of household. Now my family, as genocide victims, take shelter in a Bangladesh refugee camp in Leda, Rohingya refugee camps, shed no-67 containing 11 family members; one of my sons ran to Malaysia in 2013 to escape persecution by the Myanmar Military.

My Life History

I was born on June 2nd, 1951. I completed a high school degree in March 1965. Matriculation, 1970. Bachelor Degree (B.A. Hist). (I) June 1968 to 1978 May, School teacher (State High School Maungdaw, Burma). (2) November 1979 to June 1982, UNHQ Maungdaw. (3) June 1984 to 8 August 1988, Community teacher, Myint Hlat Middle School, Maungdaw. (4) 22 February 1995 to June 2003, United Nations World Food Programme staff, Maungdaw office, Northern Arakar project. Burma. I was forced to leave my home in 2008. From  2008 Nov I was in Malaysia, and in 2011 I came to the USA – as a refugee. Now I am a citizen  in the  USA.