A refugee's story

For Khaing Ray Lin Aung, adjustment to a new way of life is not just a lifetime thing.
Even in his death, he will have to make compromises. For the 70-year-old refugee who very proudly refers to his Arkanis heritage, it's the thought of dying in a strange land that's most unnerving. And he isn't sure if he will be cremeted as his Buddhist religion demands.
Already it is difficult making ends meet. The family survives on food stamps and meagre public assistance that helps pay part of the rent in a two-bedroom apartment in a crumbling house that he shares with his married daughter's family.
And then, in this country you have to prepare for your death, you have to make arrangments and that costs money, he said.
Being displaced is not easy. Aung is a lonely man here. All day he listens to the radio, jotting down notes about Myanmar and the struggle for an independent Arakan state, or any other international events.
Sometimes, he stares intently into the computer screen at large letters in his native Burmese language. He is writing a history of Arkanis culture and their struggle for their identity. He doesn't want it to be lost, he said.