Family and home

Page 1

PROGRESS • FEBRUARY 26, 2017

FAMILY & HOME What’s inside?

“Living as a refugee is hard. You have to run every night. You have to be afraid of going outside. Here they give everybody a chance.” — MUTHA KHE ALBERT LEA RESIDENT

The journey to become a

U.S. CITIZEN A passion for art Albert Lea business owner uses her talents to help others. Page 3

Rising above cancer Two Albert Lea residents share about their lives since overcoming cancer. Page 4

Decorating homes A love of refurbishing furniture, collectibles leads women to open store. Page 5

Mutha Khe holds her daughter, Dahlie. Khe, originally from Thailand, obtained her United States citizenship on June 2, 2015, after coming to the U.S. as a refugee on Feb. 27, 2008. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE

2 A.L. women share their struggles, joys to a new life By Sarah Stultz

sarah.stultz@albertleatribune.com

M

A love of pets See if you can guess which pets belong to which Tribune employees. Page 6

uch has changed for Albert Lea resident Mutha Khe in the last nine years. A refugee from Thailand, Khe, 27, came to the United States on Feb. 27, 2008. She lived in Akron, Ohio, for five years before moving to Albert Lea in 2013. She said she had a family member who already lived here, and it was here that she met her husband, Daw Han, who had lived in the same refugee camp in Thailand. She said they had lived in different parts of the camp and had not met each other before coming to Albert Lea. The couple has since had two children, Dahlia, who is 2 1/2, and Dawson, who is 7 months old. Khe said she learned how to speak English with the help of Albert Lea’s Adult Basic Education program in the years since coming to the city. When she first arrived, she only knew how to say “hi” in English. See JOURNEY, Page 2


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