Henry’s Story
Henry is a refugee from Burma who arrived at the United States at the beginning of 2011 when he was 16. His dad had been involved in the 1988 protests against the government, and his whole family came to the United States as political refugees.
Henry experienced a huge culture shock when coming to the United States, as his only reference of American culture had come from the media. He also found it difficult to leave his old life behind in Malaysia, where they lived for a decade while waiting to be resettled. However, he found a very welcoming and supportive community here in Indiana and at Exodus.
Although becoming a pilot had been a long-time dream of Henry’s, it never seemed achievable. “In Burma, there weren’t many pilots outside of the military, [it felt like] there was no path.”
Henry worked in the IT industry for a few years, which was also something he had been interested in pursuing. After a few years of working in an office, he felt like he could be doing more with his life. “I didn’t want to sacrifice the potential of becoming the best version of myself,” and began to revisit his dreams of becoming a pilot.
After some consideration, Henry quit his job and started working on the steps he needed to follow to become a pilot. He went through the process of obtaining his learner’s permit, going through training, and sitting through an exam to become a certified pilot, including his commercial license. He is almost through the 500 hours of flight time to begin commercial work and plans to become an airline pilot in the future.
Henry wants to become a flight instructor by the end of the year and someday own a flight school. He wants to inspire other pilots in the community, as well as Burmese and refugee children, and demonstrate that dreams are achievable. He believes that success is intrinsic and defines it as being proud of who you are regardless of what others think, as well as striving to be the best version of yourself. He already has connected with a family that is new to the United States whose son had been bullied at school for being different, and they connected over his passion for planes. Henry was able to take him on a short flight and helped him see that he too can achieve his dreams in the future.
Henry wants other people to know that refugees are just people who need assistance because they were unfairly involved in a situation or dealt a bad hand, and that the label doesn’t define someone for the rest of their life. He also wants people to know that being a refugee doesn’t stop someone from having dreams and pursuing them.
“Dreams need support from someone in your community for it to be achievable.”
Henry is grateful for the connections and impact Exodus creates in the community, and for the Burmese community in Indy as well. “The world is changing,” he said, and it is never too late to dream.
