KUALA LUMPUR: May Thay Kyin was just six years old when her family fled Myanmar.
She has been living in Malaysia for more than a decade. May still feels like an unwelcome guest, like many other refugees in the country.
"We don't fit in with anyone here because we are who we are," said the 21-year-old.
I think feeling alienated is one of the most common things that we would have a mental pressure on. She was bullied in school when she was younger.
She said that it was one of the recurrences of my childhood.
As May enters adulthood, the issues she faces have become more complex.
Many families are afflicted with poverty, exploitation and health problems and it is a major challenge to find legal employment.
May suffers from insomnia, and is plagued by an unshakeable anxiety about her future as a refugee.
As of December 2020, about 178,140 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with the UN High Commission for Refugees UNHCR in Malaysia.
Mental health issues have become a focus for the non-profit organisation Refuge for the Refugees in recent years.
The organisation was set up to help refugees with emergency relief and aid, as well as educational programmes, but founder Heidy Quah saw a need to help refugees deal with mental health issues.
A lot of refugees tell me they struggle to sleep at night because they don't know when authorities are going to be knocking their doors, waiting to arrest them, said Ms Quah.
She said that they struggle to get through the day because they are barely earning minimum wage. What is it like to support your family, put food on the table, send kids to school? There are high rates of mental disorders among refugees, according to studies. Nearly 43 per cent of them have at least one mental disorder. This includes depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and complicated grief.
A tragic murder suicide involving a Burmese man and his two children in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur shocked the nation in August.
It was later reported that the father had been suffering from depression that deteriorated after he lost his job during the Pandemic.
The incident raised the spotlight on the state of mental health of the refugee and migrant group in Malaysia.
The President of the Alliance of Chin Refugees ACR Salai Maung Maung Maung Lat said he personally heard of 19 suicide cases in the last two years among the Burmese migrant community.
The refugees could not go to work because of the movement control orders, like everyone in Malaysia. Some don't have food to eat, and they are scared of being infected with covid-19, Salai expained.
He said that many undocumented migrants, who are still waiting to be registered with UNHCR, are afraid of being arrested and deported back to their country of origin.
We are worried about being refugees every day. He said it was not easy.