She may still be in college, but Ro-Suhana has the life experience of someone older. And looking back, she’s clear about the role that her Habitat for Humanity home at Glisan Gardens played. 

“Having that stability gave me the hope of not having to stress over housing and made me able to focus on things that I can do—like, for example, education. Just being able to do that meant a lot for me because it motivated me and it also just made me realize how important it was to have a place that I can truly call home.”  

Ro-Suhana first spoke about her experiences in 2022. Here’s an excerpt from our previous blog: 

When she was just 5 years old, Ro-Suhana’s family moved from Malaysia to the United States. They were already refugees–having previously escaped the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar–and her parents hoped to give Ro-Suhana and her siblings a better life with more opportunities for education. What they initially found, however, was hardship. 

Ro-Suhana recalls living in a small apartment. She slept on the floor of one small room with her baby sisters, along with cockroaches and rats. The outside world was no safer. The children would walk to school past people openly doing drugs and scowling at their cultural differences. The family lived in fear. They tried moving again only to find that the new environment was still plagued by vermin and hostile neighbors. 

But Ro-Suhana’s family continued to be resilient and never gave up. A nurse they knew helped the family look for better housing that they could afford, and with nothing to lose, they applied for a Habitat for Humanity home. 

To say that Ro-Suhana’s life changed when she was in the 5th grade isn’t an understatement. “I remember finding out we were accepted to be a part of Habitat for Humanity, and I was so happy,” she says. “I immediately got up and prayed.” 

That first year inside their new home was transformative. Ro-Suhana remembers that she and her siblings were able to hang whatever they wanted to hang on their bedroom walls, giving them a sense of home.  

Her sense of community also broadened after moving into Glisan Gardens. The family held an Eid al-Fitr celebration after Ramadan and invited their Habitat neighbors. Ro-Suhana looks back fondly on the time 17 people gathered inside their new home. “The house was packed with kids and adults, and although we didn’t really know anyone, we were connecting. It seems like we’ve known each other for years now. I can still remember it.” 

Her circle of friends Sami, An, and Sumaia lived next door. The friendships she formed in those early days—all children of Habitat homeowners—remain strong to this day even while living far apart. “I still keep in touch with them regularly. My best friend and I have this routine of sending weekly updates with photos, just sharing what we’ve been up to and what’s going on.” 

After graduating high school with a 4.2 GPA and earning 15 scholarships, Ro-Suhana looked for a change of scenery and was drawn to living in the Midwest near Lake Michigan. She is now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee majoring in political science. Ro-Suhana is also part of the university’s Honors College and co-founded the Burma Ethnic Student Association to create community on campus. Though she originally started college as a computer science major, her goals shifted after a heartfelt conversation with Charlene, the same nurse who connected her family to Habitat for Humanity years ago. 

“She just asked me what I was truly passionate about, and I just shared my goals with her and what I cared deeply about. She suggested that I look into political science, and that conversation really just shifted my path.” 

“As someone who is Muslim, a person of color, and most importantly just being an immigrant, it just felt really personal to me. It also just felt right because it just gave me an understanding of the tools and systems that impact people like myself.” 

Her dream is to one day work for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the very organization that helped her family resettle in the United States. “I just want to give back to other people by helping them find the same freedom that I found.” 

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