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The boys were treated like heroes when they arrived at a refugee camp in Thailand and at a monastery school in Myanmar.

Young girls lined up to give each of them a rose. The other children marveled at their size and English skills — not exactly how they are treated at Granger High, they said.

The group — a Salt Lake City-based Boy Scout troop made up of sons born to refugees from Myanmar — made a rare return to the Thai refugee camp where some of them were born. They'd never set foot in the home country their parents fled.

Comforting return • "Because these boys speak English as a second language at Cottonwood High School and East High School and Granger and West," said Michael Nebeker, one of the troop's leaders, "when they got introduced with thousands of Scouts and Girl Guides who spoke English as a second language, they just turned on the charm. All the inhibitions came off because language was suddenly not a barrier."

"I never get treated that well here [in the United States]," said 17-year-old Lupway Doh, who graduated from East High in the spring. "When I went back, they thought we were cool because we were coming from America."

Eighteen Scouts and three leaders traveled to Asia for the World Scout Jamboree in Japan in August. The three-week trip cost $135,000, which required a host of sponsors and lots of fundraising by the boys — from an online campaign and corporate donations to the boys raking leaves and selling popcorn.

'Lucky to be back there and to be here' • Speaking English throughout the trip boosted the teens' confidence because their words did not seem as remedial as they do in the U.S., and their return to the States brought reflection from their visits to Thailand and Myanmar.

In a video they shot, a tiny Myanmarese child is at the front of the classroom, reciting the Thai alphabet as the class of 50 students repeats the letters.

"I see those kids going to school, and that's how I used to study," said Hsernay Gay, a senior at West High School.

Doh started his first year at the University of Utah just a few days after returning from the trip.

"I felt really lucky to be back there and to be here," he said. "We have great opportunity here as refugees. Many people don't get to do that kind of stuff — to visit back to their home camp."

Hay Soe, who is a junior at Granger High School, said he had mixed emotions during the trip.

"I was able to go back and see my home," he said. "But I was also sad to see the struggles, and I miss my childhood friends who immigrated to different parts of the United States."

Growth and a reunion • The area of the camp seemed smaller, the teens said, and the grass huts that filled it seemed more cramped.

Doh saw his grandmother for the first time since his family left the camp eight years ago.

At first, he said, she didn't recognize him. But then she touched his face, and tears followed.

Their reunion was joyous, but his grandmother doesn't want to come to the U.S., he said, even though his family often begs her to come.

A first • It's rare for refugees to return to their home country, let alone to the refugee camp they left behind. Nebeker said the camp they visited never had seen a group of refugees come back.

The task wasn't easy. Troop leaders had to get help and permission from the American embassy in Bangkok, the United Nations, Thailand's interior minister and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Even with all those connections, the group was told they only would be able to visit outside the gate of the camp.

"There was so much apprehension about why they were coming back, and who are they?" Nebeker said.

But when they got to the gate, the boys were given a free pass inside.

"Once [the Thai camp leader] realized who they were and that they had lived there, he said, 'You can go anywhere you want,' " Nebeker said.

Return trip? • The boys were invited to return to the monastery school and the refugee camp. Many of them have the goal to return to Myanmar to teach orphans there.

For Doh, going back would mean even more, because his father also was raised in a monastery.

"When I went back to the monastery, I thought a lot of my dad," he said. "I want to go back. I need to prepare and then go back."

amcdonald@sltrib.com

Twitter: @amymcdonald89