Burmese refugee runs store

[ZIRC]

WATERLOO, Iowa — As the ethnic makeup of Black Hawk County changes, so does the diversity of the business climate.

About a year-and-a-half after the first Burmese refugees came to Waterloo for work, the first Burmese business has opened its doors.

Zaw Min Thant, 28, owner of Lucky Brothers Asian Food Market in downtown Waterloo, arrived in the United States in May 2010 from a Burmese refugee camp in Malaysia. Around the same time, the first Burmese refugees arrived in Waterloo to take jobs at a Tyson meat plant.

Thant went to Marshalltown to work at the JBS Swift & Co. meat processor there. In Marshalltown, Thant was befriended by Win Kyaw, the owner of Golden Land, an Asian food store serving the growing Burmese population there. The two saw other business opportunities with the continuing influx of Burmese workers into Iowa.

"He had the idea," Thant said.

Kyaw loaned Thant some inventory and helped him apply for a license to sell food. Thant opened his store in November.

"This is my first business," Thant said.

Since the 1990s, thousands of political dissidents and Karen and Chin ethnic minorities have fled Myanmar, as Burma is now called by its military government.

Since 2010, hundreds of refugee Burmese workers have moved to the Waterloo area. Thant said he anticipates the Burmese workers will want a taste of home. He also plans to carry items for Filipino, Vietnamese and Thai customers.

Thant faces some obstacles in getting established. He has limited English ability right now and doesn't have money to advertise.

"A lot of people come in, they don't know I'm here," Thant said.

Business is slow during most weekdays; most of his customers come on Sundays, he said.

Burmese refugees have been resettled into Iowa since 2007, with 128 arriving in the Des Moines metropolitan area that year. A couple of years later, Burmese businesses opened there.

"It really doesn't take that long for the need to be met," said Valerie Stubbs, director of the U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants' Des Moines field office.

Chin residents have established two restaurants in the Des Moines area and Karen residents have opened a couple of food stores, Stubbs said. She said such businesses help create a cohesive community for the immigrant population.

"It's a challenge for them," she said, that shows their resiliency.

"You can really see and appreciate their survivor attitude," Stubbs said.

That attitude isn't new to Waterloo. The city has a long history of immigrant arrivals. Thousands of Bosnian refugees came to the area in the 1990s. Bosnian restaurants, stores and bakeries have opened and been successful over the past decade.

Thant said he hopes to duplicate that success.

Stubbs said his success would benefit everyone in the community.

"Burmese food is tasty," she said. (http://www.omaha.com)