Refugees in America

[ZIRC]

In pursuit of the American dream

On his first visit to Gilcrease Museum, Hrang Thling was fascinated by the variety of art and artifacts he saw on display there. One of 14 Burmese refugees who visited the museum as part of the United Way’s annual Day of Caring Sept. 9, he was excited to learn more about American culture and, specifically, the Native American and Western influences on his new home, Tulsa.

But the visit also brought reminders of the country he left behind.

“When I see the buffalo hunting and the people riding the horse, I remember my country,” he says. “In Burma, we used to hunt wild animals or the buffalo.”

Although leaving Burma was difficult, Thling, who spoke via interpreter Esther Kam, says he is thankful to be in Tulsa, where he has lived since May with his wife, Thla Per Dim, and two young children.

Before coming to the United States, Thling lived in Malaysia, having escaped religious persecution at the hands of a strict military-dominated government. He says he enjoys Tulsa because of “the freedom for everything. In Burma, we are not free. I feel like (I’m) staying in a prison.”

Now, thanks to help from the YWCA of Tulsa and Chin do Kham, a leader in the Burmese community in the United States, Thling has secured a job as a welder for a local air conditioning company and become involved with one of Tulsa’s nine Burmese church congregations. 

When choosing his new home, Thling says that he did not know much about the city, “but I believe and trust my pastor, who has been here more than 19 years. He told me Tulsa is a good place to live and a good place to raise children because there are good schools and friendly people here.”

Thling is one of more than 2,000 Burmese refugees who have resettled in Tulsa over the last two decades. In most cases, and most recently, they have come in pursuit of religious freedom — evangelical Christians who risked arrest or worse for practicing their faith in the Buddhist-dominated country.

Along the way, many made treacherous journeys to Malaysia, where they hid or worked to make a living; a refguee camp in Thailand; or India, home to an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) base, and then underwent the tedious process of achieving refugee status.

Now, they are living, working and worshipping in Tulsa, forming a vibrant, tight-knit community pursuing financial stability, education and, ultimately, the American dream.

A GROWING COMMUNITY

Chin do Kham, president of Global Outreach and Community Development and a former pastor and professor at Oral Roberts University, was one of the first Burmese people to resettle in Tulsa. He arrived in 1990 as a doctoral student at Oral Roberts University. Having enjoyed his studies at the Christian university, Kham invited another Burmese minister to bring his family to Tulsa so he could study there. Then came three more families, who later brought other family members and friends of their own, he says.

“It grows and it grows like this,” he says.

The true influx of Burmese, though, began about five years ago. Kham says that when the State Department asked where they would like to be resettled, these refugees chose Tulsa because they already had family members here or heard through friends that it was a good place to live and raise a family.

Those here represent three language groups: Zomi (90 percent of the population), Karen and Kachin.

Kham expects that more will come.

“I would say in at least one to two years, there will be at least 3,000,” he says.

One of the growth factors is the prevalence of young couples who are being reunited after years apart and now starting their families in Tulsa. Kham estimates that two to three Burmese babies are born each week.

Kham travels to Burma two to three times each year for community development and leadership training and to meet with U.S. government officials, UNHCR officers and local refugee services agencies to discuss improved treatment for refugees.

He says life is “very, very difficult” for the people there. They face human rights violations and political and religious persecution.

Christians in Burma are not allowed to build churches and often resort to gathering in apartment buildings.

Those in Burma who identify as Christian cannot advance in the Army and struggle to find jobs. In some cases, Kham says, Burmese people are forced by the government to fund Buddhist temples.

Even non-Christians face poverty and other challenges, he says.

“The country is not moving forward,” he says. “Somewhat it’s going backward.  The lack of freedom and economic crisis and other social factors cause them to come (to the United States).”

For those who do escape Burma, reaching a refugee camp in a neighboring country is a dangerous undertaking. Escapees could face arrest from corrupt Malaysian police demanding money in exchange for crossing the border; they could endure physical and emotional abuse. If they do arrive safely, they are not guaranteed refugee status, Kham says.

NAVIGATING THE SYSTEM

Maria Reyes, director of immigrant and refugee programs for the YWCA of Tulsa, says some Burmese who have escaped remain in refugee camps for years and others live in bordering countries but are undocumented.

Reyes says that in order to receive refugee status from the U.S. government, a person has to prove he or she has been persecuted in some way — ostracized because of national origin, political beliefs, religion or other factors.

Once that status is secured, the refugee undergoes processing and security clearance to come to the United States, the No. 1 country for accepting refugees, Reyes says.

At the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) office in Washington, D.C., organizations from around the country gather to determine where refugees will be placed. If refugees have relatives in the Tulsa area, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tulsa assists with resettlement; the YWCA of Tulsa assists others.

That assistance includes picking refugees up at the airport and providing a first Burmese “culturally appropriate meal” in their new American home, Reyes says.

“For me personally, to pick them up at the airport is probably one of the most incredible things you can see,” Reyes says. “It’s pretty emotional.”

The YWCA has been resettling refugees for more than 15 years under the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The organization provides initial services including housing, furnishings, food or a food allowance, health care referrals and assistance applying for Social Security and school enrollment. It also enrolls clients in a matching grant to assist with financial aid and employment.

Catholic Charities has been providing resettlement services for Burmese refugees since 2004. Thu Huong T. Do-Au, migration and refugee services coordinator, says that when she is notified of refugees arriving in Tulsa, she and refugee case worker “Cecilia” Pau Sawm Cing greet them at the airport and provide a welcome basket.

“We try to make them feel as comfortable and at home as we can,” she says.

Catholic Charities provides home visits, cultural orientations and English classes, as well as assists with paperwork for food and medical assistance, Social Security, school enrollment and other programs. The organization also refers refugees to the YWCA for assistance.

Although Catholic Charities officially assists between 109 and 127 refugees each year with direct resettlement, Do-Au says she assists many more through other services.

For many years, Kham says, there was no refugee-receiving agency in Tulsa. Early refugees merely joined their family members, who provided for their needs. He says he appreciates the work of Catholic Charities and the YWCA.

“So far I’m very pleased as a community leader,” he says.

A HELPING HAND

The YWCA also offers cultural orientations and English courses, as well as job skills training and help applying for legal permanent resident status. Once they have lived in the United States for five years, the YWCA can help refugees apply for naturalization. The organization also offers Project Citizenship to help new citizens get engaged in the community.

To accommodate the growing Burmese population, the YWCA has hired three Burmese-speaking staff members, who assist the community in a variety of ways. One of those is Esther Kam, a refugee counselor.

Kam worked as an interpreter at the refugee intake center in Malaysia before making her way to Tulsa, where she has since married and had two children.

As a counselor, Kam picks up refugees at the airport and at their apartment shows them how to use the utilities. She also interprets at clinics, schools and the Department of Human Services, along with providing English classes in apartment complexes for stay-at-home mothers.

Kam says that when she greets arriving refugees, it is evident that they are thankful for the opportunity to live in the United States.

“Most of the people are very happy because life is very different,” she says. “In the refugee camp in Malaysia or in Thailand or India, they are not legal … and anytime in Malaysia they can be arrested and put in detention camps, in prisons and deported to the border of the country. (They are happy) because when they arrive, they can stay legally and the government is very supportive of refugees.”

The Burmese, “a very community-oriented people,” Kam says, also work to help one another, and they appreciate living in close proximity so they can assist with transportation to job interviews, medical appointments, church services and other activities.

BUILDING BRIDGES

Along with the YWCA, Kam says the Burmese pastors have been invaluable to helping this community thrive, including helping their congregation members find jobs.

“The pastors are the one who care for them, and they earn a lot of respect from the people, so the communication is really great,” she says. “ … Without their help, we cannot really do much.”

She says the Burmese begin attending church immediately.

“For the Burmese, we love the freedom of religion,” she says. “In our country, we don’t have this kind of freedom. … We enjoy it a lot.”
Chin do Kham says church involvement is a major part of the refugees’ integration into American life. Pastors serve as translators and visit refugees’ homes, as well as host Saturday evening prayer and fasting services, Sunday worship services and holiday celebrations.

Local church congregations have donated space for the Burmese churches, an outreach effort Kham appreciates.

However, Kham says that even with the shared space, the American and Burmese congregations have not gotten to know one another as well as he would like. He emphasizes the importance of increasing awareness among Tulsans about the Burmese in their midst.

“Americans assume because they came here, they want to be one of us,” he says. “For them, they want to be one of us, but they want to keep their identity for generations to come.”

This involves efforts to maintain the Burmese culture through language, religion, cuisine and other factors while also integrating into American society. In turn, Kham wants to better educate Americans by inviting them to a traditional Thanksgiving celebration with the Burmese community at 7 p.m., Oct. 15, at Open Bible Fellowship, 1439 E. 71st St.

There are other ways for Tulsans to get involved with this community. Reyes suggests donating furniture or household items or providing job referrals, volunteers, tutors or support. Kham encourages Tulsans to invite a Burmese family for an “American meal” so they can learn more about the American way of life.

In the process, Tulsans may learn that like Hrang Thling and the painting at Gilcrease, we have more in common than we think.

Immigrants “still believe in the American dream, that if you work hard enough, anything is possible,” Reyes says. “... Some of us are getting a little jaded. I think that fresh eyes rejuvenate what it means to be an American.”  http://www.tulsapeople.com

Tulsa has become home to a growing population of refugees from Burma who are seeking a safe place to live, work and worship freely. [By: JOY JENKINS]