Refugees from Myanmar re-launch their lives in city
‘I FEEL EVERYBODY HAS FREEDOM'
WORCESTER — San Hmung has never seen snow. He's working on his English. Yesterday, he learned his First Amendment rights.
These are things for which his life in Myanmar didn't prepare him.
He, his wife and their three young children are among the roughly 150 people who left Myanmar (formerly Burma) sometime during the last year and a half and moved to Worcester, to start a new life in a free country. This is the foundation of Worcester's small but growing Burmese population.
“We cannot live there,” Mr. Hmung said of his native country. “We are not free there. It's very dangerous.”
In the United States, he said, “I feel everybody has freedom. Everything, we can say, we can do. We can talk about anything.”
Of course, the family is still adjusting to its new life. The kids attend Chandler Magnet School, Mr. Hmung has found a job at a local restaurant and his wife is taking English classes.
Yesterday, a day that Mr. Hmung said he has long been waiting for, his family joined scores of others at a welcome party for Burmese refugees at Blessed Sacrament Church. The event included food, music, games and donated clothing and household goods for the refugees. Guided by teenagers from local church groups, young Burmese children blew bubbles and kicked a soccer ball outside the church.
It was a day for celebration, everyone agreed, but Myra Dahgaypaw knows these people face many challenges. Some have been in the country for only a few weeks. Most don't know English, or their rights, or anything about American culture.
“They are literally people from the jungle, they have never seen an airplane … and now they're thrown in the heart of the world,” she said in an interview.
Ms. Dahgaypaw is familiar with what they're feeling, because she also came to the United States to escape the oppressive military government in Myanmar. She was displaced for years, then lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for years. Still, she had opportunities. She learned English and was able to travel before moving to this country.
“But I had to struggle,” she said. “If I had to struggle that much, how much will they have to struggle?”
Ms. Dahgaypaw works for Karen American Communities Foundation, a support group for the Karen people (an ethnic group) of Burma who move to the United States. She came from New York City to speak to the refugees in Worcester yesterday.
Myanmar, the Asian country that borders Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand, has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for human rights violations.
Before they can come to the United States, Burmese people must be recognized as refugees by the United Nations.
Michael Forhan went to Myanmar in 1994 in search of business opportunities. He saw “a fabulous country with really special people,” and established two companies there. But he realized his presence wasn't helping the political situation in Myanmar, so he left. Later, he started Burma Border Projects, a nonprofit group that supports schools and orphanages and helps provide therapy for traumatized refugees on the Myanmar-Thailand border.
Tens of thousands of Burmese live in refugee camps, and more than 1 million live in Thailand illegally as migrant workers, where they live in adverse conditions without proper medical care, according to the Burma Border Projects Web site.
While Mr. Forhan was helping Burmese people in their home country, “all of a sudden, the Burmese people started coming to Worcester,” he said. About 150 are here now, and more are coming, he said. The numbers of refugees from Iraq and Bhutan are also increasing, he said.
Mr. Forhan and others have started the Worcester Resettlement Project, which works to help refugees adjust to their new lives in the United States. Within the next six to 12 months, the group is hoping to find storage space, office space and a truck to carry supplies.
The group sponsored yesterday's welcome party, which was attended by Burmese people from different ethnic groups, and organized by people from the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist faiths. “We are all Americans today,” Mr. Forhan told the crowd. His words were translated into two languages spoken in Myanmar.
While winter won't be easy for the new Worcester residents, who are used to a tropical climate, they got some help yesterday.
For his bar mitzvah project, 13-year-old Noah Magid of Worcester collected more than 100 sets of winter gear — coats, gloves, hats — which were donated to the Burmese refugees.
“Find some winter clothes to wear,” Mr. Forhan told them. “You have no idea how uncomfortable winter here can be.”
Contact Priyanka Dayal by e-mail at pdayal@telegram.com.
These are things for which his life in Myanmar didn't prepare him.
He, his wife and their three young children are among the roughly 150 people who left Myanmar (formerly Burma) sometime during the last year and a half and moved to Worcester, to start a new life in a free country. This is the foundation of Worcester's small but growing Burmese population.
“We cannot live there,” Mr. Hmung said of his native country. “We are not free there. It's very dangerous.”
In the United States, he said, “I feel everybody has freedom. Everything, we can say, we can do. We can talk about anything.”
Of course, the family is still adjusting to its new life. The kids attend Chandler Magnet School, Mr. Hmung has found a job at a local restaurant and his wife is taking English classes.
Yesterday, a day that Mr. Hmung said he has long been waiting for, his family joined scores of others at a welcome party for Burmese refugees at Blessed Sacrament Church. The event included food, music, games and donated clothing and household goods for the refugees. Guided by teenagers from local church groups, young Burmese children blew bubbles and kicked a soccer ball outside the church.
It was a day for celebration, everyone agreed, but Myra Dahgaypaw knows these people face many challenges. Some have been in the country for only a few weeks. Most don't know English, or their rights, or anything about American culture.
“They are literally people from the jungle, they have never seen an airplane … and now they're thrown in the heart of the world,” she said in an interview.
Ms. Dahgaypaw is familiar with what they're feeling, because she also came to the United States to escape the oppressive military government in Myanmar. She was displaced for years, then lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for years. Still, she had opportunities. She learned English and was able to travel before moving to this country.
“But I had to struggle,” she said. “If I had to struggle that much, how much will they have to struggle?”
Ms. Dahgaypaw works for Karen American Communities Foundation, a support group for the Karen people (an ethnic group) of Burma who move to the United States. She came from New York City to speak to the refugees in Worcester yesterday.
Myanmar, the Asian country that borders Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand, has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for human rights violations.
Before they can come to the United States, Burmese people must be recognized as refugees by the United Nations.
Michael Forhan went to Myanmar in 1994 in search of business opportunities. He saw “a fabulous country with really special people,” and established two companies there. But he realized his presence wasn't helping the political situation in Myanmar, so he left. Later, he started Burma Border Projects, a nonprofit group that supports schools and orphanages and helps provide therapy for traumatized refugees on the Myanmar-Thailand border.
Tens of thousands of Burmese live in refugee camps, and more than 1 million live in Thailand illegally as migrant workers, where they live in adverse conditions without proper medical care, according to the Burma Border Projects Web site.
While Mr. Forhan was helping Burmese people in their home country, “all of a sudden, the Burmese people started coming to Worcester,” he said. About 150 are here now, and more are coming, he said. The numbers of refugees from Iraq and Bhutan are also increasing, he said.
Mr. Forhan and others have started the Worcester Resettlement Project, which works to help refugees adjust to their new lives in the United States. Within the next six to 12 months, the group is hoping to find storage space, office space and a truck to carry supplies.
The group sponsored yesterday's welcome party, which was attended by Burmese people from different ethnic groups, and organized by people from the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist faiths. “We are all Americans today,” Mr. Forhan told the crowd. His words were translated into two languages spoken in Myanmar.
While winter won't be easy for the new Worcester residents, who are used to a tropical climate, they got some help yesterday.
For his bar mitzvah project, 13-year-old Noah Magid of Worcester collected more than 100 sets of winter gear — coats, gloves, hats — which were donated to the Burmese refugees.
“Find some winter clothes to wear,” Mr. Forhan told them. “You have no idea how uncomfortable winter here can be.”
Contact Priyanka Dayal by e-mail at pdayal@telegram.com.
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