WATERLOO, Iowa --- Ber Wah gets an immediate critique from her instructor after writing the letter "v" on the blackboard twice.
Marina Durinova, who is teaching English to Wah and three other Burmese refugees, explains that the two similar-sized letters --- one of which is supposed to be a capital "v" --- are too much alike. Wah looks uncertain, but erases the letters and tries again.
With the letters still not quite right, she gets further explanation from Durinova and some advice in Burmese from classmates. After parallel lines are drawn to guide her effort, the young woman finally understands the difference between the two and writes a proper capital and small "v."
It's a slow process, teaching students with almost no English skills. The four, who all came to Waterloo to work for Tyson Fresh Meats, were among 18 Burmese refugees practicing English skills last Tuesday in the basement of the Black Hawk Labor Temple on Burton Avenue. Nearly 200 refugees from Burma, also known as Myanmar, have arrived since last fall to work at the Waterloo meat packing plant.
The twice-weekly English classes are one of the ways the community is supporting the refugees as they settle into Waterloo. Classes were set up by the University of Northern Iowa with the cooperation of Tyson and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Instructor Geri Toresdahl has been teaching the refugees since Nov. 30. Durinova has been working with her since the middle of May, allowing them to provide different levels of instruction for the students. The classes have drawn a number of the refugees over the months.
"I've probably met 40 to 50 Burmese," through the class, said Toresdahl. Attendance at each session has been steady at about 15 people with a core group of 10 students who usually attend.
Toresdahl said the goal of the classes is to improve language skills so the Burmese can function in the community. In class, she tries to address situations the students might encounter that will be unfamiliar to them, like the self check-out aisle at the grocery store. She has occasionally helped students outside of class, as well, such as one student who needed to call a government agency about the citizenship process.
Durinova's students have been in Waterloo for varying amounts of time --- from one month for Van Thawng to a year for Oo Reh. Wah arrived five months ago from Rockford, Ill., where she was initially resettled. Reh also came to Waterloo from Rockford.
After leaving his south Asian homeland, Thawng spent three months in Michigan and three years in Indianapolis before arriving in Waterloo. He has formed an opinion on the city's weather during his first month here: "Very cold." He said living in Waterloo and working at Tyson is "not good, not bad --- it's OK."
All three of the students are unmarried but left family behind on their journey to Waterloo.
Before coming to the U.S., Thawng was a refugee in Malaysia. Reh and Wah were in refugee camps in Thailand, as was the fourth member of their class, Eh Kaw.
Kaw, who has been in Waterloo for six months, came here from Wisconsin. He spent 10 months there with his wife and children, ages 9, 7 and 5. At this point, they remain in Wisconsin.
Meeting refugee needs
Nearly all of the Burmese who have come to Waterloo are "secondary migrants" who were resettled elsewhere after leaving refugee camps and then recruited by Tyson.
"Those who like it here and are finding good work are referring other refugees from other locations," said Bruce Meisinger, director of public health for Black Hawk County. He expects their numbers to grow to at least 300 by the end of the year as additional workers and family members arrive from other places.
Since the influx began, the Black Hawk County Health Department --- which Meisinger oversees --- has been leading efforts to provide support for the Burmese. He said the main reason the department got involved with the refugees was to screen, test and treat them for tuberculosis.
"Virtually all of the cases of TB we have are from persons not born in the United States," Meisinger said. "You inevitably come across other health concerns. We're fulfilling a need to coordinate for multiple health issues."
Michelle Devlin, a UNI professor and director of the Iowa Center on Health Disparity, said recently arrived refugees will often experience changes in health because of new diets and less physical activity. Foods they have traditionally eaten may not be readily available. Instead, they have easy access to simple carbohydrates, junk food, and canned or processed food.
"We always take a look at refugee dental issues," she said. "We like to take a look at safety issues or accident issues." Mental health concerns, like the possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder, are another area of focus for public health officials.
Some of the new arrivals may have witnessed ethnic conflict or genocide. They may suffer from depression, anxiety, loneliness, culture shock or "cultural bereavement" --- grieving for the loss of the culture they left behind.
The health department is working with Tyson to meet other needs of the refugees, as well. Tyson staff have helped the new employees find housing, get driver's licenses and worked with local agencies.
"Knowing the back story of these people and what these people are going through, you want to help, not just professionally, but personally," said Teri Wray, community liaison for Tyson's Waterloo plant.
Wray recalled being offered a home-cooked Burmese meal after she and Tyson chaplin Rick Rustad helped employees move into their new home in Waterloo.
"It was fun," she said. "I hope someday we can have a Burmese restaurant in the community."
Pum Piang, a Burmese refugee who works as a translator at Tyson said the community and Tyson have been helpful.
"We have to learn about a lot of things," he said, adding a liaison with the health department helped him find a place to live.
"I'm very grateful for their help," Piang said.
Helping the employees assimilate also makes business sense, said Worth Sparkman, Tyson's public relations manager.
"If our team members are settled and taken care of, they can concentrate on their jobs," Sparkman said.
The health department held an initial meeting with Tyson and various community agencies in November when about 100 people had arrived. So far, officials have found ways to meet most of the needs. But more assistance is necessary.
"We're needing some help, because it's just becoming too daunting," Meisinger said. "It's getting to the point where we need other agencies for the non-health-related services."
The department organized another meeting May 17 that included about 60 people from 20 agencies. Meisinger said the agencies hope to create "a more effective model" of screening and providing an orientation for the new arrivals, one that could be used with any refugees that come to the Cedar Valley.
"Service coordination is certainly critical when they are new to the community," he said.
"We're trying to replicate the model or process" used by Lutheran Services of Iowa when Bosnian refugees arrived in Waterloo beginning in the late 1990s, Meisinger noted. Lutheran Services resettled what became thousands of Bosnians. The agency no longer has funding for such operations and stopped resettling refugees in January 2010.
Getting involved
Some of the new arrivals are finding ways to become involved in the community. A number of the Burmese who live in the neighborhood south of downtown are Catholic and started attending Sacred Heart Church last fall. Meisinger said most of the Burmese who have come to the area are Christians.
"Really, we weren't prepared," said Amy Sandvold, principal of Sacred Heart School. "They just showed up for Mass one Sunday." Thirty or more Burmese attend Mass most Sundays.
"As a parish, we decided we needed a liaison," Sandvold said. The church hired Sister Kathleen Grace to work with the Burmese.
"Even though she doesn't speak the language, she has experience working with immigrants," Sandvold said. "We're really delighted to have her."
The Rev. Louis Jaeger, the church's pastor, said Grace "was hired to work with all our immigrant groups," which also includes Hispanic people
"She takes care of whatever concerns they have," he said. "She's our minister to them."
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