ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
For 28-year-old Naw Naw Nhkum and his wife Lu San Aung, employment is the first step towards self-sufficiency.
“What gets somebody independent in America is to be able to be employed, be able to navigate their life, and to know the resources they can access,” said State Refugee Coordinator Karen Ferguson.
The two are the first refugees in Alaska from Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma. Having lived just three months in the Last Frontier, they're more comfortable with their native language and spoke to us with a translator.
“He said he has family back home in Burma he will try to bring them here if he has the opportunity to bring them here,” the translator said.
The two are the first in their families to resettle in the United States. They fled from Myanmar to Malaysia.
An international organization says the national military government has been persecuting an ethnic group there, bringing political and armed conflict to the country.
“He doesn’t want to share about that, if that is possible, please,” the translator said, from Nhkum.
They use just one word to describe their time in Myanmar: Hardship.
Nhkum and San Aung join a close-knit group of refugees from countries like Bhutan and Somalia.
Some say it's a population coming to Alaska that’s taking away benefits from American citizens and tapping our already-strained resources, but Susan Bomalaski from Catholic Social Services says that's not true. She says money for the refugee programs are from funds specifically for refugees.
“We have a system here in Alaska where we have housing vouchers, different types of cash assistance systems,” Bomalaski said. “The refugees that come here we work with, we get funds from the federal government to help with those needs that they have when they come here.”
For these refugees, the goal is to transition into the American lifestyle.
“They realize there's a language barrier, and that's why we focus so much in job readiness,” said Education Center Coordinator Mirna Estrada.
It's a life they'll have to start from scratch, but it's one they believe is full of hope.
For Ilyas Mocalin, a Somali refugee, walking around downtown Anchorage is a sight he never thought he would see.
“You feel free. You feel better. It's different. I’m happy to stay here,” Mocalin said.
For Netra Dhakal, a Bhutanese refugee, it's about reuniting with his family in a country that keeps them safe.
Dhakal wants to become a teacher in Alaska and bring back what he learns to where he spent most of his life-- in a refugee camp.
“After 5, 10, 20 years, I want to go back to Nepal and show them how was teaching in America,” he said.
“The way I see the program growing is offering more and more enrichment activities,” said Bomalaski. “And in helping the people that come here be successful here and advocating for them also.”
For Nhkum and San Aung, it’s not just about having a new life, but also bringing one into the world.
San Aung is carrying a baby boy, due in a few months.
“She hopes a better life for her child. Not the same life that they've been through. That's what she's hoping for,” she said through her translator.
“People would come into the program and they're just living lives that feel really solid and ordinary,” said Ferguson. “I think that's not what they thought their life was going to be like when they were sitting in a refugee camp.”
For these refugees there's a lot of hoping in a life full of different foods, different languages and a different lifestyle.
It no longer about living in fear, but for them, it's a chance for freedom and equality.
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