Two hundred thirty-five years ago, Americans declared their independence from England. They've celebrated the occasion on July 4 every year since.
Twenty-six months ago, Ro Sang - a native of Burma in Southeast Asia whose passion is preaching the gospel - arrived in Des Moines and first tasted freedom. He's celebrated his independence every day since.
Sang, 27, is a member of the Chin ethnic group of Burma, now known as Myanmar. The country's military regime is considered one of the world's most repressive and abusive regimes, especially to the Christian Chin and other non-Buddhist groups.
"If a soldier comes up to the village, they will call the villagers and tell them to carry their stuff and if they don't do it, they will beat them," Sang said. "Most of the villagers, if they heard the soldier is going to get inside the village, then they need to run to the jungle."
Sang grew up in a family of 10 children. After high school, he studied automobile engineering in India for five years, then returned to Burma in 2006 to attend law school and work as a gospel preacher.
But the law he was studying didn't mesh with what actually was being practiced in Burma.
"I wanted to preach freely," Sang said. "I tried to conduct a gospel meeting, and I didn't get permission from (the authorities). They were demanding a lot of money."
For his own safety, Sang finally fled the country. "I didn't feel very good to stay and to live in Burma because any time they can just arrest me and put me in the prison."
He left Burma at night, crowding with other Chin in a tiny boat with a small motor.
"From 9 p.m. to 3 p.m. the next day we were sailing on the sea with that small boat," he said. "There were 16 of us, with four kids. When we looked all around, we didn't see any land. Only water. Three times, the water got inside the boat and we needed to take it out. The waves were coming up, and we didn't know if we were alive or dead. We kept praying and praying and at last we landed at one of the islands in Thailand."
From there, they went on to Malaysia, where there are thousands of Burmese refugees - but still little safety.
"We didn't have a refugee camp in Malaysia," Sang said. "We needed to find an apartment by ourselves and we needed to pay the rent, plus for our daily bread we needed to work. They said you cannot work, so we became illegal workers in Malaysia. If we worked and the police saw us, they could arrest us and put us in prison."
Lian Uk Thang of Des Moines spent about 30 months in Malaysia after fleeing Burma, where he had been forced to do unpaid labor at least once a week.
"(In Burma), I was forced to work building military camps, road constructions and tea plantations uncountable times," he said. "If we denied, we had no other choice than beating, imprisonment and monetary fine."
But in Malaysia, Thang was seized while he slept one night, jailed in miserable conditions, then sold to a human trafficker. He was able to contact Chin friends who paid to get him back before he could be sold to sea pirates. Then he was transported for nine hours in the trunk of a taxi, where he almost suffocated alongside two other refugees.
After 20 months in Malaysia, the United Nations refugee agency helped Sang come to the United States. With no family ties in this country, he did not have a choice of where he was sent, but Lutheran Services in Iowa assisted him in resettling. Thang arrived here about three months later.
"As of my knowledge, (as of March 2011) more than 500 Chin refugees are starting their new lives in Des Moines and Marshalltown," Thang said. "We feel safe in this place. Here we feel like heaven. We are totally free. We have no fear at all. But most of us are still facing cultural shocks and challenges of new livings."
Sang said he is very happy with his destination.
"Now, we can have whatever we want regarding religion, and plus we are safe here," Sang said. "All of the surrounding people, they are kind to other people. Whatever they can do, they just find for us a way to get a better life. When we were in Burma, we were scared every day."
Last year, Sang was able to become licensed as a minister in the Mid-American Baptist Church. He's now full-time pastor of the Chin Baptist Church in Des Moines, which has a congregation of about 240 people, all from Burma and most from the Chin state. Thang is the church's secretary.
The congregation meets Sunday afternoons at Westover Baptist Church, 2330 62nd St. Sometimes the services last 2 1/2 or three hours.
"We used to say we need to give more thanks to God because he brought us here in a safe place and a good place, and we are praising him with song," Sang said. "We are singing lots."
That would be an understatement, said the Rev. Ken Wallace, senior pastor of Westover Baptist Church.
"When they started sharing our facility, the first thing I observed was their enthusiasm," Wallace said. "Their motivation to worship was pretty thrilling."
Wallace recalls his first meeting with the group, before they moved to Westover Baptist Church.
"They were holding their church services in an apartment. It was wall-to-wall people, overflowing out into the hallway. Every possible inch of space," Wallace said.
"Not only are they savoring (their religious freedom) and very appreciative of it, they consider it a privilege. Many Christians today have never been in a situation where they couldn't freely worship as they chose."
Wallace has high praise for the church's young preacher.
"Pastor Ro never ceases to amaze me about his determination and his willingness, not only to serve the lord but serve the Chin people," Wallace said. "Ro speaks about four languages. It's not unusual for him to do a message in a service in two languages because there would be two different language groups or more in his congregation. And when I was there, he'd add English to it. He'd interpret for me."
Sang's pastoral duties keep his schedule full, Wallace said.
"A usual day for him is to accompany some of these people to a doctor's appointment so he can interpret or maybe to get their driver's license renewed," he said. "They call on him on a regular basis to interpret, help them understand and bridge the culture gap. Most pastors don't have to deal with that. But this is just his everyday routine. He thinks nothing about it. It's his joy to serve his people. He truly has a pastor's heart."
Local leaders of refugee communities - such as Sang - bear a lot of the burden of helping their members, said Nick Wuertz of Lutheran Services in Iowa, which shifted its focus to providing support to those leaders in ethnic communities after it ceased resettlement services last year.
Wuertz said Sang even extends his assistance to other Iowa towns where there are Chin Baptist congregations - typically in meat-packing communities.
"Recently, there was a gentleman who drowned in Marshalltown, and he was a member of that congregation," Wuertz said. "So Ro had been up there."
Sang has a cousin in Des Moines, but his parents, five brothers, two sisters and many nieces and nephews are still in Burma. Two other sisters live in India, and two nephews are in Malaysia now as refugees.
"I would like them to come here if possible, but that is the will of God," Sang said. "I cannot do it for them right now."
Still, his Des Moines church does send aid to the Chin people in Burma.
"Right now, what our church is doing is if there is fire in the village, we need to collect some money and send it for supporting victims of the fire," Sang said. "We have a lot of famine in Burma, and we are helping that, too. And we are sending three missionaries to the Buddhist people for evangelizing. Eighty-six percent of the people there are Buddhists, so we need to do a lot of work in Burma."
On America's Independence Day, Sang has this message for Iowans:
"We are thankful to them for their love and their kindness. We are enjoying our life, and we feel totally safe here. From the bottom of my heart, we are very thankful and grateful for letting us be here in Des Moines."
Twenty-six months ago, Ro Sang - a native of Burma in Southeast Asia whose passion is preaching the gospel - arrived in Des Moines and first tasted freedom. He's celebrated his independence every day since.
Sang, 27, is a member of the Chin ethnic group of Burma, now known as Myanmar. The country's military regime is considered one of the world's most repressive and abusive regimes, especially to the Christian Chin and other non-Buddhist groups.
"If a soldier comes up to the village, they will call the villagers and tell them to carry their stuff and if they don't do it, they will beat them," Sang said. "Most of the villagers, if they heard the soldier is going to get inside the village, then they need to run to the jungle."
Sang grew up in a family of 10 children. After high school, he studied automobile engineering in India for five years, then returned to Burma in 2006 to attend law school and work as a gospel preacher.
But the law he was studying didn't mesh with what actually was being practiced in Burma.
"I wanted to preach freely," Sang said. "I tried to conduct a gospel meeting, and I didn't get permission from (the authorities). They were demanding a lot of money."
For his own safety, Sang finally fled the country. "I didn't feel very good to stay and to live in Burma because any time they can just arrest me and put me in the prison."
He left Burma at night, crowding with other Chin in a tiny boat with a small motor.
"From 9 p.m. to 3 p.m. the next day we were sailing on the sea with that small boat," he said. "There were 16 of us, with four kids. When we looked all around, we didn't see any land. Only water. Three times, the water got inside the boat and we needed to take it out. The waves were coming up, and we didn't know if we were alive or dead. We kept praying and praying and at last we landed at one of the islands in Thailand."
From there, they went on to Malaysia, where there are thousands of Burmese refugees - but still little safety.
"We didn't have a refugee camp in Malaysia," Sang said. "We needed to find an apartment by ourselves and we needed to pay the rent, plus for our daily bread we needed to work. They said you cannot work, so we became illegal workers in Malaysia. If we worked and the police saw us, they could arrest us and put us in prison."
Lian Uk Thang of Des Moines spent about 30 months in Malaysia after fleeing Burma, where he had been forced to do unpaid labor at least once a week.
"(In Burma), I was forced to work building military camps, road constructions and tea plantations uncountable times," he said. "If we denied, we had no other choice than beating, imprisonment and monetary fine."
But in Malaysia, Thang was seized while he slept one night, jailed in miserable conditions, then sold to a human trafficker. He was able to contact Chin friends who paid to get him back before he could be sold to sea pirates. Then he was transported for nine hours in the trunk of a taxi, where he almost suffocated alongside two other refugees.
After 20 months in Malaysia, the United Nations refugee agency helped Sang come to the United States. With no family ties in this country, he did not have a choice of where he was sent, but Lutheran Services in Iowa assisted him in resettling. Thang arrived here about three months later.
"As of my knowledge, (as of March 2011) more than 500 Chin refugees are starting their new lives in Des Moines and Marshalltown," Thang said. "We feel safe in this place. Here we feel like heaven. We are totally free. We have no fear at all. But most of us are still facing cultural shocks and challenges of new livings."
Sang said he is very happy with his destination.
"Now, we can have whatever we want regarding religion, and plus we are safe here," Sang said. "All of the surrounding people, they are kind to other people. Whatever they can do, they just find for us a way to get a better life. When we were in Burma, we were scared every day."
Last year, Sang was able to become licensed as a minister in the Mid-American Baptist Church. He's now full-time pastor of the Chin Baptist Church in Des Moines, which has a congregation of about 240 people, all from Burma and most from the Chin state. Thang is the church's secretary.
The congregation meets Sunday afternoons at Westover Baptist Church, 2330 62nd St. Sometimes the services last 2 1/2 or three hours.
"We used to say we need to give more thanks to God because he brought us here in a safe place and a good place, and we are praising him with song," Sang said. "We are singing lots."
That would be an understatement, said the Rev. Ken Wallace, senior pastor of Westover Baptist Church.
"When they started sharing our facility, the first thing I observed was their enthusiasm," Wallace said. "Their motivation to worship was pretty thrilling."
Wallace recalls his first meeting with the group, before they moved to Westover Baptist Church.
"They were holding their church services in an apartment. It was wall-to-wall people, overflowing out into the hallway. Every possible inch of space," Wallace said.
"Not only are they savoring (their religious freedom) and very appreciative of it, they consider it a privilege. Many Christians today have never been in a situation where they couldn't freely worship as they chose."
Wallace has high praise for the church's young preacher.
"Pastor Ro never ceases to amaze me about his determination and his willingness, not only to serve the lord but serve the Chin people," Wallace said. "Ro speaks about four languages. It's not unusual for him to do a message in a service in two languages because there would be two different language groups or more in his congregation. And when I was there, he'd add English to it. He'd interpret for me."
Sang's pastoral duties keep his schedule full, Wallace said.
"A usual day for him is to accompany some of these people to a doctor's appointment so he can interpret or maybe to get their driver's license renewed," he said. "They call on him on a regular basis to interpret, help them understand and bridge the culture gap. Most pastors don't have to deal with that. But this is just his everyday routine. He thinks nothing about it. It's his joy to serve his people. He truly has a pastor's heart."
Local leaders of refugee communities - such as Sang - bear a lot of the burden of helping their members, said Nick Wuertz of Lutheran Services in Iowa, which shifted its focus to providing support to those leaders in ethnic communities after it ceased resettlement services last year.
Wuertz said Sang even extends his assistance to other Iowa towns where there are Chin Baptist congregations - typically in meat-packing communities.
"Recently, there was a gentleman who drowned in Marshalltown, and he was a member of that congregation," Wuertz said. "So Ro had been up there."
Sang has a cousin in Des Moines, but his parents, five brothers, two sisters and many nieces and nephews are still in Burma. Two other sisters live in India, and two nephews are in Malaysia now as refugees.
"I would like them to come here if possible, but that is the will of God," Sang said. "I cannot do it for them right now."
Still, his Des Moines church does send aid to the Chin people in Burma.
"Right now, what our church is doing is if there is fire in the village, we need to collect some money and send it for supporting victims of the fire," Sang said. "We have a lot of famine in Burma, and we are helping that, too. And we are sending three missionaries to the Buddhist people for evangelizing. Eighty-six percent of the people there are Buddhists, so we need to do a lot of work in Burma."
On America's Independence Day, Sang has this message for Iowans:
"We are thankful to them for their love and their kindness. We are enjoying our life, and we feel totally safe here. From the bottom of my heart, we are very thankful and grateful for letting us be here in Des Moines."
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