Burma refugees find home in Czech Republic

By Laura Stevens 

Courtesy Photo

The NGO Burma Center Prague has focused on training newly arrived Burmese refugees in everything from job skills to negotiating the Czech language and handling culture shock.

Proudly pinned to the young woman's wall, the diploma understatedly sums up what has been a long and life-changing journey: "The mayor of the municipality would like to award this certificate for being one of the best pupils [in her school]. Her home country is Burma."

The recipient of the diploma is one of roughly 90 refugees from Burma (Myanmar) who have fled the strife-worn South Asian country in search of a better life in the Czech Republic. For the younger refugees, the transition has been easier. For their parents, however, starting a new life in a foreign land has proved daunting and difficult. 

Fleeing a military government, ethnic conflict and poverty, 17 Burmese families have so far made the Czech Republic their home. The trend began in 2008 when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) designated the Czech Republic as a resettlement country. Since then, two groups of Burmese refugees have been settled here following a six- to eight-month stay at an integration center. More families are due to arrive within the year.

One family that has settled outside Prague speaks candidly of the culture shock they have faced in their first year.

"The language is very difficult. It is not similar at all," says one. "The climate is also very different, and one big change is the culture. Burma is very poor, and the Czech Republic is very rich."

Weather, housing, food and most critically, the language, are all completely new. Many basic skills need to be relearned from scratch.

Sabe Soe, director of the NGO Burma Center Prague, spoke of having to teach the refugees to lock doors, for example. "We had to teach them to close doors. In the refugee camps, everyone knew everyone and besides, there was nothing to steal."

Burma Center Prague provides support for the ethnic minority, helping refugees find housing and work on their language skills. It also provides courses to assist the refugees with finding a job.

"Many are skilled, but they do not have the proper qualifications," Soe said. "They cannot be hired above a basic level without proper certification, but they cannot just attend a Czech training course. It has to be tailored for the Burmese community."

Most refugees over the age of 18 try to find work in low-paying jobs like cleaning or gardening. However, this is frequently short-term employment and competing with native Czech speakers makes landing and keeping a job difficult.

Despite the setbacks, Soe said many are doing well thanks to support from friendly teachers and neighbors. Community involvement, he said, has proved critical in ensuring integration. Having the children immersed in the Czech school system also helps link families to their new country.

"The children find it so much easier," Soe said. "They speak Czech at school and learn it naturally. For the parents, social and cultural differences make many reluctant to take the first step toward learning the language."

He said the situation has led to a generation gap. For the most part, the children do well academically and are socially immersed in Czech life through their school friends. On the other hand, many parents long to return home.

"My country is still the best country I know," said one father.

Although homesick, most parents say they understand the importance of education. "If we return to Burma, the girls will be left here to study," said one father.

For the Burmese, separation is not uncommon. One father tells of having to flee Burma for Malaysia and leave his family behind after the army imprisoned him and forced him into hard labor. He bribed his way out and fled, leaving his wife and two girls. Women and children were often raped by soldiers, he said.

He said he remained in Malaysia for three years until he could earn enough money to be united with his wife and children. Another refugee family said they left one by one with the father going first to earn money to pay a smuggler to bring his wife across. Later, they smuggled out their 10-year-old son.

Such stories are common among the Burmese refugees. Since overthrowing the government in 1962, the army has been firmly in charge of the country. By the end of the 1980s, Burma, once known as the "rice bowl" of Asia, had become one of the poorest and most isolated countries in the world. Protests demanding freedom and basic human rights were brutally suppressed. In 1988, demonstrations led to the deaths of thousands of people; protests in 2007 led to a similar result.

The longtime face of democracy in Burma is Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, who spent 15 years under house arrest despite strong support both at home and aboard.

Recent years have seen an easing of government rules, including Suu Kyi's release and changes to the Constitution. The United States recently restored formal diplomatic ties with the country, which is now known as Myanmar. Still, Lewis Emmerton, a Burma Center Prague project coordinator, points out that "the majority of ethnic groups in Burma, particularly those living in the border regions, have not witnessed this change."

A 2011 UN report on Human Rights Practices backs up Emmerton's analysis. "Government security forces were responsible for extrajudicial killings, rape and torture," the report stated.

The relationship between the Czech Republic and Burma goes back to shared socialist governments. Czechoslovakia maintained diplomatic, cultural and economic ties to the country. Soe also stressed the importance of former President Václav Havel's personal interest in the country. "Havel was a great admirer of Aung San Suu Kyi. Since 1991, Burma was, and has remained, one of [the Czech Republic's] priorities."

That history has led to the presence of the Burmese population in the Czech Republic. Only 1 percent of refugees worldwide are resettled each year, and the Czech Republic is able to offer relief to just some of the roughly 200,000 registered Burmese refugees around the world.

"The numbers may not be great," Soe said, "but that isn't what this is about. It is a sign of solidarity."