Chaney Mitchell
Burmese Chin Family
After a year of waiting, Burmese Chin
refugees Zung and Biak Thang stand outside their new Midland home June
14, with children Gary, 7, and Livingstone, 3. Chaney
Mitchell/Reporter-Telegram
It feels like a dream, said Biak Chhungi Thang and her husband Zung Lian Thang while sitting in their living room.
Two months ago, the couple and
their two children invited friends over to celebrate their move into a
three-bedroom house in south Midland. They cooked food from their
homeland and displayed a large banner with the words of Psalm 34:08
written in their native tongue:
"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."
The Thangs are refugees from the Chin State in
western Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Tens of thousands of Chin have
fled the country since 1988 because of a "highly authoritarian military
regime" responsible for human rights abuses based on religion,
ethnicity and political beliefs, according to a 2010 Human Rights Report
on the country by the U.S. Department of State.
Individuals who are granted refugee status overseas
by the U.S. are brought back for resettlement by the Department of
State, which partners with local resettlement agencies to provide any
resources the refugees might need upon arrival. The nearest resettlement
agency to Midland is in Abilene, but Chin still come in droves to
Midland as they hear about the availability of jobs.
"I think Midland is attractive from a job
perspective," said Midland city councilman John James. "And that's great
because we are starving for workers."
The International Rescue Committee, which has
regional resettlement offices in Abilene and Dallas, realized the
growing need in Midland for refugee services, and established a
satellite program earlier this year to provide ESL and basic skills
classes. Other literacy programs in town have found the need in recent
years to add Burmese Chin-targeted ESL classes to their schedules.
An increasing amount of Chin like the Thangs have
found their own versions of the American dream in Midland by quickly
obtaining jobs, houses and cars, thanks to the local booming economy.
Biak Chhungi Thang works at T&T Donuts in the morning, and Zun Lian
Thang stocks the shelves at H-E-B in the evenings. They both found work
after moving to Midland from Jacksonville, Fla. in 2009 to live with Zun
Lian Thang's uncle. They were referred to Casa de Amigos, and Biak
Chhungi Thang instantly bonded with intake specialist Ida Fletcher.
Fletcher taught the woman to drive, complete applications and work with
Midland Community Development Corporation's housing counselor to buy a
house of their own.
"They're hard-working," said Fletcher, who since has
become the organization's community services coordinator. "They follow
through on anything we talk about to benefit the family. I don't feel
like their caseworker. They're my friends."
In their own backyard
Visiting Thailand on a mission trip in early 2008 was
an eye opening experience for First Presbyterian Church member Kelli
Sherman. The group traveled at one point to the country's border with
Myanmar to visit a refugee camp and saw the desperate situation first
hand.
"You go on this trip, and you think, 'Wow, how can I
help?'" she said. "It's just heartbreaking and you think, 'Now I go back
to my life that's so wonderful, so easy.'"
The group left on a plane days later, not sure what
they could do from thousands of miles away. The answer came when the
woman who had led the mission team, Margaret Purvis, was shopping at
H-E-B and recognized the face and language of a man behind the sushi
bar. She had found someone from Myanmar in her own town.
The man, Duh "Louie" Luai, said there were around 30
Burmese Chin in Midland who were receiving help from a local Pentecostal
church and meeting for worship services in his apartment. He had become
overwhelmed with the amount of needs of his community, Sherman said, so
First Presbyterian members jumped in to help. Sherman helped Chin
individuals make appointments, register kids for school and fill out
applications.
It was like fighting fires, Sherman said, almost in a
literal sense. The complex where Luai held worship services was
engulfed in flames in 2008, destroying 16 units, two of which belonged
to Burmese families. First Presbyterian helped raise money to replace
the lost equipment, and the growing Chin continued to worship.
"As things came up we tried to deal with things as we
could," Sherman said. "It was a learning process; every day it seemed
like multiple things were new."
The Chin population continued to grow, and is growing
at such a rapid pace that there is no official number for how many Chin
refugees are in town. Those who work with the three established
Chin-focused Christian churches around town say attendance suggests the
current population to be around 600.
"It's just grown and grown and grown as more people
have come into the country and they realize they have family here and
there's jobs," Sherman said.
Neighborhood norms
Traditional brick houses line the block of Imperial
Avenue just north of Lee High School. Nestled between the earth-toned
facades is a starkly bright symbol of the increasingly changing
neighborhood; a house painted baby blue with red trim. Similar in color
to brightly-painted houses in Malaysia, where many Burmese refugees go
after fleeing their country, the house has become a visual symbol of
neighbors' struggles to maintain neighborhood norms in the midst of
changing cultural dynamics.
The Chin family-owned house, along with allegations
of violations of the city code and neighborhood norms, was the subject
of "intense" phone calls and emails being circulated among the
neighborhood and community leaders this spring in reference to new Chin
neighbors, according to James. The councilman agreed to facilitate a
town hall-style meeting for the neighborhood that involved leaders of
the local Burmese community.
"There's a broad interest, and I share it, in being
the welcoming community that Midland is," James said. "There is this
similar interest, just as broad, in saying, 'And here's the way you
behave in neighborhoods.'"
Older neighborhoods like the one on Imperial Avenue
are called "neighborhoods in transition" from a planning perspective,
according to James. While some in the neighborhood still have deep roots
in the homes where they raised their kids, others are just moving in to
vacant homes whose previous owners have moved on to more expensive
neighborhoods.
"You have this mix of people who have been there a
long time and this mix of new folks," he said. "Sometimes they don't
have the same appreciation for the neighborhood."
The contrast and misunderstandings are even more
stark with the Burmese, James said, because they are trying to adjust to
so many cultural norms at once. One Chin family once kept a live
chicken in the yard before preparing it for dinner, and soon realized
their neighbors found the accompanying loud noises unacceptable. Another
church leader in the Chin community said he tries to let his neighbors
know when he's having large meetings so they know more cars may be
parked on the street.
"My sense is that by people coming together and
having these conversations and talking you get more accomplished,
especially when there's nothing illegal at play, you have to talk to
your neighbor," James said.
"My sense is that by people coming together and
having these conversations and talking you get more accomplished,
especially when there's nothing illegal at play, you have to talk to
your neighbor," James said.
Many Burmese quickly make the move to Midland for the
availability of jobs once arriving in the U.S., and miss the benefits
of acclimating in an official resettlement location that provides
resources and classes in regard to local driving, laws and social norms.
"They come and they get jobs immediately, so they
ended up not going through those courses," James said. "They may settle
slightly in Abilene but find out there are jobs in Midland and
immediately come working 60 to 70 hours. They never go though the
process -- it's voluntary -- but that would complete their assimilation
training, for lack of a better term. When you start talking about
parking issues and neighborhood issues, that's all foreign to them."
James hopes one answer to the neighborhood's
struggles will be to arrange for long-time neighbors and newcomers to
meet at a house in the neighborhood to share food and fellowship in an
event similar to "National Night Out." The next step will be to build a
system where the leaders of the Burmese community can help ensure others
are going through a program involving code enforcement and basic skills
to help them understand city codes and neighborhood norms.
Leading a community
"They don't know my culture; they never see my
culture. If they saw my culture, they would understand," said Solomon
Kham, 31, while sipping on a soda in the cafeteria at H-E-B.
The Chin refugee crosses his arms.
"In my culture, this means I respect you," he explained. "Some people don't know that."
Kham is considered a leader in the Chin community for
both his proficiency in English and his role as president of Midland
Chin Baptist Church. He's helped dozens of recently arrived refugees
find work, housing and other resources to help them acculturate in their
new community. Many people don't understand they need to build up
credit before buying a house, he explained, and others don't even have
proper identification papers yet. He receives an occasional call late at
night from Chin who unknowingly run into trouble with the law and have
no way of communicating with law enforcement. He and leaders from the
two other Chin congregations in town are in the process of arranging a
presentation to take place on Aug. 5 for the refugee community about
American culture and laws.
"I like to help people," he said. "Is it overwhelming? Yeah."
After spending time in Maryland and Amarillo Kham
moved to Midland in 2009 at the insistence of his girlfriend, who had
moved to Midland with her family. There was a small Chin community here,
she said, about 30 to 40 people, and there were a lot of jobs. He
immediately found work at TOMCAT USA, then began working at Century
Graphics & Signs, where he now serves as a supervisor. He is now
married to his former girlfriend, and together they have a 1-year-old
son.
Kham graduated from Midland College in May with an
Associate of Applied Science Degree in petroleum technology, and is
continuing his studies at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin
in petroleum engineering. Being able to continue his education defines
the American dream for Kham, who was forcibly recruited into the Burmese
Army before fleeing the country in 2003. His parents still live there,
and he hopes to bring everything he's learned back home someday.
"I believe when my country gets good, I'll go back to Burma," he said.
Sara Higgins can be reached at shiggins@mrt.com.
