By Momo Chang, Staff Writer
Article Created: 04/04/2008 05:54:14 PM PDT
Thweh Wah sits in the waiting area of the Oakland International Airport's Terminal
OAKLAND -- On a windy afternoon in January, Eh Kaw Heh anxiously stood with his mother, Thweh Wah, at the Terminal 1 waiting area at Oakland International Airport.
They were there to greet Thweh Wah's nephew, Eh Kaw Mu, 19, who is about to start a new life in Oakland after living in refugee camps for years.
Mu is part of a recent wave of Burmese refugees who have arrived in the Bay Area since summer. He is also Karen _ an ethnic minority from Southeast Burma that makes up the majority of Burmese refugees.
Burmese are the fastest growing refugee population in the United States. In 2007, the United States accepted about 15,000 Burmese refugees, more than any other refugee group, according to data from the U.S. State Department. Officials expect another 15,000 by the end of the fiscal year in September.
Nearly 300 Burmese refugees have resettled in the Bay Area, mostly in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties, according to resettlement agencies. Many of them now call Oakland home _ about 120 since last summer, according to the International Rescue Committee, an international organization with which the U.S. government contracts to help refugees resettle. An additional 120 have resettled in the San Jose area, according to Catholic Charities.
For more than 60 years, the Karen (pronounced kah-REN) have been embroiled in conflict with Burma military regime in their fight for independence. Many Karen were driven violently from their homes, their villages burned, during the '80s. Several hundred thousand Karen have fled across the border to Thailand, where many then lived _ for an entire generation _ in prison-like refugee camps. These Karen and other ethnic minorities lived in limbo, unable to return home to Burma _ now called Myanmar _ and denied citizenship in the Thai refugee camps. For years, refugee rights groups have pushed for acceptance of more Burmese refugees, in part because of the long time they've lived in refugee camps.
One of the reasons Burmese have been barred from entering the U.S. is because of anti-terrorism acts like the USA PATRIOT Act. Many Karen and other ethnic minorities from Burma have been a part of or associated with militias that fought against the Burmese military regime, which puts them in the broad category of ``terrorist group.''
The United States has been accepting more Burmese refugees since 2006, when waivers were granted to some groups previously barred from entry because of the USA Patriot Act.
Now, halfway across the world, toting their only belongings in a single large bag, they arrive to start a new life. Refugee generation Eh Kaw Heh, 24, spent nearly 23 years in various Thai refugee camps, fleeing Burma with his family when he was 1. ``We want our own independent state, but Burma would not allow us,'' Heh said about the Karen peoples' situation. For more than 20 years, his family stayed in three different refugee camps in Thailand. Several times, Burmese military regime or other militias burned down the camp where his family lived, forcing them to flee yet again to another camp. Heh, who arrived in June, lives in a modest apartment in Oakland's Eastlake district with his two younger brothers (who were born and raised in refugee camps), his mother, and, now, his mother's nephew.
This same neighborhood just east of Lake Merritt served as a hub for Southeast Asian refugees in the '80s, after the war in Vietnam. The ethnically mixed neighborhood now also includes many new Burmese refugees.
Heh said when officials in Mae La refugee camp _ the largest one in Thailand with about 45,000 people _ announced that the United States was accepting refugees, they, like thousands of other Karen families, applied. ``When you live in the camps, if you compare, it's like you live in prison,'' he said. If refugees leave the camps, they could be caught by Thai police, he said.
There was little work, little education and myriad health problems plagued the overcrowded refugee camps. In the refugee camps, students can only get up to a 10th-grade equivalent education at best, and the majority of recent refugees do not speak English, though Heh does.
The younger generation, which spent years _ many their whole life _ in refugee camps, have little or no work experience when they arrive in the United States. Most of the elders were farmers in Burma before they were left their country. For Heh, his first job was packing clothes in a warehouse in San Francisco.
Settling in Staff at the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, said they have been very busy since last summer. In the committee's downtown Oakland office, case manager Owen Williams and case worker Janet Zan have helped about 120 mostly Karen refugees resettle in Oakland.
After a year, refugees can apply for a green card, and five years after they arrive, citizenship. Zan, 24, is a Karen refugee who arrived in 2003. She lives in Antioch, which she says is home to several dozen Karen families. She said new refugees need a lot of help in the beginning _ from housing to jobs, health care to education. They are given food stamps, about $120 a month per person. The IRC receives information from the U.S. State Department about each refugee before they even arrive, to ensure an apartment is rented for them. The resettlement agency also helps them find jobs _ most of them are in entry-level positions, such as factory, restaurant or warehouse work.
Refugees also are enrolled in English classes, though some interviewed said the classes were full or they dropped out when their job schedules conflicted. Besides stitching together a brand new life, many are experiencing things for the first time, such as taking public transit. ``When we lived in the camp we had to walk 40 minutes to go to school,'' Heh said. ``There is no bus, no motorcycle, only walking.'' A better future
Heh's prospects are bright _ his main advantage being that he speaks English pretty well, unlike most of the recent Burmese refugees. He would like to get a college degree, something unthinkable in the camps, where many struggle to even receive up to a 10th-grade equivalent.
For now, Heh spends much of his time looking for another job. After he left his warehouse job in San Francisco, he worked at a small Hayward factory, operating a machine that makes parts for computers and airplanes at a company owned by a Karen couple. But the factory unexpectedly closed in February.
Heh found a new job in March, one that he said he enjoys. He is learning book keeping and office management at an auto parts company in Oakland.
Most recent refugees live in studios or one bedroom apartments, sharing space with their kids or two to three other refugees or family members, often using the living room as a bedroom. The IRC pays for most or all of their rent for about the first three months. In Oakland, that means from $700 to $925 a month.
Despite early struggles of resettling _ worrying about learning a new language and finding a sustainable job _ many of the refugees interviewed say they are happy to be here.
A Burmese church in Oakland, headed by the Rev. Lone Wah Lazum, provides Saturday English classes and a haven for the new population. Most Karen are Christian, though some are Buddhist or Muslim. Because of the recent influx of Karen people, Oakland Burmese Mission Baptist Church started offering services once a month in Karen. Some Karen refugees are not fluent in Burmese, the language regular services are in. During one of the services, hundreds of Karen dressed in their traditional colorful weaved clothing sang Christian songs in Karen and ate a buffet lunch of Burmese food prepared by church members.
While life here is vastly different from Burma and the refugee camps, many said they are glad to start a new beginning. ``Life there (in the refugee camps) is very hard and there is no hope, no future, at all,'' Pa Eh Ko, who arrived with his wife and two kids, said through a translator. ``Here, we have challenges, but we have a future here if we work hard.''
Contact Momo Chang
at momo.y.chang@gmail.com. Nyunt Than, a local Burmese resident, volunteered to help with translation.
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