Photo via svali.ru

Persecuted minority finding refuge in ’small-town, U.S.A.’

The former La France Terrace Motel in Sault Ste. Marie is a palace compared to the Thai refugee camp Berry Htoo spent her entire life in up until two years ago, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

The motel room-turned home is spare, by US standards: a fridge shares space in the carpeted common area with a TV, computer and bed set up for the children, a small bathroom and separate bedroom off to one side; the only nod to a kitchen is a sink and counter also set up in the living room.

There's a hotplate waiting outside for supper to be cooked in the Upper Peninsula's bitter cold.

So writes Frank Dobrovnik for The Sault Star newspaper.

Dobrovnik says that over the last three years, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, has become something of a haven for a minority ethnic group fleeing the brutal military regime of Burma.

"We like it here. We have freedom here," said Berry, 22, a member of the Karen community that comprises about seven per cent of Burma's population of 47 million.

Dobrovnik explains the Karen (pronounced Kor-EN) have struggled for an independent state ever since the British ceded colonial rule of Burma in 1948.

He writes that a military junta toppled a civilian government in 1962 and has ruled with an iron fist ever since, ignoring results of the 1990 general election -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest even before she was elected nominal head of state by a landslide -- and suppressing any insurgency.

Dobrovnik says that minorities such as the Karen, the largest of about 20 in Burma, are also used as slave labor. The father of Kay Bee, another of the approximately 50 Karen living in the Sault, was forced to work as a porter for the army, hauling weapons and ammunition until his body gave out.

'THE ARMY BEAT HIM'

"If he couldn't carry, the army beat him," said Kay, 31, in the English that has been steadily improving since he arrived in the United States with his wife, Mu Eh, and two children three years ago. (Like many cultures across the world, the Burmese do not use last names but two distinct names for each person.)

Dobrovnik says that Kay's mother and siblings left for the camps set up along the border of Burma and Thailand when he was four. They offered elementary and secondary education, some health care and freedom for Kay and his family to practice their Christian faith, but conditions were "very tight, and the Thai military didn't allow (most of them) to leave" their fenced-in compound.

According to Dobrovnik, in 2004, the BBC estimated up to 120,000 refugees from Burma, mostly Karen, lingered in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border. They had no legal recourse allowing them to move to another country, because Thailand is not a signatory to the United Nations refugee treaty.

That changed in 2006, Dobrovnik says, when the United States finally recognized the Karen as a persecuted ethnic group and allowed members to apply for asylum; some 12,000 a year have flooded into its borders every year since.

He says that victory was largely due to the efforts of a Sault Ste. Marie couple. He is talking about Jim and Karen Jacobson founded Christian Freedom International, an advocacy group for persecuted Christians across the world.

A former policy analyst in the Ronald Reagan White House, Jim was invited by former First Lady Laura Bush to take part in a 2006 UN roundtable discussion that allowed activists and government officials to speak openly about the severe humanitarian crisis that has plagued Burma for decades -- discussions that led to the U.S. opening its doors to the Karen.

Dobrovnik says that Jim Jacobson, 47, first set foot in Burma in 1997 and, though he has served in developing countries all over the world, the plight of the displaced Karen struck him particularly hard.

"They were just languishing in the refugee camps, some of them for 30 years or more. It's a major human travesty," Jacobson said.

Jim and Karen have gone much further than influencing immigration policy, Dobrovnik says.

About 18 months ago, the couple and their four children welcomed eight Karen people aged eight to 19 who they came to know well from the orphanages CFI runs in the refugee camps. The Jacobsons had personally promised some of the children's dying parents they'd take responsibility for their offspring.

One of those was Winner Lynn Jacobson. The army took Winner's father away when he was six, never to be seen again.

"We knew what happened to him," said Winner Lynn, 19.

His mother didn't have the ability to care for him and his seven siblings, and they were allowed to enter CFI's orphanage. He arrived in America last June 4. Winner and a brother moved in with the Jacobsons the following month.

In December, a Michigan probate court finalized their adoption. The Jacobsons are believed to be the first U.S. couple to be allowed to adopt a refugee without any birth record.

A HAND UP

Today, says Dobrovnik, Winner studies at the Fairwood Bible Institute in New Hampshire and takes English lessons, all with an eye to one day returning to his homeland where another brother and sister remain.

"My goal is to come here and study as hard as I can, and then go back and help."

The Jacobsons bought the La France motel and converted it into apartments to give the Karen refugees a sense of community. The goal is to "help them get started and mentor them so they can live the American dream," Jacobson said.

"We want them to live on their own, to earn enough money to support themselves -- which they do," said Leslie Askwith, a volunteer English teacher.

Dobrovnik writes that everyone who lives at La France pays rent and every family has at least one member working. Many work at Tech- Optics, which sells re-manufactured ink, toner cartridges and printer repair products. Others, such as Kay Bee, work at the Super Value grocery store.

While the Karen community is scattered across the Sault, most live at the former motel. Askwith says one resident compared their culture to the traditional dish of "sticky rice," in that they like to stay close.

"They're always walking in and out (of each other's apartments). Here, we close our doors; we don't just drop in."

Askwith has written extensively on the community, including a book, 'Karen Women's Folk Food and Stories', published by the local Bayliss Public Library. In the process, she has "come to love" their "absolutely lovely, wonderful, kind and generous" ways.

"It's very satisfying to be able to help people learn to live in the United States and take care of themselves," Askwith said.

All five of the older children "have a vision of going back and serving their people. They want to be trained here and be that next generation of teachers and doctors and medics," Jacobson said.

Jacobson stated: "They're no longer refugees."

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TAGS: USA La France Terrace Motel Thai refugee camp military regime of Burma Karen community Christian faith

[01/22/2010]

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