(As published by the Fairfield Weekly, November 15, 2007. Everything interview-related by me. Additional reporting by Chandra Niles Folsom)
The Burma we hear about on the news today was once the "rice bowl" of Asia. Rich with all the natural resources and beauty a country would ever need, it was sometimes referred to as the Venice of the East. Today, Burma is a place where the "children have no future," according to Eh Lay, 34, and Po Ya Ko, 36, two Burmese refugees living in Bridgeport.
"People have no rights and they are at the mercy of the troops," said Tint Sheppard, a volunteer works Burmese refugee families in Bridgeport, including those of Eh Lay and Po Ya Ko. She left Burma with her family as a young child. She coordinates her efforts with the International Institute of Connecticut (IIC) in Bridgeport, but she works on her own time. She helps them write letters, find things like blankets and clothes, and generally adapt.
A member of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and recognized by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals, the International Institute has assisted more than 100,000 immigrants and refugees since 1918. Their volunteers offer services ranging from refugee resettlement services and job training to immigration counseling and pro bono court representation with special assistance to human trafficking victims.
"The Burmese-Myanmar refugees were in camps for years and the U.S. had asked the Thai government to host them," says Myra Oliver, director of the institute for the past 30 years. "But the problems in Thailand have been mounting and the Burmese who escaped from various countries kept piling up, so finally we started taking them in as refugees.
Eh Lay and Po Ya Ko have spent most of their lives in refugee camps in Thailand. Until now, their entire lives were centered on surviving, without hope of ever having a home of their own. They now share a three-family apartment building in Bridgeport with their wives and children and one other refugee family. They have American bank accounts, their children are in school, their wives are working at a factory in Milford and their apartments are furnished.
Speaking to Eh Lay and Po Ya Ko, through Sheppard as an interpreter, it was inspiring to see how high the men's spirits were in spite of recent news of poverty, torture and murder in Burma. Far from these tragedies, the simply-dressed men were in the IIC building to sort out some issues with food stamps and to discuss employment possibilities. They're as uprooted but they're with their families and they're getting by.
When they first arrived, the three families shared one head of cabbage, a bag of rice and a few onions but today consider themselves well-fed.
One major difficulty they're facing is how their children are being bullied in school for not knowing English, but they're working with the schools to alleviate this problem.
They described their new life in Bridgeport (they've been here four months) as a difficult and anxious one, but also as a massive relief of freedom from refugee camp life, and even more of a relief from life in Burma. Namely, they can now come and go from their homes as they please and they can begin building their lives on their own terms.
Both saw people getting picked up for forced labor by the military government. The soldiers would show up at Po Ya Ko's village and take any male older than 12 or 13, putting them to work on roads and buildings across the country. There is no avoiding this, Po Ya Ko said, and that's why it was necessary to escape with the rebels when he and his family had the chance.
Eh Lay's life in Burma was intertwined with the rebel forces. His adopted brothers were among 41 rebels who were imprisoned in Rangoon by the government, because of a spy in their midst. Eh Lay's mother would bribe the guards at the prison and bring the men food. Their lives became very dangerous after this. She quickly became a government target and had no choice but to send her daughters to Thailand with her brother, who was a rebel smuggling goods into Burma. She was later able to escape with Eh Lay and his brothers before her scheduled arrest thanks to tips from the guards at the prison.
They left grandparents, friends and imprisoned loved-ones behind, but live was only about survival—no room for rememberance—in the camps. Because of malnourishment, Po Ya Ko's parents died from cholera shortly after crossing the border into Thailand and he worked with his sisters and brothers to stay alive and healthy in the camps. Eh Lay said that despite being separated from their homes, it was refreshing to be fed regularly and put in schools.
Eh Lay escaped Burma when he was a boy and has since spent 19 years, more than half his life, in refugee camps. Po Ya Ko, who escaped Burma in 1985, when he was 12. He spent 22 years in the camps.
Today, with both their wives working, the men are eagerly awaiting jobs. IIC is helping them with this, as well as many other social services and a local Laotian family is also helping them. Eh Lay has an interview coming up with a packaging company in Shelton. He is a musician too, and is hoping to find a used keyboard to play. The men explained a sport they enjoy together, what they called "Kim Ball," that is a cross between volleyball and soccer. The IIC was able to find an authentic ball from Thailand made from a native plant.
They said they're waiting for the conditions in Burma to improve, but they expect to stay in America for a "long time."
