We all have a story to tell. We all have many stories to tell. :-) My new job requires me to ask and record the stories of refugees who have fled their countries and are applying to flee again from their country of asylum; their final destination being the United States . I recorded some of my first persecution stories today. It’s one thing to read through numerous stories that have already been completed; it’s another thing completely to be sitting in front of a family while they are recalling their flight of persecution. I don’t know how to explain the emotions that emerge while listening to their stories and trying to diplomatically record. A young family of five sat before me this afternoon. The wife was a tailor in her home in Burma . She had a little shop. One rainy day the rebel group came into her shop to get out of the rain. The military found out. They imprisoned her and threatened her life. They told her if they heard of anymore encounters with the rebels she would be tortured and killed. She was detained underground; beneath the local police station. Two days later, after her family had bribed a police officer with a large sum of money, she was released. Time passed by. One afternoon as she was pounding rice in her home, the rebels again walked in. They didn’t speak to her, they didn’t harm her; their presence alone endangered her life and the lives of her family. That evening she was attending a worship service at the church when her brother found her frantically and told her to hide – the military had heard of the rebel visit earlier that day. She was in danger. So she hid. She hid in an open tomb. And then she ran. For days, by foot, until she reached Thailand and then Malaysia . She is now safe. Her husband caught up with her months later after escaping imprisonment from the military due to her absence.
I’ve got some crazy stories to tell in my life; but hiding in a tomb…in a cemetery…I can’t beat that. Nor fleeing by foot through the jungles and mountains of Burma . I drove through the Thailand side of those mountains just the other day. They were majestic. And for the hiking enthusiast they would be grand. :-) But I would not survive that hike by foot. And especially not alone. And the jungles in Burma , well…they are something fierce. This woman is a year younger than I am. She and her husband now have three young daughters. The youngest is still nursing. He has been learning English and the girls are excited to go to school – they only had the opportunity to learn from a volunteer teacher in an informal classroom. I’m glad I’m not the officer to make the decision on their case. I don’t know how I could turn them away.
I am now in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia for the next couple of weeks. We are interviewing cases at the UNHCR compound before the state department comes in and gives the final decision on each case. I will see an average of 5-6 families each day; recording and verifying information, as well as writing their stories of persecution.
I looked up the word “persecute” in the dictionary. It is defined as to oppress or harass with ill-treatment. Persecution by definition is the act or practice or persectuting on basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecuter. And to “oppress” is to keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority; to weigh heavily on; to crush. To cause to suffer.
I want to keep perspective when working at this job. I don’t want to get caught up in the emotions of the persecution stories; nor do I want to be desensitized to the reality of what is really happening. Each of us suffers from a form of persecution; each of us has oppressed someone in one form or another. The extent of that persecution is vastly diverse and how we decide to live with it and what we do with it is up to us individually. But what if we don’t have a choice in our physical safety? What if our persecution stories, our suffering, is too much to bear? Where do we turn for help? I think too often we turn inward and the answers become hard to find. I imagine that feeds the suffering to continue. I also imagine it causes those who are in our lives to suffer as well. And I’m learning through my travels and through my work that we are not here to suffer alone.
For those of you interested, I found a couple websites that have many good articles as well as photos of both the Burmese Karen (who I've been working with in Mae La) and the Burmese Chin (who I'm now working with in KL, Malaysia.) The photoset on the KHRG site is good. And pretty much what it looks like up there. :-) And the articles on the CHRO site are very interesting. Though after reading a couple of the persecution stories it becomes difficult to continue. I'm hoping my job doesn't! :-)
http://www.khrg.org
http://www.chro.org
Hope you are all well! I'd love to hear you. It's a bit isolated traveling and not having internet. It's been hard to find these past few weeks and we've been working really long hours so my energy to find a wireless Starbucks is low. :-) But I'm doing well and enjoying this new challenge.
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