Refugee longs to give children a vision (with video)

• Htoo

Brian Korthals/Daily Globe May Lary Htoo shows off some of her traditional clothing and pictures from her native Burma.

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WORTHINGTON — The political climate in Burma is such that it isn’t safe for May Lary Htoo to return to her homeland, but she is hopeful that one day she can. She desperately wants to bring hope, vision and a love for learning to the children who fill the refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border.

Htoo is a Burmese refugee, pushed from her homeland by a military regime that set fires to homes, buildings and churches and destroyed the food of its people. The 1988 uprising forced thousands — hundreds of thousands — from their homes.

“There was a lot of danger,” she said. “We felt like we were not safe.”

Htoo heard shelling outside of her family’s home and lived in constant fear of bullets coming through their walls. She said one of her neighbors was killed after she peered around her curtain to see commotion and a bullet went through the window and hit her.

Htoo was about 20 years old when the family finally decided to move.

They settled in a village along the Burma border in hopes they would be safe. Ten months later, however, the elderly, women and children were quickly escorted across the border into Thailand as the Burmese military prepared an attack on the village. Htoo ended up in the Mawkar refugee camp with thousands of other Burmese people. The largest of the refugee camps, Maela, was home to more than 50,000 Burmese people.

While the refugee camp supplied the people with food, water and shelter, it offered little in the sense of community.

“I feel like I’m in house arrest,” Htoo recalled. “Without permission, we can’t go outside camp.”

The camp had a hospital and a school, but little else for the people. They lived in homes made of bamboo — huts, she called them — that offered shelter from the summer heat, cold and rainy seasons. They lived on food delivered by the BBC, including rice and dry beans. They also received salt and oil, and charcoal for fire to cook with. The women with babies received milk, eggs and sardines, and pregnant women received a special ration.

“The children spent their life in the camp. They didn’t have a vision outside camp,” said Htoo.

As for herself, Htoo had a vision — a vision that future generations of children would be educated like the students of other countries.

“The children are thirsty about knowledge,” she said.

She also envisioned that they would one day be safe. Even in a refugee camp, their safety wasn’t guaranteed.

In 1996, the refugee camp where Htoo, along with her husband, Mordecai and two children — the youngest just a month or two old at the time — was attacked by the DKBA. The 6 a.m. attack caught everyone off guard.

“We heard heavy arms and gunshots,” said Htoo, adding that she grabbed her children and ran with them to a cluster of trees in the distance. Later that evening, word had spread that the women and children could return to the camp. Htoo returned to find two other women from the camp dead, and several others injured.

“I lived in the camp but I knew it wasn’t safe,” she said. “Every time we should be ready — our clothes in a bag.”

One night, when her youngest child spoke of his fears, Htoo realized it was time to get out.

“I don’t want my children to be afraid or scared,” she said. “I prayed to God, ‘Please don’t give me a life like this. Please change for my family.’”

She checked into the resettlement program for refugees, and was told the family could go to whatever country it wished, as long as they already had family living there. Htoo, whose mother and four sisters had already relocated to Columbia, S.C., as refugees, had found an open door.

Six months after applying for resettlement, and one week prior to their flight to America, Htoo’s refugee camp was visited by First Lady Laura Bush.

“I would like to thank Laura Bush,” she said. “She encouraged people to have a new life in other countries. She told me that she would help Burma to stop persecution and politics. I believe she will help Burma.

“I believe the American people will help the people of Burma to have freedom and peace in their life,” she added. “I hope something will change in Burma.”

On Aug. 13, 2008, Htoo and the other 10 members of her family landed in South Carolina.

“God changed our lives,” she beamed. “I’m so happy.”

The family settled in Columbia, S.C., and Htoo found a job at a Chick-fil-A restaurant to begin earning money. Four months ago, she and her husband, along with their five children, relocated to Worthington to live closer to some of her friends.

Htoo now works with afterschool programs at the Nobles County Integration Collaborative in Worthington, and also works as an interpreter for several local agencies, translating both Karen and Burma.

While the family is settled, Htoo said she still worries.

“I worry about my new life, with my five children and my husband,” she said. Mordecai lost one of his legs to a landmine in Burma. As for their children, they all attend school in Worthington. They include daughter Austere Hsasoepau Htoo, 16, son Starshine Hsasoenay Htoo, 15, daughter Orchid Hteemooshee Htoo, 13, daughter Ferry Kuheyblu Htoo, 11, and son Dominic Hsernayler Htoo, 10.

While the children are all fluent in English, Htoo said she’s still working on the language. She learned her ABC’s while a youngster in Burma, and picked up the language while working with a non-government organization and Bible school at the refugee camp. She also attended a pre-university and took classes in education.

Htoo hopes one day to be a teacher, and she’d like to do that in either Thailand or Burma.

“If I have a chance to go back and stay there, it would be good,” she said. First, she wants to make sure her own children get a good education.

Htoo said she’s heard reports that things will improve in a few months and refugees will be sent back to their homes, but “they’ve said that before.”

Burma is still a dangerous country.

“We have no human rights and the government has spies and intelligence in all religions and everywhere,” Htoo said. “If they suspect someone is against the government, they capture them and put them in jail. Some are innocent. They get tortured in jail until they die.”

It’s a night and day difference between Burma and the United States.

“When I live in America, I feel I can talk freely,” Htoo said. “We can speak directly of our feelings.”

The Htoo family has embraced life in America, and particularly life in Worthington. They attend services at Indian Lake Baptist Church, buy their groceries at the Asian Market and have developed a taste for American foods.

“We live in America and try to eat American. I like cheese,” Htoo said with a laugh, adding that she tries to incorporate cheese into most of the dishes she makes.

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