RICHMOND, Va. — They were three fairly typical goals for a high school student — to pass government and geometry in summer school and obtain a driving learner’s permit. But for Say Wah, these goals represented escape from oppression, an adjustment to a new society and a hope for a better life.
The 21-year-old refugee, who moved to Richmond, Va., with her family in 2007, is a member of the Karen people, an ethnic minority group from eastern Burma that has suffered religious and political persecution by the country’s military dictatorship since 1962. Armed government troops raid and destroy unarmed Karen villages, destroy food supplies, rape, torture and kill, forcing the Karen to live in hiding or flee to refugee camps on the Thailand border.
Tabernacle Baptist started Sunday school classes specifically for church members from Burma. (Photo courtesy of Tabernacle Baptist Church)
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Say Wah is one of tens of thousands of Karen who have been accepted for resettlement in the United States in recent years. Her family, other Karen and members of other ethnic minority groups from Burma, including the Chin, Karenni and Kachin, have found a spiritual home at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond.
Tabernacle members welcomed Say Wah’s family when they arrived in Richmond on July 4, 2007. The church started a Sunday school class for its approximately 40 members from Burma. The class includes English training, living skills and Bible study. The church also provides transportation to its Sunday services and Wednesday night activities, and offers tutoring for Karen and other international students.
Church members help meet other needs as they arise, which include going to a student’s home to help with a class project and accompanying refugee families to apply for government assistance or to enroll their children in school. Some church members have helped Karen adults learn to drive.
When church members heard about Say Wah’s summer goals, they joined with her to overcome obstacles. Her brother drives their parents to work and couldn’t take Say Wah to school. So a handful of ministers and lay leaders took turns driving Say Wah to school each day and helped her with her homework. They also helped her study for her driver’s learning permit exam.
Say Wah resettled to the United States, where she and her family were welcomed by Tabernacle Baptist Church. (Photo courtesy of Tabernacle Baptist Church)
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By the end of the summer, Say Wah had passed both classes — crucial milestones in her effort to graduate from high school this year — and obtained her driver’s license learner’s permit.
As the Karen have resettled across the U.S., many have sought out Baptist churches. Their connection to the Baptist faith is traced back to American Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson, who arrived in Burma in 1813. The Karen were some of the earliest converts to Christianity in southeast Asia, and the Karen church grew quickly.
Duane and Marcia Binkley, jointly commissioned by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and American Baptist Churches USA, have a long relationship with the Karen people. They were appointed as American Baptist missionaries to Thailand in 1982, where they served for approximately 20 years.
Now, the Binkleys live in Ohio and draw on their experience with the Karen to bridge gaps between refugees and churches in the U.S. The Binkleys know of 160 churches across the U.S. that have connected with Karen, Chin and others from Burma.
“We try to be a bridge between the Karen people and our Baptist congregations. We introduce them to churches, provide resources to churches and give cultural advice,” Duane Binkley said.
The Binkleys assisted Tabernacle by speaking with the refugees in the Karen language and introducing them to life in America. Duane also introduced church members to the Karen, explaining why they are being resettled, their history and their Baptist connection.
The Binkleys provide Karen-language Sunday school materials and other resources for Karen people and churches. They also connected Tabernacle to Karen-language Bibles and hymnals.
“He helped us get over a big hurdle,” said Eric Hasha, associate pastor for youth and young adults at Tabernacle.
Although language and cultural differences initially inhibited interaction between the Karen and other members at Tabernacle, the congregation is overcoming those barriers, moving from the “awkward stage” to the “family stage,” Hasha said.
American church members call the Karen by name, both groups share each other’s food at fellowship events, and they share their love of music. The Karen know many traditional Baptist hymns. The Lily of the Valley was one of the first hymns sung simultaneously in Karen and English by the congregation.
Hasha said the congregation recognizes how Judson’s work to spread the gospel in Burma nearly 200 years ago has come full circle; now Baptists in the United States are being blessed by the Karen’s presence in American churches.
“Before the Karen came, we were very invested in our community, but we were committed without a sense of direction,” Hasha said. “Then when the Karen came, it really forged an identity and a sense of where God is leading us as a congregation.”
Charlotte Tubbs is a contributing writer to fellowship!, the CBF’s magazine, in which this article originally appeared. It is reprinted by permission.