Monday has been designated as World Refugee Day. Increasingly Marshall and the surrounding area is becoming more diverse because of refugees and immigrants. The newest refugee group is the Karen people of Burma.
Many of the Karen in Marshall work at Turkey Valley Farms and the Schwan Food Co. and attend the First Baptist Church in Marshall.
The Rev. Greg Linscott, the pastor at First Baptist, said the church has "had a significant Karen contingent attend on Sundays since August 2010, and we began a simple English Bible study for them a little over a month ago that meets each Sunday night, led by the Rev. Dwight DePenning, who also serves as pastor of Harvest Baptist in Redwood Falls. Dwight and his wife, Sheila, have also been regular volunteers with the ESL program put on by Marshall Adult Basic Education."
Taw Mu Htoo and Nay Blut Soe attend the Bible lessons at the church as well as the English as a Second Language lessons.
Taw Mu Htoo is 20 years old, and works at Turkey Valley Farms. Nay Blut Soe is also 20 and plans to start work at Turkey Valley soon.
Taw Mu Htoo said coworkers ask him if he is from China.
They both agreed that learning English is hard and adjusting to America and in particular Minnesota is not easy, but "the more you live here the easier it gets," said Taw Mu Htoo.
"Taw Mu Htoo lived for most of his young life in Thailand in a refugee camp," said ESL instructor Candace Thomas.
Both attended LEAP high school in St. Paul before moving to Marshall. LEAP is a program that serves students who are new arrivals to the United States, or have limited English skills.
The refugees from Burma are among the individuals, including Somali and Hmong, who gather at the community room at Sunrise Apartments on Birch Street for English lessons. The ones with more experience in the language practice reading and writing. Students just starting out are learning how to respond when someone asks their name and are learning colors and numbers as well as the alphabet.
The Karen and Karenni people are ethnic groups in Burma, said Thomas.
"The Karen are from the Karen State and Karenni are from the Kayah State in Burma," Thomas said.
The name of Burma was changed to Myanmar in 1989 but most ethnic groups call it Burma. The country is under a military dictatorship.
"The U.S. doesn't recognize the government in Myanmar; we all call it Burma," she said.
"The Karen and Karenni have been oppressed because of different ethnicities," she added.
"The Karen (pronounced Ka-REN) are the indigenous ethnic minority in the mountainous regions of Burma and Thailand, where they constitute the second largest ethnic group in each country. The Karen have been persecuted by the Burmese military junta, who have conducted acts of genocide against the Karen people in Burma and in Karen refugee camps in Thailand. Many Karen families who fled Burma and Thailand have settled in St. Paul. Currently, St. Paul is home to the largest population of Karen outside southeast Asia," according to mnkaren.org.
In addition, "people from Burma have now exceeded the number of refugees coming from Somalia," Thomas said.
"Minnesota is a popular secondary destination because we have many faith-based and ethnic organizations, especially in the Twin Cities area, that work with refugees to help them get settled, find work, et cetera," Thomas said.
Linscott said that church members have been trying to start a community garden on the church grounds but the soil has been too wet to start one.
"We have made some other efforts as a church to help, including transportation and occasional mentoring," he said.
"I know a few people complain about 'all these new people taking our jobs,' but the reality is these new people will keep our communities and school districts alive and populated, especially as our European heritage population ages," Thomas said. "They strengthen our tax base and contribute to our civic life. My observations about the Karen and Karenni who are here are that they are hard-working and interested in education for themselves and their children."
