Bethel students visit Thailand after immigrating to U.S.

Several K nyaw students visited Thailand as part of a Bethel University class in January It was the first time a multitude of returned to the country since immigrating to the United States as children Led by professor Ripley Smith and Jesse Phenow students spent days in the country visiting local students staying with host families meeting group leaders and learning more about the K nyaw people the diaspora and conflict in Myanmar Five of those students at the Arden Hills private school are K nyaw often known as the Karen With their families they had immigrated to the U S after leaving refugee camps K nyaw people in Thailand More than million people in Myanmar formerly known as Burma have been displaced in the country s four-year civil war since a military coup seized power from the elected establishment in according to the Associated Press Thailand hosts more than refugees from Myanmar in nine temporary shelters along its western edge with Myanmar Around of camp residents are from the Karen ethnic minority There are numerous ethnic minority groups within Burma that have been persecuted The K nyaw have been maybe the longest that have suffered the persecution because the Burmese ruling body after World War II saw them as a particular threat because of their close relationship with the British when the British left Smith reported More than Karen people live in the state making it the largest district of the ethnic group in the U S according to the Karen Organization of Minnesota a social services agency for refugees Meeting family public leaders Students went to a number of cities including Chiang Mai Mae Sot and Bangkok They visited refugee camps met local students and learned more about the lives of refugees in Thailand Sophomores Shem Paw and Htee Wah Moo were also able to meet family members still in Thailand The students also met with society leaders and organizations such as Karen Environmental and Social Action System or KESAN an Indigenous organization focusing on social and environmental issues One of the means the conflict has been perpetuated by the Burmese majority the junta that s in power is to destroy the K nyaw circumstances because in Burma they re largely an agricultural financial system and so by destroying the surroundings they destroy the villages and their lifestyle Smith explained Not long after the visit by the students USAID funding to Thailand and other countries around the world was cut off The proximity to having just been there and having family there and then when those cuts are made it just makes it more real of the impact Smith stated Reconnecting with their heritage Besides learning about the work of region organizations and the K nyaw people students also had a chance for fun from visiting local markets and an elephant sanctuary to feeding water buffalo to staying with host families And they fed us homemade Karen food It was so good I ate so much Paw revealed It was the second year the trip was held but it will not be offered in the next school year according to Bethel University For a multitude of this was a profoundly meaningful opportunity to engage with the country s society and history especially for students returning to their homeland and reconnecting with their heritage The trip exemplified the transformational prospective of global learning and reflected Bethel s commitment to intercultural engagement rooted in Christ Virginija Wilcox associate dean of international students and off-campus programs announced in a announcement The shoes of my parents my grandparents By the end Paw didn t want to leave she reported Sophomore Nay Seya declared he thinks the students sense of pride in their K nyaw practices grew Our parents talk about the oppression the struggles the hopes Seya disclosed But for me at least I couldn t really take in all the complexities of it I could only sympathize with the problems But then once I went to Thailand went to the camps interacted had cultural exchange with the students and in the end I got to embrace my heritage And then that sympathy became empathy so I could certainly put myself into the shoes of the students into the shoes of my parents my grandparents Students Seya Paw Moo Lulu Shwe and Kue Say all work on scholarship or do work-study at the Urban Village a St Paul nonprofit co-founded by Phenow that provides mentorship to Karen and Karenni youth Going to Thailand was the perfect opportunity to embrace our values and then come back and reconnect it with the youth here especially in Minnesota Seya revealed Despite the conflict plenty of are not familiar with the K nyaw people But after meeting with population leaders and locals such as Shee Lay a Karen general students also saw the impact and influence they can bring back home to the United States For us I think the one metaphor the general directly stated to us K nyaw students was our words reach way farther than his guns which basically means we have more of an influence outside of the K nyaw boundaries Seya declared So like over there he can t reach the K nyaw people in foreign countries like the U S So it s our jobs or we re obligated to speaks about the despair the oppression and the hopes of our people Related Articles U of M researchers are planting survivor trees in hopes of defeating Dutch elm infection Various states reexamine school discipline as Trump order paves go-ahead Rapidly expanding school voucher programs pinch state budgets Hill-Murray School breaks ground on M candidate union Belgian princess left in doubt about her Harvard future following Trump s foreign novice ban