Myanmar Refugees Flock To Triangle
Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007 - 01:33 PM Updated: 08:48 PM
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Save This PageCHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A growing number of refugees from Burma, now called Myanmar, are flocking to the Triangle with help from Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, or LFS.
Currently there are about 200 refugees in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, and LFS expects hundreds more to relocate there and to Raleigh in the coming months.
One Burmese family who left a refugee camp along the Thailand border came to seek out a better quality of life right here in North Carolina.
Htoo Saw Ywa and his family live in this North Raleigh apartment, a big change from their bamboo and thatch hut in Thailand.
"The conditions is terrible because we're surrounded by Burmese warriors and we're not allowed to go anywhere," said Htoo Saw Ywa, a refugee from Myanmar.
Htoo Saw is a political and religious refugee from the Karen region of Myanmar -- a country that is now under military control.
They came to the US from a refugee camp in Thailand almost three years ago.
Now, Htoo Saw and his family are in Raleigh, with the help of Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, or LFS, an organization that has helped resettle refugees in the triangle for decades.
Each refugee receives $425 from the US government to help get them started with things like housing and food, but LFS says the main goal of its resettlement program is self-sufficiency.
Something Htoo Saw and his family have achieved. Htoo Saw works at a nearby Sam's Club.
Wife Lar Kee also works and takes care of their three kids -- two of whom attend Wake County Schools.
"I like the weather very much. Number two is you can move freely. It's not like Thailand where police always watch out for you," said Ywa.
Htoo Saw likes it so much he's trying to help his brother and sister-in-law relocate to Raleigh.
Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas is one of two resettlement agencies in the Triangle.
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