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Posted in the Charlotte Observer 9/20/2008:

Burmese refugees seek new life in Charlotte

They come by the hundreds, the first group to arrive here from their country. Volunteer helpers are overwhelmed. Government assistance is delayed. So they must rely on the kindness of strangers in a strange land.

By Franco Ordoñez

 
Refugees arriving in North Carolina this year come from 34 different countries.

BURMA: 662

VIETNAM: 197

IRAQ: 101

BHUTAN: 77

BURUNDI: 70

CUBA: 64

SOMALIA: 49

Source: NC State Refugee Office
A wave of Burmese arriving in Charlotte has local agencies and volunteers laboring to meet their needs.

Some of the refugees say they are struggling to get clothes, food and medical care.

Case workers in Charlotte were making two to three trips a day to Charlotte-Douglas airport this summer to pick up Burmese refugees.

“We've just been scrambling to provide above and beyond what we normally do,” said Mary Jane Bruton, the community relations coordinator for the Refugee Resettlement Office of Catholic Social Services.

The rush was caused, in part, because government officials have been working to admit as many refugees as they can before the end of the federal fiscal year this month. It's called the summer bulge – June through September – when nearly half of the year's refugees arrive.

Nowhere is the summer bulge more apparent than with the Burmese, who are the fastest-growing refugee population in North Carolina and around the country. By Aug. 1, 662 Burmese refugees had been placed in North Carolina, compared to 197 from Vietnam and 101 from Iraq, the next highest groups.

More than 1,000 Burmese are expected to be resettled in North Carolina this year, state officials said.

“It's not a problem when you're doing two or three cases a month,” said Marlene Myers, the state's refugee coordinator. “But when you have three in one week, you can see how that'll be a challenge.”

Catholic Social Services, a Charlotte resettlement agency, typically resettles two or three refugee cases a week. Since May, they've received as many as 17 a week, the vast majority Burmese.

Two years ago, Ley A Nge, 20, and her mother fled from their revolution-torn homeland, now known as Myanmar, to Thailand. They lived in a small mountain shack in a refugee camp before coming to the United States. Ley moved to Charlotte on July 8. Her mother came a few weeks later. They now live in a two-bedroom apartment in east Charlotte with another refugee family. The transition has not been easy. Ley's foods stamps were delayed for three weeks, she said, and her mother has yet to receive any. Ley is also almost six months pregnant. For her first two months in the States, she was unable to see a doctor to check on her baby because she didn't have Medicaid yet. She said she cried on a daily basis wondering whether her baby was safe from the long journey here.

Ley said she's been dependent on the kindness of strangers, such as Nudi Lilienthal, the owner of Thai Orchid restaurant. Ley said Lilienthal has given her and several other refugees extra food, clothes, blankets and even a rice cooker. Lilienthal also has taken Ley to the doctor to check on her baby.

“I felt coming to America would be my baby's future,” said Ley, “When I stay in camp in Thailand, I saw America as this great place. America, the picture was so beautiful. Now, I feel like maybe I should go home.”

Catholic Social Services officials said the government is up to three weeks behind getting food stamps to refugees, causing them to look around for other sources of food.

Bruton says the transition is often difficult for those new to the country who don't speak the language. It's been particularly difficult for the Burmese, she said, because of the delays and the fact that they're the first group from their country placed in the community. The majority of refugee cases in Charlotte have populations settled here over a long period of time. The earlier generations can act as ethnic mentors for new arrivals. Some arrive with relatives waiting for them. But for the Burmese, it's all new.

“You can picture how overwhelmed they feel,” Bruton said. “These things take time.”