Refugees from Burma


 

Protest painting by refugee artist Kyaw Win

From late 2006 to about 2016, one of the largest set of arrivals to World Relief Atlanta and the US as a whole were refugees from Burma.  Most of the early arrivals came from two distinct people groups: the Karen and the Chin. Later, a wider variety of groups began to come such as the Karenni, Rakhine, and Rohingya. Other individual families came from some of the hundreds of other ethnic minorities in the country (Mon, Shan, Pa-O) or, in some cases, were from the majority ethnic Burmese (Bamar) but had to flee oppression following anti-government demonstrations in 1988 and 2008.


Burmese Minorities: 
Photos of resettlement of refugee families from Burma in Atlanta


All these refugees from the country of Burma (now officially called Myanmar) faced persecution at the hands of a military government because their communities dared to question, challenge, and fight for basic rights. Most faced a long history of abuse by the Burmese military as forced labor or underwent dislocation as the army took over village areas for its own use. Even though the leadership changed to a form of democracy in recent years (thanks in large part to pressure from those who left), it still does not represent the minority groups of the country well and tension and fighting continue. 

Despite coming from the same country, these groups all have different languages and traditions and even rather different refugee experiences in their countries of first asylum.  Now they are all arriving to Atlanta to learn and adjust together. Learn more about the individual groups by clicking the tabs below. 

 

You may also be interested to read the excellent culture profile on the Burmese by the Center for Applied Linguistics:

 

Refugees from Burma – Their Background and Experience