This is a
picture from my wedding (obviously). Along with me and my husband are Ma San
Htin and her family. Eight years ago I met Ma San Htin and her family. They
were one of the many families from Burma that I met that year, heck, that day!
Thousands of Karen refugees from Burma were being invited to resettle in the
U.S at that time. Looking back on that time, I see how God placed (practically
forced!) Ma San Htin into my life. She has become my sister.
Ma San Htin and
others like her didn't desire or plan to live in America. Her family is from
Burma and are a part of an ethnic minority group- the Karen.
The Karen have
been forced to flee from their villages time and time again. The Burmese army
raids the villages of the Karen, steal the children to be soldiers, rape the
women and abuse or kill anyone they come across. This is not an isolated
experience- this has been happening for decades- families fleeing from one
place to the next to evade the army of their own country.
There came a
point for Ma San Htin and her family when they just couldn't keep doing this,
they had suffered loss and violence and had a new baby to think about. While
their plan, like so many refugees, was to live among their people in their
homeland, violence and persecution took that dream away. They were forced to
flee. They became refugees.
That was a long
time ago- they have been in the U.S for 8 years now. They know the language,
their family has grown and they have a new community. They are also U.S.
citizens now.
This silly
picture was taken as part of the "family" shots. These little girls,
my nieces, were some of my flower girls. They are safe now, they don't have to
run anymore-- and while they even feel, at least, a sense of "home"
here in the U.S, Ma San Htin told me that she will, in a sense, always be a
refugee.
I am walking
because Ma San Htin and her family had to run.
