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Werribee youths’ mission to Burma

By Sherinald Shwe

Lwe Moo San Tay, Sheri Shwe and Myo Toke are returning to the Thai-Burma border to help their people.

MYO Toke was just four when he and his family were forced to flee from their Karen village in north-east Burma when it was burned down by soldiers.

"At the time I wasn’t scared. I didn’t know the danger we were in when our village was attacked because I was running with my family and I felt very safe," says Myo, now 19.

Picture: DAVID SMITH, Leader Community Newspapers

Myo and his family hid in a cave for hours before they could return to the village to gather what was left of their belongings. Then they headed to the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border.

Times were hard as they struggled to adapt to living in the camp and often there wasn’t enough food to go around.
This is the harsh reality of life for the Karen people who have been fighting for an independent state in Burma for more than 60 years. The Karen continue to be oppressed, tortured and killed by the Burmese military because they want their freedom.

Myo and his family are now happy to be living in Werribee, where many other Karen now have homes, but he has not forgotten his roots and will soon return to the Thai-Burma border to help his people.

“I spent 15 years of my life in Mae La refugee camp with nothing. Now Australia has given me hope and freedom but my Karen people are still suffering and being displaced; that’s why I want to go back and contribute in any way that I can,” Myo says.

Myo is one of 12 Karen youths, now living mostly in the Hobsons Bay and Wyndham areas, preparing to make their first trip back to the border refugee camps to link up with other Karen youth and non-government organisations.

The group will take part in leadership workshops and, when they can, they will visit family and friends who live there. They will also be able to reconnect with their past and discuss how they can help each other.

Lwe Moo San Tay, 21, will also be traveling back to the refugee camps with the group as part of the Karen Young Adult Leadership Program.

"I want to share my new experience in Australia with the youths back in the refugee camps and I want to show them that they are not forgotten," she says.

Such a potentially life-changing journey doesn’t come cheap and is out of reach for many of the group’s members who are mostly students.

The KYALP group has already held two fundraising events but is still struggling to reach the target of $5000 needed to pay for the trip. The group is welcoming any donations.

SHERINALD Shwe, the young Laverton woman who wrote the above story, has herself experienced the trauma of fleeing her home and country.

When she was seven, she and her family, including her father, a Karen military commander, were forced to run for their lives when their home was attacked by the Burmese military.

"We had to leave everything and walk through the jungle for a few days until we arrived at a temporary refugee camp", she said.

"That was burned down by the Burmese military so we lived in another refugee camp for two years before coming to Australia."

Miss Shwe wrote of her friends’ experiences as a participant in a New Australia Media program designed to give young migrants an opportunity to tell their stories in the mainstream media with the help of journalist mentors.

Leader Newspapers is a key media partner.