The following letter was sent in, I think, November, though the copy that reached me was undated.Dear Friends,
Within the past few weeks, I’ve been involved in several events and activities relating to people from Myanmar (Burma), especially those who have come or will be coming to the United States. I’ve also received or been made aware of a variety of informative materials on this subject. It seems appropriate for me to try to gather information about these things as a kind of informal report to a number of groups that I’m working with at this time. What follows will probably turn out rather uneven in consistency, and not all of the material will necessarily be of interest to all of the recipients. However, to avoid having to write about some of the same things in different formats—and to pass the information along in a timely manner—I’m going to ask for your indulgence as you look over what follows. Please feel free to contact me you’d like to discuss any of these matters—or to add to or correct the information I’ve collected.
Seattle meetings
On September 24th and November 17th, informal meetings were held at the Japanese Baptist Church for members of some American Baptist churches in the area that had expressed interest in helping refugees coming from Burma to the Seattle area. Individuals from the following churches attended one or both meetings: Burien Community Church, Chinese Baptist Church, Fremont Baptist Church, Japanese Baptist Church (JBC), Mountlake Terrace First Baptist Church, Seattle First Baptist Church, and University Baptist Church. Though unable to attend the meetings, individuals from Community Church of Issaquah have also participated in the discussions and in related activities. Dr. Marcia Patton, Executive Minister of Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, and Terri Simpkins, national president of American Baptist Women’s Ministries, were also among the participants.
Our special guest at both meetings was Cal Uomoto, Western Washington Director for World Relief, an agency that is helping in the work of resettling refugees from Burma. Cal noted that refugees coming to the Seattle area are settling primarily in South King County (notably in Kent), where housing costs tend to be lower. Some of the material that follows came out of our discussions with Cal.
Help needed for refugees in the Seattle area
World Relief provides a wide range of assistance to refugee families from the time that they arrive in Seattle. They help them get oriented to life here, help them find apartments and jobs, and help them with language and other learning skills. In order to accomplish these things, World Relief depends on assistance from members of the community at large. This is especially important because refugees from Burma are already arriving in large enough numbers to put a strain on volunteer agencies—and Cal Uomoto estimates that they will continue to come to the US at this rate for another two years.
Volunteers are needed in the following roles:
· Host families, with whom newcomers can live for a period of about three weeks while they get oriented to life in the US
· Individuals to help refugees with various errands, including appointments at various agencies
· “Cultural companions” to visit refugee families about twice a month
· Tutors in English language
In addition, household items are needed for families when they aquire their own apartments. These include
· Items of furniture
· Seven different kinds “Replanting Life Kits” of necessary items, specifically
Kitchen kits
Household kits
Bathroom kits
Cleaning supply kits
Adult kits
Child kits
Baby Supply kits
To review the items needed for each kind of kit, you can go on the internet to .
If you or your church would like to be involved in any of these ways, you are encouraged to call World Relief at 206/587-0234. Their Seattle office is located at 316 Maynard Ave. South, Suite 101. Their Kent office is located at 10610 SE Kent-Kangley Road. For more information, go to concerning the national organization or for the local offices.
Coordinating “Replanting Life Kits”
JBC has received some money to purchase items for Replanting Life Kits for World Relief to give to refugee families settling in Seattle. (Keep reading to learn where that money came from.) As of this writing, most of the needed items have been purchased for one Bathroom Kit, and one volunteer has been enlisted to acquire what is necessary for one Kitchen Kit. It has been estimated that the cost of each kit is approximately $65. Long-term items for the kits (such as table settings, cooking utensils, etc.) do not have to be new, as long as they are in good condition. Plans are in the works at JBC to put together a number of Kitchen Kits and Household Kits.
In light of the interest of a number of American Baptist churches in the Seattle area, one interesting possibility would be for different churches to work on different kinds of kits. If we coordinate with one another, we can share items that could be used in each other’s kits. If you are interested in this possibility, please contact Paul Aita at JBC (206/622-7351) or
jbcsrpastor@qwestoffice.net.
JBC’s current funding for this project comes from a concert that was presented by a friend of our congregation, a classical pianist named Sachi Hirakouji. Desiring to help our congregation reach out to Japanese-speaking people in the community, she offered to present a series of concerts with introductions and announcements made in Japanese. Sachi’s second desire was to use net proceeds from such concerts to help support various worthwhile projects. It happened that we were gathering information about refugees from Burma when Sachi came to discuss her idea, and she enthusiastically accepted the idea of preparing Replanting Life Kits using the income from the first concert. As it turned out, the concert was well-attended by both Japanese- and English-speakers and was very successful both in terms of music appreciation and of outreach. Thanks to the graciousness of Dr. Hirakouji, it will also make it possible for JBC to purchase a number of Replanting Life Kits for newcomers from Burma.
Resources
· American Baptist International Ministries has prepared a Global Mission Study Toolkit: Myanmar and Thailand for 2008-9. [The Myanmar focus is on seeking peace and offering refuge. The Thailand focus is on abolishing human trafficking.] Sample copies of these resources were distributed at our November meeting by ABW Ministries President Terri Simpkins.
· Burma Roundtable is the name of a group sponsored by students at the University of Washington. The groups meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the Greenwood Branch of the Seattle Public Library. Interested persons are invited to attend. Joan Bowers of Seattle First Baptist Church attends this group. At the meeting at JBC in November, she announced that the group is selling raffle tickets to raise funds for school supplies for children from Burma now in refugee camps in Thailand.
Burma comes to Kent
Most of you receiving this report know that my wife Gail and I live just outside of Kent, Washington, a city of 80,000+ about 18 miles southeast of Seattle. For some time, we have been aware of a Burmese Fellowship that meets every Sunday afternoon at the First Baptist Church of Kent, as well as of a Chin congregation that meets elsewhere. (I believe they have moved from the Sequoia Baptist Church to a Covenant church in Kent.) We have recently become aware of a Karen congregation that meets at the Kent Memorial Park Building at 850 North Central. I hope to be able to visit that congregation this weekend. Our own nearest neighbors from Burma live three houses from us. They are ethnic Chinese and Buddhist.
Some time ago, Gail discovered that the Kent School District had designated one of the rooms in the school where she teaches—Kent Phoenix Academy—for use in tutoring after school. Among the students who come regularly are many refugees from Burma, some of whom live in the apartments just down the street from the school. Gail has started tutoring in this program on Tuesday afternoons. In the process, she has also learned that the adjoining classroom has been set aside for use as a clothing bank sponsored by the various PTAs in the Kent School District. She and I volunteered there this past Tuesday and met a number of people from Burma.
On Wednesday evening this week, Gail and I attended a presentation at Kent Meridian High School for students in English Language Learning classes (formerly known as English as a Second Language) and their parents. There was a standing-room-only crowd in the large room where we all gathered for the first part of the presentation. Comments made by the teacher in charge were translated into six languages reflecting those present: Swahili, Somali, Burmese, Karen, Spanish, and Russian. Among other things, we learned that this one high school has 299 ELL students. After preliminary comments were made, the group was divided by language. Gail and I joined the group of those who spoke Burmese and/or Karen. Our friend Mimi Dissler, a member of Seattle First Baptist Church, served as Burmese interpreter for this group, as a presentation was made concerning graduation requirements. I counted thirty students and parents in this session.
Special Guest Coming
One of Gail’s and my many dear friends from Burma is Dr. Samuel Ngun Ling, a lecturer at the Myanmar Institute of Theology where we have taught as volunteers for five summers. Dr. Ling (as he is called in America) is also the director of MIT’s Judson Research Center, whose mission is to encourage Christian-Buddhist dialogue. Dr. Ling is currently serving as a guest lecturer at Luther Seminary in St. Paul MN. Gail and I have invited him to our home before he returns to Burma. Though we have not made final arrangements, we are anticipating that he will be with us from about January 9th through the 21st. Though he will not be available on Sunday the 11th or over the holiday weekend from the 17th through the 19th, there should be time for him to meet with various interested individuals and churches on other days. I’m thinking of convening a third meeting of our ad hoc group sometime between the 12th and the 16th, for example, and I’d also love to receive invitations for Dr. Ling to address evening meetings at some of our churches. If you are interested in this possibility, please contact me as soon as possible.
Distribution lists
I have set up a distribution list specifically for material relating to ways that we can offer assistance to refugees from Burma in the Seattle area. If you are not already receiving such materials from me but would like to, please let me know. I’ll be happy to add your name to the list. This particular piece is being sent to that group as well as to JBC’s Outreach (missions) Committee and Diaconate, to officers of the Asian American Baptist caucus, to a number of American Baptist staff members, to pastors and other leaders from Burma whom I’ve met in the United States, and to others I think might be interested. As circumstances warrant, I may prepare similar reports in the future. If you’d prefer not to receive them, please feel free to let me know that too.
Thanks so much for your interest.
With best wishes to you all,
Paul Aita