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Flint couple helping refugees from



Subject: Flint couple helping refugees from Burma settle here

The Flint Journal
(Flint, Michigan)
Thursday, November 25,1999

Flint couple helping refugees from Burma settle here

By Betty Brenner 
JOURNAL RELIGION EDITOR

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki saw the 1988 uprising in Rangoon, Burma, first-hand.

Buddhists, the Kawasakis had gone to Rangoon to meditate. What they witnessed
spurred them into a life-long dedication to Burmese refugees, starting with
regular shipments of relief supplies to Dr. Kyaw Thet Oo's medical clinics in
the jungle on the Burmese-Thai border.

So it was natural that the Flint couple would help Dr. Oo and other refugees
from the repressive government of Burma resettle in Flint.

They bought outright a two-story, five-bedroom home on Flint's east side that
houses the Oo family of five plus two other young male Burmese refugees.

At least seven more Burmese are expected to arrive here by the end of the year
- assisted by efforts of the Kawasakis and the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Flint, which has partnered with the couple to help the refugees. Two - both
handicapped - will live with the Oo family. One lost his leg in a land mine
explosion.

The Kawasakis turned to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Flint to help the
Oo family because of the church's previous resettlement efforts. Church members
responded by providing furnishings and clothing, cutting through the red tape
for Supplemental Security Income and offering lessons in the English language.

Now the Kawasakis are buying a second house a block away for at least five of
the additional immigrants expected to arrive by the end of the year. Just how
many more will come is not known.

The newcomers are expected to join the Oos for communal dining.

And the Kawasakis, who incorporated as the nonprofit Burmese Relief Center -
U.S.A., continue to raise funds for Burmese refugees in Thailand. They are
hiring Dr. Oo to help with files, writing and translating.

The Kawasakis are appealing for funds for more than 100,000 Burmese refugees
living in Thai camps near the border with Burma. Many are stranded on islands
in the river that separates Thailand from Burma or in the Thai jungle, where
they have no food, water or shelter and are at risk of dysentery and malaria.

The relief center has a parallel organization operating in Japan, where the
Kawasakis taught school for 17 years. They moved here four months ago to care
for Visakha's mother.

Visakha Kawasaki was raised on Flint's east side, but she and her husband were
in Japan when they went to Rangoon to meditate.  There they witnessed
demonstrations against the Burmese government and a massacre in the city of
Sagaing.

Once a year, they visit the refugee camps.

Visakha said they had seen the Unitarian church successfully resettle
Vietnamese refugees. "It was a model. We felt confident it would happen again."

And they say their confidence was well placed.

Officially, sponsors for the Oos are Robert Brown of the Unitarian church and
the Catholic Social Services of Lansing.  Brown spent many hours repairing the
house, with the help of 20 to 25 others.

"He has patched every crack, fitted every loose pipe and strengthened every
weak spot he could find," the Kawasakis wrote in their publication, "Relief
Notes."

Two church members--Sue Kirby and Gloria Goldsmith--teach English to the
children and Oo's wife, Zune May Ngae.

The congregation is pleased with its efforts, said Ruth Bauer, a member of the
church's Social Concerns Committee. "All I hear is,'When do more come?'"

Contributions to aid the Burmese Relief Center--USA can be sent to 2128
Missouri Ave., Flint, MI, 48506-3797


http://home.earthlink.net/~brelief/index.htm