YA LEUM.26 — Alliance of Chin Refugees, a training in Kuala Lumpur
After the touristic time in Georgetown and sleeping at a Sihk temple, we decided to return to Kuala Lumpur to continue with our mission to work in nonprofit organizations around the world. While I was in Kuala Lumpur on my own, I have visited the Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR).
Back in Kuala Lumpur, we looked for an affordable accommodation close to the organization.
We visited a couple of places and to one of them, we asked the possibility to exchange work for accommodation. The owner liked the idea. He said he needed someone to set up the marketing of the gym and asked what we could offer. That sounded interesting, however we doubted whether we would have enough time to work in the hotel and volunteer at ACR.
So, he said he would offer us a free night in the hotel, so we could think!
Really? Yes, we stayed one free night in a hotel!
Finally, we decided to not accept the offer since he wanted almost a full time commitment…
The other option was to return to the first volunteer place I did in Kuala Lumpur two weeks before.
Although a bit further, that is what we decided. Still, a fun story to remember.
I got to know Alliance of Chinn Refugees thanks to an online research. As usual, I contacted them and offered my services to facilitate a training that would fit the organizational needs. They loved the idea! The senior manager hosted me in his office and we had a frank and honest conversation about the challenges they faced.
ACR is the Chin Refugee Community center that assists the asylum-seeker and refugee living in Malaysia, waiting to relocate to the “third-country”, as they call. The main services provided by the Center are Education for children, Legal Assistance and Healthcare. The community center is organized entirely by the Chin refugees. Children are not entitled to free education since they do not have a legal status in the country, so they are treated as other foreigners.
The Chin state is a mountainous region in west Myanmar, bordering India and Bangladesh. The Chins are one of the major ethnics groups in Myanmar, and are mostly Christian.
Since the 1960’s they have been governed by the Burmese military, where their communities have been persecuted, tortured, discriminated and abused for their culture and religion.
Therefore, a big number of Chin people fled Myanmar to neighboring countries such as Thailand, India, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
In Malaysia, they hold a “Refugee Card” given by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, the “Refugee Card” is still an illegal status not allowing them to find proper work, register the children in school, have access to proper health or quality housing…
Malaysia is only a temporary solution because it does not accept asylum-seekers, so Chin people wait for the decision of the court about the “third country”.
The “third countries” are the countries where a Chin person get settled (USA, Canada, Sweden…), but that decision can take years…
The position of the Chin community is vulnerable since many take advantage of the situation by using their temporary UNCHR card for blackmail…
If the UNCHR card is withdrawn, they have no place left to go since returning to Myanmar is a synonym of being persecuted and arrested.
We agreed with ACR, I would lead a 10 days training of skills development with the teachers of the school (refugees themselves) and Mathieu would teach History and Geography to the kids.
We were so excited and happy to do this together!
Mathieu carefully prepared the lessons since he is also a history passionate.
My task was to deliver an emotional intelligence training, so they could be more organized, become more expressive and more proactive in the school tasks.
I talked to the group of teachers individually, so I could prepare the training, and some told me they have not been home for 10 years, missing their children growing up and the death of the loved ones. They kept contact by phone, when it was possible, because even their families can be persecuted by the Buddhist’ movements.
They shared their concerns, stories, and hopes. They smiled every time, telling about the past that stayed in Myanmar and the on-hold future that was given to strangers to decide. They smiled, to hide the sorrow.
The emotional intelligence training I usually deliver is about developing self-awareness, observe and learn about own emotions, develop empathy, and set goals.
This time I had to do it differently.
How can I tell them to set goals, if they do not know where they will be in the next month, year, or decade?
How can I talk about emotions, when they are the ones regulating the fear, uncertainty, and sadness, from the last decade?
How can I talk about empathy, when they offer their services to their community without asking anything in return?
How can I talk about dreams, if the future is uncertain and safety is still just a dream?
Emotional intelligence? Does this even make sense?
Who am I, to try to talk about something that they know already in their hearts?
Do I really know anything about fear and uncertainty?
It would be immoral and arrogant to raise such topics.
Perhaps, the most challenging training I had to design so far.
I designed the sessions keeping in mind everything the teachers told me in the individual sessions, so I could respect their space and privacy but still give them a moment of joy and hope.
They all have their dreams and hopes, specially the young ones. They want to become full time teachers, doctors or work in social work.
“But now, it is time to wait”, they said.
They cannot start studies, a legal job, to find a house, to start a life, or immerse fully in place knowing they will not stay in Malaysia.
So, how could I be any useful to them?
What should be my role here?
What would they like to receive?
I had to come back to the initial reason of being there, the foundation of my inner mission to bring softness in people’s lives.
So, I decided to create a space where they could feel lighter; they could retrieve their identity for a moment, remember about who they are, and enjoy a space of acceptance for what they feel and what they believe.
The first sessions felt like my first time ever leading a workshop. I was anxious because I could not imagine, not even a bit, how they would react to my exercises and questions. I knew back in Europe it was a great way to do things, but in this context, I had no idea.
Yet, this was only a misconception, because we, Humans, everywhere in the world, are united by the pursuit of becoming the best version of ourselves.
We, Humans, seek peace with ourselves and with the world;
We, Humans, want to feel good with our choices;
We, Humans, hope for a better tomorrow;
We, Humans, want to be better and do better for others.
We all may differ in context, stories, beliefs or fears but the quest to live who we really are, connect us as human beings; and that shows us we are all coming from the same source.
September 2017,
Patricia Assis
