The Right Connections Spark a Miracle

A Simple E-mail Brings Justice to 1,000 Burmese Refugees.

by Peter Vander Meulen and Tracy Young

By all accounts, Phun Khuah Lian led a very hard life. Because of his Christian faith and his political convictions Phun was beaten and jailed in his homeland of Myanmar (formerly called Burma). He was separated from his wife and four children. He lived a life of fear and daily uncertainty. But today Phun and his family enjoy a safe and hopeful future, thanks to one e-mail and one person's concern for justice.

Phun is of the Chin tribe, a hill tribe evangelized by Baptist missionaries early in the 20th century. For various reasons, the repressive military government of Myanmar that seized power in the early 1960s treats the hill tribes with contempt. Phun was treated worse than most. But in November 2000 he managed to escape Myanmar undetected and fled to the U.S. territory of Guam.

Phun was one of more than 1,000 Burmese refugees seeking asylum in Guam in late 2000 and early 2001. Though they were safe from physical abuse, the refugees found themselves in dire straits. Crammed into rented houses and jail cells, dependant on the good will of the Guamese for food and shelter, they were powerless to pursue their goal of a new life with their families in a safe and welcoming place.

The wait for interviews with U.S. immigration officials was long. No refugee could legally work or move out of Guam to join relatives and friends in the United States. Immigration authorities expected the legal limbo to last up to 10 years for some of the refugees.

But in early 2001, a miracle happened. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service broke all its rules. It decided that Phun and 1,000 other Burmese stuck in Guam, jobless and crowded, could go settle in the States while their asylum claims were being examined.

This miracle began with one person who saw an injustice and did the right thing. Henry DeVries, a long-term missionary for Christian Reformed World Missions stationed in Guam, tapped out an e-mail message to his friend Epke vander Berg, who worked for a refugee assistance organization in Grand Rapids, Mich., called PARA. DeVries asked for help for 1,000 powerless Burmese refugees on Guam. Vander Berg, in turn, knew the refugees needed more help than he or PARA could give. He contacted the CRC's Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action (OSJHA). But what could this two-person office do? How could it break through an indifferent U.S. bureaucracy and help resettle a thousand refugees into new lives?

The OSJHA didn't have the power all by itself either, but it did have the knowledge. By plugging in churches, denominations, agencies, volunteer organizations, and God's stewards who gave of their time, money, and talent, the miraculous surge of power for justice began to flow.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee sent $5,000 of immediate financial assistance to help feed the refugees. Phun says the food, distributed by Guamese Christian institutions, supplied good meals for months. Meanwhile, the Burmese organized themselves and worked together to make sure they had good relations with the citizens and authorities of Guam. They even staged a cultural pageant that was a big local hit.

The OSJHA asked for help from the larger protestant community through Church World Service Refugee and Immigration Program Committee, which includes the CRC and many other denominations. Within weeks, a multidenominational survey team went to check out the situation in Guam, assisted by local CRC staff.

Henry DeVries, the CRC missionary who sent the initial domino effect e-mail, continued his deep involvement and acted as a communications liaison between the refugees and the U.S. denominations working on their problem.

Coordinated with great passion by Joan Maruskin, refugee advocate staff for Church World Service in Washington, D.C., the CRC and other denominations began an advocacy campaign, asking thousands of their members to write their representatives and senators about the plight of the Burmese. Congressional staff in Washington opened talks with the Immigration Service, and suddenly, in the spring of 2001, the word came that the refugees would be processed quickly and allowed to come to the United States within a year.

There were nowhere near enough immigration officials to do all the interviews and fill out the paperwork for the refugees in a timely manner. But that problem was averted when volunteer lawyers and paralegals arrived from U.S. churches and resettlement agencies in successive waves, doing in a few months what otherwise could have taken several years.

When concerns about money for airfare and resettlement in the United States arose, churches such as Battle Creek CRC in Battle Creek, Mich., stepped up to help. Rev. Duane Nieuwsma asked several Burmese expatriates and community to create a welcome committee, which raised more than $30,000 in short order.

By August 2001, Phun was on a plane for Battle Creek. Over the next eight months, more than 1,000 refugees came to the United States, including more than 100 to Battle Creek, where they were welcomed by the community and partner churches.

Today Phun owns his own home in Battle Creek and works in a nearby factory. He recently experienced a joyful reunion with his wife and four children when they came to join him in a new life.

This was more than a simple answer to prayer. This was a real-life miracle. But it was a miracle brought about by the power to change the status quo. The power for justice came through God's nudging his people to take action. One person saw an injustice, and because he called for help, Phun and his family will never again fear a knock on their door in the middle of the night. They will not be forced to hide in the woods or live as refugees. And for them, that is a miracle.