Introductions: Myself & Burma

"Please use your liberty to promote ours" -Aung San Suu Kyi

Many years ago theses words of the respected Aung San Suu Kyi stuck with me and I began to use my connections and relationships to promote Burma's liberty. All of my friends know the name of this country; I've hosted documentary events, snuck snippets of information into casual conversation, and brought prayer requests from Burma to my church community. 

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My story is one interwoven with pieces of creativity and education, also of shame and loneliness. As I continually seek to reclaim falsities within my story, they are being replaced with justice, inclusion, and surrender. The start of these has also come with the introduction of a country which now holds a dear and special place within me: Myanmar/Burma.

It was a cold January day in 2010 that I sat down at my desk and began learning the Burmese alphabet. I was a junior in senior high school, living in my small hometown in Iowa, and I was hungry to learn about the wide world beyond the cornfields I was surrounded by. As I struggled between tones and new shapes for letters, I also started to study the country of Burma.

I read all the news articles I could get my hands on that were written in English. I studied the country's complex history with Britain and Japan. I watched footage from student protests of 1988 and 2007. I cried tears of sorrow over the stories and lives influenced under such oppression. Then I cried tears of joy when I found pieces of hope and change. Pictures of Burmese pagodas, monks' robes, and thanaka face cream were the images I carried in my mind's eye throughout the day.

The more I learned about Burma and the people within it, the more my heart grew with compassion and a love that's indescribable. By the time I graduated high school I wanted to move to Burma but instead moved to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. Here I worked with and befriended Karen people--refugees from Burma. All my studies of a country on the other side of the world were brought to real life and human relationships in my new neighborhood. These friends have taught me what deep forgiveness looks like and perseverance more than I have ever known.

As I continued my informal Burma studies and also my undergraduate studies I had the honor of living, studying, and teaching for six months in Chiang Mai, Thailand. These were six months of many firsts and much growth. My students and many of my friends there are Shan people--migrants from Burma. Again, I was humbled by those around me as I learned about second chances and the power of education. In my months there I had dinners with people who hold so many connections in Burma that I still have to pinch myself to remember that I know these people. 

Today, once again in the cold Twin Cities of Minnesota, I continue being a student of a country on the other side of the world. I no longer study Burmese but instead study the Thai language, trusting that where I am now and I do now is of great importance for what is to come. I feel honored that such an introduction to a beautiful country has happened in my life. I hope to always continue learning what it means to promote liberty and justice in Burma and for all places and peoples.