Kuinka kirkko voi tukea burmalaisten kotoutumista Suomeen

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Kuinka kirkko voi tukea burmalaisten kotoutumista
Suomeen

• Ko Ko Thett
• Kirkon maahanmuuttajatyön neuvottelupäivät
• Uusi Valamo, Heinäveisi 6.11.2008

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Finland and Burma

• Finland is a nice country except for three small
  things the weather, the language, and the
  neighbours
• Burma is a nice country except for three small
  things the government, the people and the
  neighbours

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Burma/Myanmar

• Basic Facts
• -area two times the size of Finland
• -population ten times the size of Finland,
  multi-ethnic population, 60 percent majority
  Burma, the rest more than 100 ethnic groups
• -government direct and indirect military rule
  since 1962, 1885-1962 British occupation, before
  1885 Burman-dominated Kingdoms

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Burmese Cultureby Pascal Khoo-Thwe

• Burmese culture is at its best when it is
  comfortable with its adaptations of the
  influences of other cultures as it has been built
  and rebuilt on the influences of bigger
  neighbours and the absorption of diverse ethnic
  groups

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To be a Burmese is to be a Buddhist.
Aung San Suu Kyi -89 percent of
Burmese Buddhists, the rest are Christians,
Muslims and animists -most Burmese believe in the
animist 'nat' cult regardless of their religion
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Burmese Worldviews

• -relative truth as opposed to absolute truth
  (even for the Christians who have animist
  backgrounds), compartmentalization of belief
  systems (Buddhism and animism, Christianity and
  animism exist together)
• -worldviews essentially determined by education
  and exposure to the outside world

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Burmese nature

• ? individualistic/divisive nature of the peoples
  as opposed to collective identity (no sense of
  cohesive nationalism but ethnicism)
• ?laid-back and relaxed (men babysit, women work)
  
• ?The Burmese concept of rubber time

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Burmese Smiles and Burmese Lies

• The Burmese concept of 'arnade'
• The Burmese concept of 'face'
• There is no 'NO!' in Burmese. Refusals are made
  in a polite way in a given context. Or we just
  smile!

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Burman versus the rest

• -superiority complex of the majority Burman,
  inferiority complex of the ethnic people
  (polarization of the society into the majority
  versus the minorities)
• own experiene not knowing this as a Burman until
  working for the Burmese refugees in Thailand

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Burma the states within a state

• own experince of moving around in the country and
  cultural shock

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The Burmese in Finland

• more than 1000 Burmese, and growing, from
  Rovaniemi to Kotka, from Jounsuu to Kösnäs
• Most of the Burmese pepole are ethnic Karen or
  Karenni who had spent years in refugee camps
• agrarian and tribal backgrounds except for a few
• not used to living in an industrialized world,
  not used to nine-to-five lifestyle, or routine
• to many, Finland is a shock in terms of time and
  space imagine bringing someone from the middle
  age to the modern age
• the only element of the West they have experiened
  are Hollywood movies and world news perhaps (high
  expectations accordingly)

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My Observations

• competition for material gain is particularly
  strong among the refugees
• most of them also compete in terms of supporting
  their families back in Burma
• just like all other peoples on earth, we also
  compete for recognition and for gaining social
  mobility
• many still hope to return home (exile is the
  dream of return?)

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What can the Church Do to Improve Services?

• appointing personal friend to individual and
  family as in Norway (especially soon after the
  arrival)
• better orientation to modern life
• better services to tackle depression
• there is no such thing as a Burmese pwe in
  Finland (something of a rock festival to the
  Burmese)

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• Thank you.
• Its question time!