It was almost a year ago that Zing Men, Tha Tin and their daughter got off of a plane in Castlegar and had their first glimpses of the town that would be their new home.
The family came to Canada as refugees from Burma (Myanmar) after spending more than four years waiting for approval in Malaysia.
It has been a year of learning and hard work. The hardest task for the family has been learning the English language, and even though they have learned quite a bit of basic conversational English, they felt more comfortable including an interpreter in the conversation when they sat down with the Castlegar News recently to recap their first year in Canada.
The families first weeks were filled with settling into their home, medical appointments and the overwhelming task of adjusting to a new culture.
They soon began to build bonds with several of the Castlegar Refugee Committee members who helped them through the daunting process of beginning to build a new life.
Before long, tutoring began and the family was prepared to look for jobs. Both Zing Men and Tha Tin have worked several different jobs in the last year. They have worked for Family Tree Gardening, Black Rooster, West Kootenay Social Enterprises and the Flamingo Hotel.
Tha Tin is very thankful for the jobs he has had and is willing to work at whatever comes his way.
They still haven’t fallen in love with Canadian food and continue to cook their traditional meals at home. But Tha Tin has become quite a good fisherman and usually brings home several fish every time he heads down to the Columbia River.
Tha Tin has also enjoyed playing soccer and Zing Men has become an avid knitter.
“I am really thankful to everyone and would also like to say thank you to our sponsors and everyone who has helped us and all of the volunteers,” said Tha Tin.
“We won’t be able to give back your kindness, your goodness to us, but instead hope that God will bless you,” he added.
The family found Castlegar to be a welcoming community and expressed that they haven’t experienced the discrimination that some immigrants have faced in other parts of the country.
The family will be leaving Castlegar in just a few weeks to move to Regina, where Tha Tin has a cousin and there is a community of about 50 Burmese people. There is also a Burmese church that is the same type as they attended before they left Burma.
The loneliness associated with not having anyone from a similar culture or that speaks their language has been the hardest struggle for the young family.
“Everything is good here — the people, the place, the country, we just want to move to Regina to have more friends and our relatives,” said Tha Tin.
“Here in Castlegar, there is no Chin people — not even Burmese people,” he said. “We don’t speak English, so it is very difficult — it is a struggle to live here.”
“As Chin people we get along together a lot, so it is difficult being alone here.”
“The most difficult thing is that as we don’t speak English, it is very difficult, even if we go to church, we don’t understand anything — it doesn’t make any sense,” explained Tha Tin.
The Castlegar Refugee Committee is sad to see them go, but happy they will be reunited with family.
Chances are that their two-year-old daughter won’t face the same struggles with learning English. She already calls for “mamma” and says “I love you” with an expression that shows she knows exactly what it means.
