Hsaw Pa Kaw has a bit of a cult following along the Thai-Burma border and inside Karen State. He is a character that appeals to the general public in that affectionate and comforting way Ginger Meggs was to me as a child. But he has the political finesse of a Doonsbury cartoon with a very specific point to make. He is the guy we all know and can relate to, a non-threatening and reasonable guy who compliments this normalness with a dash of good advice.
The one below appeared in Kwe Ka Lu in October 2oo5. Kwe Ka Lu is the only newspaper written entirely in Karen which provides news, opinion pieces and cartoons to the Karen population in the refugee camps along the border and for communities inside Karen State. For many Karen people it is their only source of information about what is happening outside their immediate vicinity.
The cartoon can be translated along these lines:
The woman is preparing for resettlement in a third country.
Woman: Do I look them?
Pa Kaw: You dress like them. I worry you will forget about us.
Woman: Well I have prepared rice seeds, betel nut seeds, sticky rice seeds and my knife to cut the rice with. I thought of taking the rice pounder but friends told me it would be too heavy to take to the third country.
Pa Kaw: Will you have land to cultivate in this third country then?
Woman: Sure. Friends have told us there is lots of land.
Pa Kaw: Hmmm…maybe.
At the end of 2005 concern within the refugee camps about resettlement to third countries was particularly heated and rampant with misinformation. There was concern that many educated and skilled Karen were being sequestered to third countries to the detriment of the continued struggle for a free Karen State. Many thought they would be leaving the next day, not understanding that the process might take months if not years. The promise of a new start away from this conflict was appealing to many who had suffered the repercussions of civil war for more than twenty years.
Pa Kaw in this cartoon was addressing a particular concern that little was being done to address the cultural realities of resettlement. From simple things such as differences in the styles of dressing, to more potentially debilitating differences such as making a living and understanding what your day to day life would be like in countries such as Australia and America. It is a warning of the difficulties that face Karen in third countries, a reminder perhaps of where your people and your struggle is, and where you belong. But there is also an aching loss that accompanies the realisation that such events are likely to happen regardless as they sit beyond the control of the ‘refugee’.
As more and more people complained of the lack of information being handed out to those in the camps, Pa Kaw’s message became increasingly important in reaching the people most affected by the resettlement, those in the camps. It was a reminder to the people in the camps that resettlement was not necessarily the golden land promised, and that it was not without its own difficulties and struggles. For many resettlement is a resolution to the appalling living conditions of the camps along the border, however it can also be the beginning of a whole new set of challenges for the Karen to face.
Hsaw Pa Kaw is written and illustrated by Pe Li and has appeared in the Kwe Ka Lu newspaper since 1997.
This is so true. We all have to remember that re-settlement to a 3rd country is in fact the last option for refugees. Repatriation and integration are the more favourable solutions as resettlement to a 3rd country involes moving thousands of miles from family and friends and trying to live in a culture that is foreign on so many fronts. We must remember the bravery of refugees who take up this option. It is not all streets of golden opportunity it involves emotional, physical and financial hardship the likes of which i can only imagine.
Thanks for your comment emma. I noticed an article in todays Irrawaddy that talks about some of these issues. Specifically that embassies and NGO’s need to ensure a more efficient and better organised cultural orientation for refugees in the camp. I’m happy to hear this and hope it comes to fruition as this is a serious deficiency in resettlement programs.
What I love about the Po Kaw cartoon though is that instead of leaving such an important issue to others, the Karen, and specifically Po Kaw, are using whatever skills and influence they have to ensure realistic messages are conveyed to the people in the camps.
I’ll try and find the Irrawaddy link if anyone is interested.
Hi Kyaw Kweh, I hope you don’t mind but I’ve copied your message left under the Pa Kaw cartoon to below. I thought this might facilitate better conversation under this thread.
Comment by Kyaw Kweh
They look at us and just see us as a Human Beings, they don’t see us as a Nation. That is why the resettlement program was born.
Also thanks to Kyaw Kweh for clarifying spelling. The cartoon is entitled ‘Hsaw Pa Kaw’ not ‘Paw Ta Kaw’.
Kyaw Kweh makes an interesting comment about resettlement. The very nature of resettlement takes away the political and social claims of refugees. Once you are resettled you are told that in 2-3 years you will become a citizen of this third country. This just further removes you from your own country/people/culture.
The legitimacy of your right to return to your ‘homeland’ and justice acheived through your continued struggle for that ‘homeland’ pales in significance as you become an ‘Australian’ or an ‘American’. The injustices that caused you to become a refugee, and the reinstatement of your rights to religion, culture, ethnic pratices and many other claims, becomes lost.
Refugees are human beings, but they are also human beings with legitimate claims to nation, to ethnic identity, to ‘home’. Resettlement tends to obscure this.
Hi Rachel, here again. Anyway it is a very good idea to put all of these up there. Weldone.
Hi Rach, hope you are doing well. I feel like the ” Resettlement Program” is taking away the power of our people. The question is why the educated have more access to the resettlement program. The educated people, teachers, health workers and the community leaders will will be gone soon in the Karen comminity. Then, who will stand for the community to resist the oppression of the military regime. Our educated peopel then will have to use thier skills and knowledge for the developed countries not for their own community.
How long people can maintain and preserve their culture in a foreign land. In one generation the culture will be mixed and gone.
Mnay people said that they resettle for the future education of their children. Thats true, but thier children one day become educated and the majority will serve the coutries they resettle when few people will return to thier home land and serve thier community.
I don’t want to say that the resettlement is good or bad but I would like to encourage the countries also to help find the solution and help end the civil war in Burma. Let us work together to remove the military dictator and bring back democracy in Burma.
We are calling for the respect for Human Rights
We are calling for freedom
We are standing for Peace and we do stand for justice.
Stand with us.
I’ve been reading about the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees recently and have come across some interesting points. When the original convention was set up there were three outcomes for refugees in mind.
1. Repatriation
2. Integration into the first country of port
3. Resettlement in a third country
Some have put forward a fourth outcome, used most frequently in today’s world and not at all addressed in the original convention. It’s commonly called ‘warehousing’, a term I have a few issues with, but nevertheless is meant to highlight the plight of refugees who have been placed in refugee camps for indeterminate periods of time, and excluded from basic rights set out in the Convention. This can most definitely cover the Karen, some of whom have been confined to refugee camps for upwards of 15 years.
If we talk about the Karen then repatriation doesn’t work – the country they have fled continues to practice the persecution they originally fled from.
Integration into the first country of port sort of happens haphazardly, but certainly not in any legal sense. And besides most Karen would prefer to return to their homeland, whenever that may be.
And resettlement, well this posting has highlighted some of the issues involved with resettlement.
As a result the Karen have been held in refugee camps for sometimes up to 15 or 20 years. So my question is, what is the solution here? Kyaw Kweh suggests concerned persons need to stand with the Karen and help them achieve justice. But how long should this go on for? And is it in the best interests of the Karen long term? Should we be more proactive in ensuring a change in the political situation of Burma? I have many questions and I ask them because I don’t really know the best answer either. I do know it is imperative that we listen to those most affected, the refugees themselves. And in this spirit I’m glad Kyaw Kweh can provide us with some of his personal experience and insights.
The Chin are another ethnic group that are now facing significant resettlement programs, and it’s interesting to compare their situation to the Karen. They do face similar problems with the lack of effective cultural orientations – in Malaysia, they have mandatory orientations that last less than a day. There are around 18,000 in Malaysia, but they are not living in camps, so to some extent they have more day to day exposure to the kind of technology and development that you wouldn’t find in the refugee camps.
But, what is interesting is the extent to which Chin leaders have recognized the new ‘threat’ that resettlement poses to their culture. I’ve heard many say that from now on, if the Chin lose their culture, they can no longer blame the Junta, they can only blame themselves. There’s increasing interest now in cultural preservation, and also in raising awareness among the diaspora of the fact that preserving their culture for their children requires deliberate action.
There are relatively few numbers of Chin in third countries – at least compared to the target of 7000 Chin to be resettled to the US this year. A number of Chin who’ve resettled and obtained passports have returned to Asia to work with their communities, and there are pastors as well who travel frequently, which I’m sure must keep the scattered communities worldwide more connected. But, it will certainly be interesting to see how this unfolds as the second generation of Chin children grow up in third countries, and how successful this ‘movement’, as it were, to build a unified diaspora is. A lot of it relies on educating the majority of the Chin communities about the risks that resettlement does pose to their culture and identity.