Women in the growing Burmese community of Tulsa are learning how to adjust to life in the United States.
“There
are a lot of challenges in coming to a new culture,” said Su Phipps,
program director for Healthy Women, Healthy Futures-Oklahoma.
About
28 women from the Burmese refugee community in Tulsa have recently
graduated from 14-week classes organized by the Community Service
Council. It was designed to help them and their families live healthy
lives in the U.S.
“Many
of these women have survived the trauma at home and in the refugee
camps before they get here,” Phipps said. “There is so much to learn and
so much for them to adapt to when they arrive in this country.
“This is a very different culture. The language is very different so there is a feeling of isolation.”
The
number of students identified as Burmese in Jenks Public Schools has
exploded from 70 to about 1,200 over the past decade. Estimates of the
Burmese community in Tulsa are around 7,000 people.
“These are
really lovely people,” said Barbara Cargill, peer educator coordinator
for Healthy Women, Healthy Futures-Oklahoma. “I have a real heart for
them. They’ve gone through so much to get here.”
The women who
attended the CSC program went through 70 hours of education in promoting
health, emotional wellness, protection from domestic violence,
financial management, literacy, child development and parenting
practice.
The classes were organized and taught through a program
of the Community Service Council’s Healthy Women, Healthy
Futures-Oklahoma, Center for Community School Strategies and Sprouts
Child Development.
“It has been in the planning stage for several
years,” Phipps said. “It was important for the success of this program
for us to have educators from the Burmese community.
They could better
identify and understand the challenges that these women have in coming
to this country.”
The Community Service Council has been a
nonprofit leader in Tulsa’s community planning since 1941. CSC works
with partners in the community to address issues in health, social,
education and economic opportunities.
The goal of the program
targeting Burmese women is to create awareness and education about how
to manage health, understand child development, navigate public
education and access available community resources.
“This program
is as comprehensive as we can make it,” Cargill said. “These are people
who were terribly motivated to come here. They are motivated to learn
ways to help their families.”
The teachers in the program,
bilingual (English and Zomi) educators, are called “Sia Mah Nu,” which
translated is “woman who teaches.”
Lun Dim is one of the peer educators who come from Tulsa’s Burmese community.
“This is very helpful for women from our country,” Dim said. “It is a great experience for women coming to the U.S.
“It
is good to have teachers from our country. We have experience. The more
we know about the experience of coming here the better it is.”
The peer educators formed small groups of about eight women each and led 14-week classes. The first class graduated in December.
“I
teach our peer educators in English and then they teach the class in
Zomi,” said Cargill. “These are women that are in that community. These
are people who become another source of information in the community. It
doesn’t end with this class.”
The health education aspects of the
program are modeled on Healthy Women, Healthy Families-Oklahoma, which
provides education and skills to create behavior changes that improve
the overall health of nonpregnant women and their families.
“A lot
of the women want to know more about education and how to support their
child in education,” said Dim. “They are also interested in knowing
more about healthy snacks and food for their children.”
Teaching
familiarity with the public education system, and how to navigate the
schools system, is modeled on a program of the Center for Community
School Strategies, which uses a peer education system.
“When we
first started working with this community, it was important to learn the
needs of that population,” said Phipps. “It was important to help them
learn more about health and emotional health and domestic violence and
how best to navigate the public school system. And, our educators helped
us to translate these materials into the Zomi language. In the future,
we hope to reach out to men, as well.”
Research shows several advantages of the community peer educator role, Phipps said.
These
educators, in this case bilingual members of Tulsa’s Burmese community,
can be a bridge to people and resources. They can more easily
communicate with persons like themselves. Knowing how their neighbors
live and think helps peer educators work effectively with community
members.
That leads to improving access to health care, schools and community resources.
“Honestly, it is a real blessing to work with these moms,” said Phipps. “They are really wonderful people.”
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TULSA WORLD
