Taking to the cleaners

So, having spent much of yesterday reading and thinking about Burma, today I set out and met someone from there.

In the last couple of weeks I've started noticing posters advertising an outfit called "Refugee Cleaners".  Studying one of the posters more closely, I learnt that the refugees in question are from Bhutan, Iraq - and Burma.   Apparently Albany is a designated resettlement city for people from these three countries.  But many have trouble finding employment because of their lack of English, so some of them have banded together to start their own cooperative cleaning company.

From time to time I write elsewhere for a (less personal) community blog.  "Refugee Cleaners" looked like an interesting subject, and maybe I could help publicize their efforts.  I got in touch and arranged to meet one of their number, alongside an American associate who is helping the group out.

Steah Htoo came to Albany with her husband and children two years ago, from a refugee camp in Thailand.  Her ethnic group, the Karenni, has long been persecuted by the Burmese army.  With no hope of safely returning to Burma, when a chance came to move to America this family seized it.  It has been hard, Steah Htoo said, trying to fit into an entirely new culture, but at least her English is fairly good, and she has got herself a housekeeping job at a local hotel.  She is a leading light for the Refugee Cleaners - teaching them how to clean well and helping out on the communications side of things. 

What I learnt today about Steah Htoo and the cleaning team impressed me very much: they face many challenges, but they are keen to support each other within their refugee community, and they are also determined to be active, self-sufficient and contributing members of society.  By putting themselves out there I think they are really proving that they deserve to be accepted in this "can do" country of America.  I wish them well.