After 1 ½ years of living on a $2 dollar a day allowance from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 11 of the original Myanmar asylum seekers finally got an answer from the United States.
In February of 2009, 10 men and one woman fled Burma to Malaysia, Philippines and some to Singapore and because they heard Palau is a visa-free country, they flew here.
Two of the 11 Burmese Aye Aye Thant and U Agga Nana left Palau in June this year to move to Australia after they were granted immigrant status.
Khin Khin Cho then joined her fiancé, San Yu Maung in Palau in September and got married here in December.
Three months ago Cho gave birth to a baby boy which they named Max.
Max was born with an imperforate anus, Khin said because of her son’s condition, the granting is asylum has been facilitated faster.
Khin, a former teacher in Cambodia and a fluent English speaker and the group’s spoke person said that they are happy to be moving to the U.S. and are thankful to Palau for giving them a temporary haven.
“Palau is a nice country, here we only worry about money, it’s harder in country because of the government,” Khin said.
Khin said she will not forget Palau as her son was born here. She said that Max has a Palauan name, Ngeltengat meaning “blessed.”
“He is born here, one day he will ask where he was born,” Khin said.
It wasn’t an easy life for the refugees, their money ran out after just a few months of living here. the Roman Catholic church offered to house and feed them and has been helping them since then.
Sen. Joel Toribiong, the president’s younger brother let some of them stay at his farmhouse in Ngaraard State while awaiting result of application for asylum.
“They have accomplished what they were here for,” Toribiong stated.
He said that it was a life-changing experience for him to help the refugees.
“They have never experienced freedom in their country. Here they feel free, we who are free usually take for granted our freedom,” Toribiong added.
In previous interviews, the refugees left Burma after the uprising in 2007, in order to continue their fight against the military dictatorship, they are seeking a third country where are there are a big group of Burmese nationals.
The group included two Buddhist monks who are members of the overseas offshoot of the National League for Democracy led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Six of the asylum seekers left Wednesday night to the U.S. while the rest are scheduled to leave in October.
Palau is also the temporary home for six former Guantanamo detainees — ethnic Uighurs from China who are looking for another country that can provide them a permanent home.
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