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Burma to Buffalo: Resettled to the USA (60 images)

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  • Sher Paw (19, left) and Yan (22, right) pose with their six-month-old son Paw Shu in front of the Ju family's house at the Tham Hin camp. Ta Ju built the house in just three days when he and other displaced Karen from Burma were allowed to shelter in Thailand.
  • Yan (22, left) and Sher Paw (19, centre) at the Tham Hin camp show the belongings they intend to take with them aboard their flight to relocate to the United States.
  • Friends bid Sher Paw (19, left) and Yan (22, right) farewell as they pull away in an IOM truck at the beginning of the journey to relocate to the United States.
  • Karen refugee Ta Ju (46) sits on a Bangkok-bound bus at the beginning of the journey that will take him to the United States. Before boarding the bus, Ta Ju said goodbye to his lifelong friend who is ineligible for relocation to the US.
  • Sher Naklay (13) uses a telephone for the first time for the novelty of calling his father in the next room at a Bangkok hotel. Sho Guai (8), his brother, watches the television.
  • She She Ju (44, centre) and fellow Karen refugees, en-route to relocate to the United States, prepare to enter Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.
  • Sher Paw (19) and Yan (22) wait with their six-month-old son Paw Shu and fellow Karen refugees at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport to board their first ever flight en-route to relocate to the United States.
  • Ta Ju (46) waits for the bus to travel across town to his apartment.
  • She She (44) holds her two-day-old daughter Elizabeth in her room at Buffalo's Children's Hospital. She She was seven months pregnant when she made the journey with her husband Ta Ju (46) and four of her five children to relocate to the United States the previous November. A Karen friend suggested Elizabeth as an appropriate name for their first American-born child.
  • Ta Ju (46) meets his young children Sha Ehpaw (5, centre), Sher Nayklay (13) and Sho Guai (8, out of frame) from the school bus.
  • Sher Naytoo (16, centre) rides his new bicycle home from school with a Karen friend who has also been relocated from the Tham Hin came to Buffalo.
  • Sher Paw (19) sits with her son Paw Shu (6 months), brother Sho Guai (8, behind Paw Shu) and husband Yan (22) in the kitchen of the couple's new apartment.
  • Sho Guai (8, centre) and other ethnic Karen children relocated from the Tham Hin camp copy text for Sunday school class at the Kenmore Baptist Church. Parallels between Karen cosmogonic myths and the Christian Old Testament have made Baptism popular since the introduction of the faith to the Karen by missionaries in the mid-1800's.
  • Ta Ju (46) and fellow ethnic Karen relocated from the Tham Hin camp sing hymns at a Sunday church service at the Kenmore Baptist Church. Parallels between Karen cosmogonic myths and the Christian Old Testament have made Baptism popular since the introduction of the faith to the Karen by missionaries in the mid-1800's.
  • Yan (22), his wife Sher Paw (19) and their six-month-old son Paw Shu in front of their new apartment in Buffalo, New York.
  • Sher Paw (19, left), her father Ta Ju (46, centre back) and husband Yan (22, right) walk in the aisles of supermarket. Most of the time walking the aisles was spent searching for items that they have been long familiar with, but can no longer find growing fresh. Of a twenty-pound turkey, Ta Ju said, "It would take us a whole week to eat it".
  • Sher Paw (19), cradles her six-month-old son Paw Shu, with her sister Sha Ehpaw (5) at Ta Ju's apartment.
  • (L-R) Yan (22), Ta Ju (46), Paw Shu (6 months) and Sher Paw (19) in Ta Ju's apartment.
  • (L-R) Sher Paw (19) walks with her husband Yan (22), with their infant son Paw Shu in the stroller, and brother Sho Guai (8) leads the way between their apartment and that of their parents.
  • Sher Naytoo (16), Ta Ju's son, takes a picture of his family at their apartment: (L-R) Sho Guai (8), Sher Nayklay (13), She She (44) holding her grandson Paw Shu (6 months), Sha Ehpaw (5, front right) and father Ta Ju (46).
  • Sher Paw (21) sits with her infant son in the back seat as her husband Yan (23) parks their car.
  • Sher Nayklay (14) fixes his bicycle on a Sunday afternoon.
  • Ta Ju (48) and She She (46) each cradle one of their infant twin sons, Mark and Matthew, at a Karen Christian ceremony to baptise the boys.
  • Sher Paw (21) is passed a bottle of milk by Paw Shu (1) to feed her new born nephew Mark.
  • Sho Guai (10) sits on a large swing and plays a video game.
  • Yan (23) takes a nap with his son Paw Shu (1) in the family car while his wife is at playground with her young brother and sister.
  • Sha Ehpaw (6) and Sho Guai (10, left) wait for the school bus.
  • Sher Naytoo (18) plays football in the street outside his family's apartment.
  • Ta Ju (48, left) and Yan (23) stand in front of a trailer built for hauling cars at the Delavan factory where they work.
  • Ta Ju (48) sits in the back yard of his rented apartment to drink a beer and smoke a cigarette.
  • Sho Guai (10) practices breakdancing in the living room of his sister's apartment.
  • Sha Ehpaw (6) and brother Sho Guai (10) sleep on bedding rolled out on the living room floor of their elder sister's apartment.
  • She She Ju (46) carries her daughter Elizabeth (1) on her hip as she speaks with husband Ta Ju (48).
  • Yan (23) helps his mother-in-law, She She Ju (46) to select the family shopping, using food stamps for the extra products for the children. His son, Paw Shu (1), sits in the trolley.
  • Ta Ju (48) vacuums the living room carpet.
  • Ta Ju (49) walks with his wife She She (47) and three of his children to visit fellow ethnic Karen refugee friends near their home.
  • (L-R seated on the bench) Sha Ehpaw (8) sits with her sister Elizabeth (2), nephew Pay Shu (3), and twin brother Mark and Matthew (1). Sha Ehpaw's mother She She (47) stands at the end of the bench talking with the son of a friend.
  • She She (47) checks the vegetables she has planted in the backyard of her house.
  • Ta Ju (49) works at a hydroponic tomato greenhouse. He and other ethnic Karen working at the greenhouse were once farmers in Burma and are used to working in the hot weather.
  • Sher Naytoo (19) makes an Asia Boyz gang sign. Sher Naytoo and his friends emulate the style of other Southeast Asian youths they see in YouTube clips.
  • Sher Paw (22) works on the packing line of a gummy bear factory.
  • She She (47, right) holds her son Mark (1) as Sher Paw, her 22-year-old daughter, dresses Matthew, Mark's twin brother. Sher Paw's son Paw Shu (3) plays in the pool and her youngest sister, Elizabeth (2), stands behind her.
  • Elizabeth (2, right) watches her 8-year-old sister Sha play with lipstick in their bedroom.
  • Matthew (1) and Elizabeth Ju (2) sit in the spartan living room of their home. Both children were born in America.
  • She She Ju (47) holds her twin infant sons, Mark and Matthew (1), with Elizabeth, her two year-old daughter (left) and Sha Ehpaw (8).
  • Elizabeth (2) plays with Paw Shu, her 3-year-old nephew, in his living room.
  • Elizabeth (2) leaps from the couch in her adult sister's living room.
  • Ta Ju (49) sits in front of his house with his friend and co-worker from Burundi. Sher Naytoo, Ta Ju's 19-year-old son, pushes his motorcycle from the back of the house.
  • Sher Naytoo (19) talks with local boys who are curious about his small motorcycle.
  • Sha Ehpaw (8) poses with her bicycle.
  • Matthew (1) and Elizabeth Ju (2) sit in the spartan living room of their home. Both children were born in America.