This week we speak to Saw Khon Hmine from Burma. He's one of the New Zealanders we speak to each week who have been forced to leave their homelands and resettled here.
Hmine tells Jesse Mulligan he’s originally from the central part of Burma in a village where his family were farmers.
Saw Khon Hmine Photo: Supplied
He says he just wanted to be a simple educated person in his own country, but the military regime made it impossible.
“When I passed high school certificate, they offered me to join officer military training and I refused it because I witnessed their killings in the 1988 uprising. I was only a middle school student at that time so those images and voices and screams were still in my head. It’s still with me, it doesn’t go away.”
He knew he didn’t want to be a part of that same military regime, but they weren’t happy about his refusal.
“When I replied to them that I could not join the military government, they didn’t like it at all. They blocked my educational pathway so I couldn’t go to medical college or engineering schools.”
Despite this, he managed to go to university and get a bachelor of science and physics. It was there he met and joined a group of senior students who were protesting and raising awareness of their situation.
“Then I became a serious target of the regime. I was chased by them all the time.”
He managed to escape Burma and was a refugee in Malaysia for some time. When he found out he would be resettled in New Zealand, he knew nothing about the country.
“Before I ran to Malaysia, I had never been overseas. So I was dealing with a lot of security when suddenly I met two officers from Immigration New Zealand and they were very fantastic.”
He says the New Zealand officers spoke to him like a person rather than like an “insect” which was a feeling he got from others.
When he arrived here, he stayed at the Manurewa Refugee Centre for six weeks. After years of being on the run from the regime and in limbo in Malaysia, he says it was wonderful to be there.
“A lot of people came and helped me to make sure I was OK and everybody was friendly. I could feel the atmosphere was very good. It was caring and lovely. That’s what refugees are looking for.”
He was settled in Hamilton and greeted there with a powhiri, an experience that was very powerful for him.
“I didn’t know them, they didn’t know me, but they welcomed us. It was very pleasant.”
Hmine says he was amazed by the generosity and caring spirit of kiwis who he met when he first arrived.
“I am very happy in New Zealand and that is why I am happy to speak to people and to share my story and experiences so the kiwis can see how lucky they are here in a good system.”
