Caring for the KarenRefugees and Christ Chapel BIC share clothes and kindness Last winter, Dr. A. H. Barbee, pastor of Christ Chapel BIC church in Raveena, Ohio, heard about a grandmother from a group of Karen (pronounced “cor-IN”) refugees living in the nearby city of Akron. “She said she was cold,” A.H. recalls. Nearly 200 Karen were brought to the United States by the International Institute of Akron as refugees from Thailand, but their homeland is Burma (renamed Myanmar by the ruling military junta). While visiting with the grandmother, A.H. learned about the needs of other Karen refugees living in the community, as well, and decided to share about them with his congregation. And Christ Chapel—“an absolutely tiny church,” according to A.H.—acted. One young girl bought a bag of clothes for the Karen, twice. When her pleasantly bewildered mother asked why, the girl said she thought it was what Christ would want her to do. Other congregants brought donations—some from coworkers, some from folks out-of-state. A.H.’s daughter, Lori Miller, also began to reach out to the Karen, inviting a young woman named Sweet to live with her. But memories of life in Myanmar continue to haunt many of the refuges. Sweet, for example, has described how she watched soldiers take people’s houses and land in Myanmar. She even saw men cut the throats of babies. Much of the bloodshed stems from persecution of the Karen by the ruling junta, which objects to and systematically works against the Christian faith that a large majority of the near 7 million Karen in the world follow. According to Christian Freedom International, a non-profit group devoted to assisting persecuted Christians throughout the world, even as the death toll in the wake of the recent cyclone disaster nears 80,000, local officials continue to block life-saving aid to the Karen. But unfortunately, life in Akron has been almost as frightening and difficult for some of the Karen. Living conditions for the refugees, only a few of whom can speak English, are terrible and landlords renting space to the Karen take advantage of the language barrier. Despite their suffering, however, the Karen remain deeply committed to the way of Christ. Every night in Akron’s slums, groups gather for prayer and worship, when each person recites a section of scripture from memory—even the children. Like many refugees in North America, the Karen are a people in search of a home. “What these people need,” shares Lori, “is for people to take an interest in them, to say, ‘Our home is open.’”
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