Weaving her way in Winnipeg

A refugee earns financial freedom in Canada

Growing up in Burma, Kay Seng, 60, dreamed of independence.

"We had to flee into the jungle always because of the fighting between the civilian and the government troops. I think maybe I was four or five the first time I can remember dimly. We came back from the hiding place and there was no more house - only the ashes, she says."

A family member was shot simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, harvesting crops when military members happened by.

For more than half a century, Burma has suffered the consequences of constant political turmoil. According to organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the current military regime is one of the most repressive and abusive in the world.

In 1995, Kay, her husband and four children were driven from their home into the second largest of eight refugee camps along the border of Thailand. Here, they spent the next 11 years living among 15,000 fellow refugees, sleeping on the ground in a tiny hut.

"I felt so upset, so downhearted in the refugee camp," she says.

Kay cannot forget the sounds of people outside the camp screaming in the night. Each morning, they would wake to see the dead bodies of men and women floating in the river.

Inside the camp, Kay supported her family selling clothing and blankets woven on her handmade back strap loom to foreign visitors. Familiar with both English and Thai, she was also able to act as a translator between the refugee community and foreign officials and often served as mediator.

Faced with never being able to return to her home, Kay's oldest daughter applied for and received permission to attend school at the University of Winnipeg. Her second daughter followed and a year later, the entire family (except for Kay's son who remained in Thailand) moved to Winnipeg.

"We were the first family to come to Canada for our resettlement," says Kay. "I wondered how can I earn? So I decided to bring my loom with me. Because some foreigners like my weaving, maybe in Canada they will like also."

To obtain the skills and resources necessary to build and manage a small business, Kay enrolled in an asset-building program run by SEED Winnipeg with support from United Way.

"Because I am getting older and maybe I cannot work hard labour for a long time," Kay says. "So I would like to have my own business." The program taught her money-management and bookkeeping skills and helped her with a business start-up loan to purchase yarn and other materials.

Grateful for the help she received, Kay is making an effort to help others in the community. She continues to earn money weaving and is also studying to be an interpreter for other newcomers.

In Canada, with the help of United Way and SEED Winnipeg, she has found the independence she has strived for her entire life.