Open Doors English provides new beginnings

Paw Beler grew up in a village in rural Burma. During the long civil war, when a military dictatorship violently took over the government in Burma, the minority Karen community was endangered because of its members’ ethnicity and religious beliefs.

“First they took our land, and then they came after us,” Paw Beler said. “When the dogs barked, the men in the community ran to the mountains. The mountains were our savior. If captured, the enslaved men were used to carry the dangerous heavy weaponry and serve as human shields in the deadly warfare. Many Karens were tortured and murdered.”

First, Paw Beler’s family ran to the Thailand border for safety. They were forced to abandon their beloved home, the fields and gardens where they produced their food, their neighbors and their culture.

Eventually, the border too became unsafe, as the Burmese troops pressed closer to the Karen asylum.

“It was very hard to leave our home, our land which we had loved and enjoyed very much,” she said. “But we had no choice. We had to leave to save our lives as the killing continued.”

Paw Beler and her husband and her mother fled to Thailand and spent the next 10 years confined in a primitive refugee camp under United Nations protection. Finally, 12 years ago, Paw Beler, her husband and their 3-month-old daughter Eh Blut flew from Thailand to Akron, Ohio. The family arrived exhausted, frightened and sick after their very long first plane trip.

A caseworker met the family at the airport and drove them to a cold, shabby, dark apartment. She quickly demonstrated how to open and lock the front door, turn on and off the water, flush the toilet, turn on the cooking gas and turn on the heat for the winter night. And then she was gone.

The next day, the young family began walking a long way to the caseworker’s office to fill out papers, which were tricky since the only words they knew in English were “yes” and “no.” They were unfamiliar with American food and American ways, and it was overwhelming.

One year later, the family, with second child Eh Lay, moved to Ithaca, where a nephew of Paw Beler’s had settled earlier. A small Karen community was located downtown, and Paw Beler and family joined them.

When Paw Beler was growing up, her family only had money for her to attend school for seven years, but she knew early on that she loved to learn. While her next sibling took his turn attending school in the refugee camp, Paw Beler studied anything she could with him. She attended Bible School and tried to learn as much as she could while in the refugee camp. But no one taught English.

“At first, even with a very helpful, kind Sponsor in Ithaca, life was difficult,” she said. “We had to learn how to get help for our young children who had asthma (now in remission). We had to figure out how to pay medical bills and find housing, although we barely spoke English.”

When the children were a bit older, Paw Beler began attending an English as a Second Language School, located in the beautiful Presbyterian Church on Court Street.

“I wanted help, so I started at Level 1,” she said. “As my English improved, I began to believe I would become a part of the community. At my classes, I began to feel like part of the learning community.”

Paw Beler made friends with other students and her teachers, giving her more confidence and helping her talk with other people at her language school. She said she could understand and enjoy her new community, and her husband saw similar benefits.

“He began a factory job right after we arrived in Ohio,” she said. “Because he could not ask others for instructions and could not read the instructions, he barely escaped a life-threatening accident at work his first month on his first assigned job shortly after we arrived in America.”

Paw Beler was determined. As her children grew up, she completed one level of English studies after another.

“I did not know the language, but I asked for help and I studied hard,” she said. “I kept going forward with my education. Everyone at school was understanding. Other ESL students have been through challenges like we faced.”

All the teachers are kind and welcoming, she said.

“Julie, the founder of our original language program, was always there for me—when I studied for my GED, when I was applying to college, when I had questions in college,” Paw Beler said. “I felt I could ask Julie and my other teachers anything anytime.”

After she completed Level 6, Paw Beler studied and received her GED and then applied to TC3. In August 2019, Paw Beler received her degree in human services.

“Before I could speak English, everything felt closed to me,” she said. “I could not find my way, could not speak with people. My life was like a dark house with no windows. Once we can understand and speak with others, we can explore all the opportunities available.”

Ithaca is very open and welcoming, Paw Beler said, and she has found many generous people to help her along her way to independence.

“The teachers at Open Doors English have opened the doors for me, and I have found many good things for myself, my family, my community,” she said.

Paw Beler’s husband farms at Groundswell, generously supported at EcoVillage, and the family can once again enjoy the foods they grew and loved in their homeland. After a course on all aspects of homeownership, Paw Beler’s family bought a home of their own on West Hill and built a Hoop House in their yard to extend the gardening season.

Fellow Karen families now have their worship services in the Tabernacle Baptist Church on Cayuga Street.

“We worshipped in each other’s homes for 10 years, and now, we are happy to worship in the Tabernacle,” she said. “My husband is a church leader. We sing songs and we speak our native language together.”

Paw Beler said she and her family have friends from many different places and feel happy where they are.

“We know how lucky we are to settle in such a generous community, where churches open their doors to newly arrived students and to religious groups, which have no place to worship,” she said. “We want to live in the U.S. all our lives, and we are grateful to the open, welcome Ithaca has shown our family.”

When Paw Beler started learning English all those years ago, the school was run by BOCES. When the original BOCES ESL program changed its focus after 31 years, Open Doors English was formed by the seven previous BOCES ESL teachers, plus administrators.

Paw Beler was taught by the teachers who now work for Open Doors English. They are teaching and shepherding their lively, enthusiastic flock in the same light-filled space that they taught in before. The Presbyterian Church is pleased that this program opens its doors wide to anyone who wishes to learn English.

“Open Doors English welcomes everyone,” Paw Beler said. “It’s so easy for people to know where to go and come for help. It helps the community, too. If Ithaca is like a Christmas tree, Open Doors English is like one of the decorations. It makes the tree beautiful.”

Please contact Hilary Boyer at 607-319-5051 to find the many ways Ithacans (and our neighbors beyond) can each support ODE. The web address is: www.opendoorsenglish.org.