Last week, I was in a Christmas gathering party, led by London Karen community. When I received the invitation via email, my first thought was I could meet a few people there and I would have a chance to make a couple of new friends for fun and for information. I decided to join them. It took place in a church in West London.
I brought a bottle of wine as a routine whenever I go to gathering party. Surprisingly, over one hundred of Karens were already in the church, which has got enough space for attenders. Some were teenagers. Some were in their 30s. A few were over 50. They were speaking mainly Burmese and Karen. I found out some were using English. I felt that the atmosphere was pretty friendly and visitors were served with Burmese tradition fish soup ( Mont Hin Khar) , which was really tasty. Apparently a senior Karen man cooked it.
After praying God, young musicians started entertaining with fantastic music. I was told one of them had been working as music teacher after graduated in England. I was introduced with several people, who were ITs, nurses, doctors, accountants and others who were also working at decent professionals. I never come across previously Burma's ethnic minors in London who has made such an established society. I only heard before that there is a big Karen community in Sheffield which is in Yorkshire.
I notice Burmese are not keen to explore new places in history. Instead, they want to stick in the place where they were born. But the political and economic situation in Burma have been pushing more and more people to go abroad especially over the last two decades. As a result, at least one or two persons from each household emigrated. These days they can be seen in most countries, from east to west, including small islands like Seychelles and St Lucia.
Most people blame that it is the military government in Burma that leads to this situation. But if you think in different way, you can see a larger number of Burmese have been settling with their good status, already enjoying a good life style in affluent places. It will never happen if Burma is not in trouble.
Personally, I would encourage more Burmese to come out for the benefit of the nation and its people. Basically, once Myanmar, always Myanmar wherever you live. Take Vietnam for example. American vietnamese have been playing an important role in economic boost of that south east Asian country.
In the internet era, I feel that Brain drain theory is no longer applicable. Brain network has been established across the globe. What you need is "access"
