Zomi Diaspora–Is it Worth it?

This article is originally written on ZoAw.info, which is now NOT online. More articles from Zo Aw blog will be post on Vaphual.net in the future. Hope you enjoy them!

The recent formation of Leitungbup Zomi Innkuan Kipawlna proposed by Zomi Innkuan Oklahoma is a proud moment for me. It has been years since we have hoped and prayed for something like this to be formed. To collectively share our burdens and wade forward into the future as a community defined by our common shared legacy and aspirations.

However, on reflection, I realised this organisation is formed by the first generation Zomi diaspora, not the youths. That is not necessarily bad. But isn’t it time for the new generation to come and take charge? Isn’t it time we heed the call of thousands of people back home hungry, tired and hopeless?

Where are my fellow Gen Y Zomis? Where are the youths who got everything their previous generation can only wish for?

Some three decades ago, when the Burmese Junta came to being, the Zomi community of Chin State like other ethnic communities in Burma were left with no choice but to abandon their own community and homes to seek refuge in developed western countries where they are free to pursue their dreams of freedom and good lives.
Since then thousands upon thousands of Zomi population has made countries like United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, etc their home. They found peace and development. They found progress, education and social security.

However, the question that I want to ask is this: Aren’t we paying too high a price for all the good things that a foreign land has to offer?

I believe this is a question that each of us should ponder upon and ask ourselves. You may be tempted to say “Carey, its easy for you to ask such a question, as you are not displaced and your life is more or less never in any danger.”

Well, that may be the case. But I also feel very much displaced and misplaced! I am living in India and this is not exactly a Zomi domain. Delhi is not exactly the kind of place one can call Zogam.

It may be a surprise for you when I say, I long for the time when we all move back to Zomi domain. I wish we could all come together again and live in our own homes.
I secretly wish that someday I would be able tell my daughters, “See, this is the land where our forefathers hunted and lived. This is the land for which men have fought and died, this is the land where we belong. We don’t have to fear anyone here. We are safe here. We are home.”

Coming back to the question at hand, I am amazed at the apathy of the youths today. I have been hoping that the second and third generation Zomi diaspora youths will now be able to say “Guys, its our time now. We’ve got to help our brothers and sister back home, who are not as fortunate as we are. We’ve got the education and the environment and everything {insert country} has to offer. Now its time to give back.”
So, I ask myself again, it is worthwhile to give up your homes, communities and legacies in spite of the Burmese Junta for the next generation to want nothing to do with the problems back home?

I have no pride in living so far from the land my ancestors used to live. I think we are paying too high a price for the elusive “freedom and good lives”. If the Gen Y don’t give a damn for the land where our forefathers live freely and in pride, a few years from now there will no more be a place we will be able to call home!

Your cars and houses and businesses and dollars cannot wipe away the tears, pain, humiliation and lost faces of your brothers and sister back home. Even as I write this, there is reports of foreign elements harassing villagers in the Indo-Myanmar border within Chin State.

Is it worth it?

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