Refugees grow hope with Phoenix garden

PHOENIX - Ten Valley refugee families will reap the benefits of their labor after getting help from Valley organizations with a new community garden.

The families from Bhutan and Burma/Myanmar got help last weekend preparing the plot of land near 39th Avenue and Dunlap Road from members of the Cross-Connection International Fellowship Church, Phoenix Rotary 100 and Phoenix West Rotary.

The organizations brought the shovels and hoes and all pitched in to help create the "sustainable, micro-organic garden," according to a news release.

The church provided land for the garden and funds and efforts to grade, fence, irrigate and prepare the plot for planting were provided by all three groups. The refugees will keep the crops harvested.

The refugees from Burma/Myanmar are members of the Karen tribe, who have faced ethnic cleansing in that deeply troubled nation, according to the news release. A single father of five was a rice farmer and said he was chosen to be relocated by the International Rescue Committee. The oldest daughters support the family by working in a grocery store and restaurant.

The refugees from Bhutan are here because their land was confiscated in 1991 and more than 120,000 fled the country. The refugee from Bhutan was also a farmer. He and his six children were in refugee camps for 19 years.

Arizona has become somewhat of a haven for refugees. According to a New York Times report , "only three states accepted more refugees on a per capita basis over the past six years."