On a blistering late July morning, about a dozen elementary and middle school-aged kids were busy washing and chopping vegetables at a farm southwest of Chapel Hill.
As they rinsed water spinach and chopped shallots, squashes and a large water gourd, an adult supervising them, Hsar Ree Ree Wei, loudly directed volunteers to stir fry the vegetables and cook fried rice. The group is cooking meals for refugee families who earlier this month had to evacuate their homes at the public housing complex on South Estes Drive in Chapel Hill due to flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal. The young volunteers also identify as first and second generation refugees and are neighbors of the families they're helping.
Wei poured a fresh batch of stir-fried squash and water gourd into a Tupperware container, telling the volunteers which family will receive it.
"It's just him and his mom at the hotel," Wei said. "Some families will (need) a lot more. Should we put more? Maybe we should put more."
That day, they were making meals for five displaced families. Wei says she and her friends know of nine families who have been displaced by Chantal, and most of them are Burmese, Karen or African refugees. The Karen people are an ethnic group from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and, since the early 2000s, many have fled persecution to find shelter in Chapel Hill and other cities across the United States. According to the town of Chapel Hill, nearly 1,200 refugees have arrived in Orange County since 2005, and a large portion have come from Myanmar.
Wei, also a Karen refugee, is the executive director of refugee-led nonprofit Transplanting Traditions, whose community farm was where this small hot meals operation took place. She said this effort to cook meals for families began among friends who believe that it's important to give displaced refugee families food that reminds them of home.
"We know what it's like not to be able to have access to cultural food in general, so it's like, can we do something small just to bring them joy?" Wei said.
Some members of the hot meals operation also took part in a neighborhood cleanup shortly after Chantal hit the area. Shun Le Win, who is Burmese and grew up in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, says she thinks the refugees are being overlooked in mutual aid efforts.
"These are the families that are in need of help and trying to get housing for them has been really hard," said Win, 20. "Often times when people think of Chapel Hill, (they think of) the university, but instead we really do overlook the big population of Southeast Asian immigrants, especially the ones from Burma."
Wei says that folks looking to help displaced families can donate gift cards to help them pay for food and other basic necessities. To donate gift cards, Wei can be contacted at hsarwei3@gmail.com.
