The State of the Organization Address 

California Karen Youth Connection

January 28, 2023

Delivered by the Chair – Saw Lahkbaw

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Good Evening.

Tonight, I am going to address the state of the organization.

We don’t usually do this kind of thing in Karen communities. I think partly we are reserved and modest people. But I think it is a good thing we can adopt.

To address the state of the organization, I would say, the organization is going, and it is going strong.

We are organizing, and we are growing.

Last year we re-organized ourselves officially as a registered organization, and now we are 501C(3) status, officially recognized by the State of California and the Federal Government.

The purpose of the California Karen Youth Connection as stated in the article of cooperation is that the Karen Youth will be equal partners in contributing positive changes to society. As we focus on personal, academic and leadership development, overcoming the disadvantages of our Karen families’ background, we aim to empower youth to excel and be leaders in the State of California and the nation and beyond.

The California Karen Youth as a community organization has formally existed in the last 8 years and every year, we have an in-person summer conference until the Covid-19 stopped us from doing so.

The Last two years we had an outdoor summer camp where we had a chance to enjoy nature. Over there we ate, played, learned, and spent our nights on the campground.

We have done multiple in-person events this past year 2022. That is possible because everyone involved was giving their time and talents.

We are operating with very limited resources, both in-term of manpower and finance. Sometimes, we might have missed opportunities to do better. These events were possible because everyone involved were going above and beyond.

Just last December, we celebrated 2762 Karen New Year with people around California. Some people gave their time for months preparing for the one-day event. We are privileged to have some talents like Done Dance teacher Naw Su, who not only dedicated her time to teaching, but she wants us doing excellence, and some youth organizers like Paw K’lu Taw who organized youth for many dance practices.

Ashlee and her husband organized the games and soccer tournament, coordinating with soccer teams from different cities. Ashlee is our go-to person to have lots of fun in any event. Last summer camp, she was the one who created fun activities. The youth not only had to learn, but had fun during the conference.

We also have elders and parents who support us through many events. Last July summer camp, there were many parents who came out and supported their children with cooking, preparing foods, feeding hundreds of people three-meals a day for two nights and three days.

They just came out and helped without us going around asking them to help. We can see that our parents value education, want to see their children succeed, and they believe that summer camp is part of it.

Ko Ser Lu Htoo has organized many podcasts, Government and Political Affair classes by inviting speakers on a variety of topics, and Karen language classes. Ko Ser Lu Htoo took a lead in getting a Resolution passed in California Capital, Sacramento City Council recognizing the Karen New Year 2762. There are only a few cities, I think, in the United States that have recognized the Karen New Year. And we are glad, and proud, to have such recognition passed.

We had successfully held the Karen People Martyrs’ Day in front of the State Capitol with youth around the state. People from the southern edge of the State, the San Diego People had to wake up at 2 A.M. to make a journey to the State Capital. We danced, we sang, and we remembered our fallen heroes for the cause of freedom.

We also had a surprised guest who landed from Thailand.

Compared to other states, California has a smaller population of the Karen people. But people from other states see that there are more youth in California. That perception is probably a reflection that we organize better.

California is a land of innovation, after all, in technology, intellectual property or social values, ideas and ideals, research and regulations. This is a state where technology and humanity go hand in hand.

In one way, we are privileged to live in California, but on the other hand California has a high bar, high expectation, higher living cost. And we must get used to it, the habit of not setting ourselves a low bar.

We are surrounded by top-notch world class universities. We value education. And our organization slogan is “Educate. Advocate. Empower.”

California has the highest concentration of Nobel Laureates. Hundreds of Nobel Prize winners are home to California. That is more than 10 percent of all 989 Nobel laureates around the world so far. California is leading in science, technology and discoveries that change the lives of humanity.

Last October, one of the discoveries that won the Nobel Prize was named “Quantum Entanglement” . I think that is poetic. The two worlds somehow connect to each other. Like what happened in Kawthoolei also affects us here. We live in the great State of California, but our hearts are attached to the homeland of Kawthoolei. In fact, some of our community leaders just came back from Kawthoolei. It’s a good tie, so keep the good tie stronger.

We are mostly the first generation to migrate to this free land. Therefore, we are strongly attached to the land where we were born or the land of our parents.

Also, we are the younger generation, so we are quick to learn, and we are very adaptable to the new environment to thrive.

As the organization’s vision, we are to celebrate our roots, our identity, and who we are. We came from a disadvantaged background, many of us are first generation going to universities. We are to share our stories, maybe funny, heart-touching, the challenges we face that we can learn from each other’s stories.

We are growing as a community of learning.

We are privileged to live in California, the Golden State, while many of our folks back home Kawthoolei, are forced to flee from their villages, including an elder woman who gave birth to me . She had to leave her home. Our people back home are hiding in their own ancestral land. We people in California, and the United States, may face many challenges pursuing our education and career here but nothing to compare to our folks who have to run for their lives. They are our inspiration; they are our hope.

Finally, I want to thank the advisors, board members, our dedicated committee leaders, our parents who support us, and members who volunteer by donating their time and talents, and money.

This coming year, we are looking forward to doing more events like last year, if not more.

We intend to celebrate the 10 Year anniversary of California Karen Youth Connection. We have reserved the date for the last week of June.

We are now a 501C(3) organization, so we might be able to reach out more for funding to overcome financial restraint that kept us from scaling up.

There could be more youth that we need to reach out to who may be shy to join us. That we’ll let youth reach out to more youth. We may need to grow in human resources and financially so that we can do more.

As the organization’s name suggests, we will reach out to more organizations and make more connections.

We also intended to have more connections with youth and education organizations in Kawthoolei in the years ahead.

In summary, we, as an organization and as a community, will be growing, a community of growing in learning, and we are to excel individually and collectively, so that we are no longer to be at the receiving end but be the givers and benefit to the land we live in as well as be beneficial to the homeland our parents were born.

May God Bless the California Karen Youth Connection, and may God bless you all.

And thank you for joining us tonight.