Born and raised in a remote village in Burma (also known as Myanmar), Tual Khan Suan was a university student when he joined the local democratic movement. It was the early 1990s, and when Tual participated in a protest on his university campus for an end to military rule, a target was quickly put on his back.

“I had no choice. I had to leave,” Tual said. His family, non-confrontational by nature, urged him to stay and consider a government or teaching job. But Tual knew he couldn’t remain in Burma safely. Tual is also a part of the Zomi community, a Christian ethnic minority from Burma, Bangladesh, and India.

He fled first to neighboring India, where he lived in hiding for three years. As it became clear he could never return home, he began exploring the possibility of refugee resettlement. That required a trip to the UNHCR office in Bangkok, Thailand.

There, Tual encountered Jesuit Refugee Service for the first time. The JRS Thailand team helped him find housing and food and guided him through the complicated process of applying for third-country resettlement.

In February 2005, Tual was approved to resettle in the United States. Though grateful, he was also anxious because he didn’t know the language or anyone in the country. After learning his destination, he went to an internet café to look up where Nashville was.

He hadn’t spoken to his family since fleeing Burma seven years earlier. The remoteness of their village and a lack of communication technology had kept them out of touch. When Tual arrived in the U.S., the only person waiting for him, the only person he knew, was his caseworker.

A local organization connected him with a Burmese family who hosted him for a month, until another refugee family arrived. Tual moved in with them and shared a two-bedroom apartment as they all tried to rebuild.

In his first six months, Tual focused on learning English, enrolling in college, and finding a job. Not long after, he began volunteering with local refugee organizations, providing translation services at newcomer orientations, accompanying people to doctor’s appointments, and helping them with legal paperwork.

“When I came to the United States, nobody was here to welcome or help me,” Tual said. “I don’t want others to have the same experience.”

As more Burmese and Zomi refugees arrived in Nashville, Tual became a steady presence in the growing community. His early struggles fueled his desire to serve others and ensure they had the support he once lacked.

“JRS is very good to refugees, so I’m trying to be more involved with their work in the U.S. I want to be a part of it.”

This past March, Tual traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in JRS/USA’s Advocacy Day. He is now extending his accompaniment of refugees to the political level.

“Advocacy is so important right now,” he said. “We need to fight for the status refugees deserve because they are human beings too. They need a system. They need help, food, water, welcome.”

Today, Tual serves as the Program Director of Zomi Innkuan USA (ZIUSA), a refugee-led organization supporting Zomi communities in Malaysia, India, and Thailand. The program works to ensure that Zomi refugees, persecuted for their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or social group, receive proper protection and treatment under international refugee rights.

Through U.S. resettlement and humanitarian advocacy, Tual continues the work that once helped him begin again.