She was an 8-year-old girl, a member of one of the first Burmese families to leave their military-controlled homeland. When they arrived in the U.S., she became part of one of the few Asian families to live in Battle Creek.
The life-changing move for Martha Thawnghmung was not easy. The director of the Springfield-based Burma Center said she didn’t feel like she belonged in Battle Creek for a long time. Her parents had moved from Myanmar in the 1980s in hopes that Thawnghmung and her six siblings could practice their Christian religion freely and make a better life for themselves.
But going to a mostly white school, where she and her classmates knew she looked different, was difficult. Thawnghmung, 41, said it wasn’t until a few years ago that Battle Creek finally felt like home.
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