Sreyneang Lim and CERI Executive Director, Mona Afary, at Peralta Hacienda Park celebrating Khmer New Year
Nine years ago, Sreyneang Lim was looking for an opportunity to feel connected to her Cambodian community–beyond the temple celebrations and community events of which she was a part.
She wanted something that would give her the opportunity to learn more about her heritage, and in turn, herself.
Her mom’s suggestion that she look into volunteering at the Young Women’s Group at Center for Empowering Refugees & Immigrants (CERI) would turn into a more than five-year journey of supporting CERI’s mission to offer mental health and social services to refugees and immigrants affected by war, torture, genocide and other life threatinging traumas.
Sreyneang herself is the child of Cambodian genocide survivors and came to the United States when she was 8 years old. Having lost an older sibling because of the genocide, she knows all too well the violence in Southeast Asia that changed the lives of millions of of people and led to the largest refugee community ever to be resettled in the United States.
Through CERI and its partnership with Oakland-based Asian Health Services, Sreyneang now works with elders to address the traumas they have experienced and ensure that they receive the health resources they need. Sreyneang shares, “I support transporting our clients from their homes to their appointments as well as interpretation at the doctor’s office. As an advocate for our elderly population, I encourage them to ask questions when they’re at these appointments so that they have all of the information they need. I’ve noticed that our elders can get quiet and shy when they’re with the doctors and may feel that they shouldn’t be asking too many questions. That’s when I step in to encourage them to really understand their health. Working with the elders feels like I’m working with my aunties and my uncles. I love working with them; it feels like I’m with family.”
Sreyneang feels a strong reverence for the Cambodian elders who have built and led the community in her California hometown.
“Our elders have experienced so much, but they remain so resilient. They have overcome so many obstacles in life– from escaping genocide to restarting in a foreign country and trying to navigate through all of the systems. The Cambodian community that exists today is possible because of them and they are the ones that created this community. Without the Cambodian community, CERI would not exist. It started as just a small group of Cambodians and now it’s grown into different Southeast Asian and refugee communities including people from Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, Iran, and Afghanistan. Our elders are at the heart of CERI and I feel lucky to work closely with them and see their resilience. I know as an agency we are helping our elders, but they’re also helping us through their stories, through their strength, and their resiliency. We’re learning about each other, and that’s one of the unique things that I see here at CERI. ”
Senior Self Defense Class taught by Mollii from Tufflove
Sreyneang and the staff at CERI are strengthening this resilience by ensuring community members and elders have programs to feel connected to each other, including self defense classes.
“I am so proud of the community self defense classes that we’ve organized and seeing our typically quiet and shy elders shine in these classes,” Sreyneang said. “It has helped a lot of elders become more aware of their surroundings. They feel more confident, they feel healthy and they’re having fun while doing it. These classes are teaching them how to protect themselves and possibly stop a situation from escalating.”
CERI has also hosted traditional festivals including Pchum Ben, the Cambodian celebration of remembrance. In helping the elders feel connected to each other, Sreyneang is also learning more about her heritage. Sreyneang shares, “There is so much value and beauty in keeping that tradition alive for the elders. Our elders are so joyful that younger community members still want to keep these traditions strong. I can see them light up when the youth ask about Cambodian culture.”
In turn, Sreyneang shares that the Cambodian elders have also been curious and open to understanding the experiences of younger Cambodian Americans who were just children when they were resettled into the United States. This has allowed for conversation on the devastating impacts of detention and deportation within Southeast Asian American communities.
Approximately 17, 000 SEAAs have received final deportation orders and between 2017-2018 there was a 279% increase of Cambodian Americans who were deported to Cambodia. CERI’s anti-deportation program has built a bridge between the elders and young people. “Our elders are open to understanding the story of someone who has made a mistake in the past and has been impacted by incarceration and deportation. One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen working at CERI is the way that our elders continue to fight to protect our community and keep families together by attending rallies and packing the court when a community member is at risk of being deported.”
Now, Sreyneang is learning more about policy advocacy as a tool for fighting for the resources her community needs. Sreyneang joined SEARAC’s California Policy Seeding and Leadership Cohort (the Cohort), a nine-month applied learning experience for staff at SEAA Collaborative member organizations interested in growing as advocates for their communities at the state level. “Being in the Cohort, it is really important for me to advocate for mental health services and language access. In the Cohort, a common challenge that my cohort members and I face is the lack of interpreters. There is a lack of cultural competency among interpreters and this can be concerning when we have clients that have been affected by war. For example, by not having proper services, our clients can feel as if they’re at fault. Being a part of the Cohort feels like we are opening up a door for building change.”
From a volunteer to the current Community Pathways to Healthy Aging Coordinator, Sreyneang is fulfilling her goals of learning more about herself and meaningfully supporting refugee and immigrant communities. With the upcoming 50th anniversary of SEAA refugee resettlement, Sreyneang holds the stories of her ancestors close to her heart. “We are honoring the spirits of those that came before us and honoring the pathways that have led us all here today to be able to commemorate 50 years of the Southeast Asian American community.”
Thank you Sreyneang, for your vision, your dedication, your amazing outreach and bond to these priceless elders and their impactful stories. Without the heart of advocates like Sreyneang, these ties and trust could not be formed and this incredible alliance could not break the existing barriers. Sreyneang’s work and effort has built foundations, hope and promise for the future of SEA generations, their families and the legacies of ongoing tradition.