Women in leadership: EMBARC cofounder Iris Tun

EMBARC co-founder and current Family Advocate Iris Tun. Iris is a Karen refugee from Burma who settled in Iowa in 2008.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Iris Tun, a co-founder of EMBARC, shared her story of EMBARC’s founding years, and what community leadership means to her. Iris currently works as a Burma Family Focus Family Advocate and Parent Navigator for EMBARC. 

Grassroots Beginnings 

In July 2008, Iris arrived in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband and three children from Burma. Though her husband had a job, they still struggled to pay bills and provide for their family. Iris started borrowing money from her sister to help them survive. She knew that their journey as refugees would be a long and challenging road, but Iris was determined to do what was necessary to provide for her family and help her community along the way. 

Throughout this time, Iris witnessed firsthand how challenging it could be for refugees to adapt to American life. She was troubled by the language barrier that impacted their ability to make important phone calls, read mail, request food assistance, as well as the difficulty many school-age children faced when trying to adjust to local schools. 

“It is very different where we came from. Adjusting isn’t easy.”

In 2010, Iris met Henny Ohr while attending a local green card clinic. Unbeknownst to Iris, the two of them would soon become an important resource to many others from the refugee community. 

“There were so many questions from our ethnic community members. [Henny and I] didn’t know what we were doing, but we knew we needed to do more.”

For many months to come, Iris continued to meet with Henny and other community members to organize and plan for what would soon become EMBARC.

EMBARC opened its doors as a mutual aid organization in 2011, with Iris serving as a founding board member and Henny as executive director. Iris, along with many others, worked hard to provide critical resources to the refugee community in the Des Moines area. Iris even earned the nickname, “Bus Lady,” because of her devotion to helping others navigate the local transportation system. 

“Community members would call and tell me they were somewhere, like at a stop sign, but didn’t know how to describe where they were. I would go find them and help them figure out how to get to where they needed to be.”

Women in Leadership

Along with the many other adjustments to American culture, the freedoms afforded to her as a woman was something that Iris learned to embrace. 

“In my culture, women stay home and take care of children. Before coming to the United States, I never went to work or did anything else. Here, I can do the same things that men are able to do.” 

Given this new profound ability, Iris has become known as a community leader, both through her work as a co-founder of EMBARC and board member of her church. Though she has garnered much respect from her involvement in these roles, it hasn’t always been easy.

“There have been many times I thought about quitting, but I told myself that I had to keep going.”

With that said, Iris’ grit has not gone unnoticed. She is often approached by other women within the refugee community, sharing how her work has inspired them to become more confident in their abilities. 

“Sometimes I do not think what I do is important, but then [women] approach me and tell me that I motivate them to give back to their community. It makes me feel good.”