In a weary voice, Xong Mouacheupao described some of the mental health problems she encountered among the refugees of Wat Tham Krabok.
“There was the case of a middle-aged man who committed suicide,” said Mouacheupao, a mental health counselor. He
didn’t want to come to the United States, but his family wanted to. He used his silver wash as poison.
Women come to her and ask, “What should I do? My husband is beating me up.”
A 21-year-old woman sold three of her four children so she would have food to eat.
The list goes on and on.
The life of a refugee isn’t easy, and many of the Hmong families at the camp in Thailand have lived for 30 years in exile from their home country of Laos. Poverty, lack of social services and the fact people haven’t been able to improve their lives because they are illegal immigrants in Thailand have made mental health problems worse.
A team of political leaders, educators and health care officials under the leadership of St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Randy Kelly visited Wat Tham Krabok earlier this year. The team completed mental health assessments on a sample of refugees. Of 41 people, 56 percent had some kind of mental health problem. Women were found to have more problems than men. The team found major depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.
“Much of the depression and anxiety with the refugees we assessed was related to the processing that was currently taking place to determine their refugee status and their ability to resettle in the United States,” the team’s report said.
The prospect of a new life in America often doesn’t help matters, Mouacheupao said. Starting over in a different country brings a whole new set of stresses that can upset people’s emotional well-being and relationships.
Consider Chang Yee Her, 25, who, with his mother, father and seven siblings, will be resettling in Wausau. He said his former wife began to beat his daughter severely, and when he confronted her about it, she got upset and attacked him with a knife.
The family talked about the situation with community elders, and they decided the best thing for the couple was to divorce. Her was given custody of his daughter.
But when the couple went to register for resettlement, officials decided that his daughter would go to the United States with his former wife.
Add to that the fact Her’s brother, Cheng Leng Her, 29, was away from Wat Tham Krabok when Thai government officials registered refugees. That means Cheng Leng Her won’t be able to move to America with the rest of the family.
Xong Mouacheupao hasn’t worked with Cheng Leng Her or his family, but she nods when told about the situation. There are many like it.
In the United States, Mouacheupao, 42, is a mental health case manager for the Wilder Foundation, a nonprofit social service agency in St. Paul. At Wat Tham Krabok, she is the lone counselor devoted to people’s emotional and mental illnesses.
She arrived at the camp June 16, and in early July she said she was overwhelmed by the depths of despair among some of the residents.
“There is no one to talk to, there’s no one to consult with. In the U.S. we work as a team, we talk about cases among one another,” Mouacheupao said. “When you visit a family, you wish you could give them some food, just for one night. But you can’t do it for everybody.”
She expects to be joined soon by a psychologist from the International Organization for Migration, but two people still won’t be able to handle the mental health problems at Wat Tham Krabok.
“We don’t have the time, don’t have the resources,” Mouacheupao said.
She knows life still will be difficult for refugees when they relocate to the United States. It will be isolating and confusing.
“I think we will face some problems (in America). But at least we have services out there to deal with them,” Mouacheupao said. “I tell people to hang on until you go to the U.S. ... There will be hope once you get there.”
