As the Hmong refugees at Wat Tham Krabok prepare to depart for a new life in America, they carry a wealth of experiences and lessons that have shaped them as individuals and as a people.
For Chong Lor Vang, 62, who will move to Milwaukee, those lessons boil down to responsibility for family and community.
“Because I have children, my first role is a parent. And I’ve always taught my children to be good spouses and to take care of their children,” said Vang, whose wisdom is highly respected among Wat Tham Krabok refugees and relatives in America.
“Sometimes a difficult life makes us forget that the reason we’re working so hard to bring food to the table to feed the people in our home is because we love them,” he said.
The fact that the refugees have so little and rely on one another for survival and companionship, Vang said, has taught them to appreciate and embrace the strong sense of community that is part of Hmong culture.
“Everyone helps everyone,” he said.
What’s more, the people have found a way to thrive even amid scarce economic and educational opportunities.
“We’ve learned together that because we’re so limited in what we’re allowed to do, we must adapt our skills and abilities to what we can pursue in our situation and become good at that,” Vang said.
It’s a lesson revealed in sophisticated embroideries and skilled traditional Hmong silver jewelry made by Wat Tham Krabok refugees and sold in markets throughout Hmong-American communities.
Their talents are keeping together key threads of Hmong culture that are rapidly unraveling for Hmong in the United States.
Chai Thao, 38, the new principal of the Hmong school inside Wat Tham Krabok, said that finding ways to rise above the limitations imposed upon the refugees has always been a struggle.
He and several other Hmong teachers devote 12 hours a day, often without pay, to help the refugee children learn so their lives might be different.
“Our children are our future,” Thao said.
Nao Kou Xiong, 41, another Hmong leader in the camp, emphasized the importance of not only schooling the children but teaching them how valuable they are to the Hmong people.
Even in their new lives in America, Xiong said, the children must remember from where it is they came. “It’s the only way we can survive as Hmong people.”
The struggle is nearly over for Neng Xiong Lor, 72, who has declined the chance to move to the United States.
“Go or stay, my life is near the end now,” he said.
Thao said survival also means moving forward.
“We didn’t struggle this hard and this long to regress. Our life isn’t what it used to be no matter how we wish it to be, and living like this for so long has only fueled our desire to change our future into something better for our children and our people.”
