What I Hope To Do...

I love the idea of family lore and it’s interesting that Adam brings up this particular question of retelling these stories as this especially defines one inspirational path my writing hopes to traverse.
    As those who know me are already likely aware of this, my cultural heritage (though I’m not as in tune with this as I need and want to be) means a lot to me and quite a bit of my writing stems from this. I am Hmong1 and am especially interested in the life of the Hmong back in Laos before the war (and after) and of those in America (and the hardships that come afterwards: employment, psychological trauma, culture shock and misunderstandings, etc.). Particularly, what I believe is told but not heard enough is the journey these Hmong immigrants went through, especially after the war as most were left behind by the CIA to fend for themselves against a retributive and corrupt government.
    To that end, the very personal speak to me first. And though its been brewing in the back of my mind for a while now, I hope to write a novel of sorts about the Hmong immigrant experience. I had originally thought of blueprinting my dad’s own story2 to that of the novel, but I’ve come to treasure his narrative as that of purely his own. After all, it screams to be given its own due and I hope to capture it as a memoir one day.
    Still, the typical Hmong immigrant experience is still to be told and I hope to pursue this. Generally, the story is divided into three parts. First, there’s the actual journey from wherever the people lived in Laos to that of Thailand. Unless one dwelt in the cities quite near the Mekong River3, there were generally mountains to trek over, forests to wander through, and creeks and rivers to cross4. The second part of this is the stay in Thailand, under government-sanctioned refugee camps. Until a family could 1) verify that a family member had served the CIA and 2) had received sponsorship by another family or an organization in one of the receiving countries5, the family was to stay in these sectioned-off and desolate lands6. The last part of the experience is the actual living in America (or one of the other first world countries) and the culture shock and conflicts that arise from this difficult transition.



1 The earliest documentation of the Hmong occurs around 3000 B.C. in southern China. Most of the Hmong lived in China until the 1800s, when Han oppression led many to flee southward, into the Indochina region of Laos and Vietnam and Thailand. Most (if not all) of the Hmong in America today had helped the CIA combat the Communist regime of Laos during the Vietnam (Secret) War.

2 His own father died when he was twelve. He had to step up as a man and be a soldier amongst his village group (the people he traveled with). The time he had nearly gotten lost, and had been left behind, in a Communist-infested mountain and had thought he was dead. 

3 The border between Laos and Thailand.

4 Many of the Hmong did not swim, as they did not live near a large body of water.

5 United States, France, Germany, Australia, (there are a few other countries that I’m blanking on at the moment)

6 This stay could last from a few months to over decades.