what was the "role loss" many adult hmong faced when they came to the united states?

the journey

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Paja Thao

Paja Thao
Paja Thao is a member of the Hmong tribe, an ethnic minority group known for their strong work ethic, communal self-reliance and contained spirit. He was born in a pocket-sized hamlet in the mountains of Laos most 65 years ago (the Hmong did not keep nascency records or celebrate birthdays in Laos, so his historic period is an estimate.)

Like many other Hmong, Paja Thao served as a soldier of the Hmong ground forces against communist forces in Lao people's democratic republic for three years before returning to his village. When the communists prevailed, he was forced out of his village forever. Former Hmong soldiers and their families were targeted in detail. Paja, his wife and their half dozen children abandoned their farm and fled into the jungle. They walked for 15 days until they reached Nam Yao, a refugee campsite in Thailand. Without a homeland to return to, they lived with thousands of other refugees for 8 years.

Paja Thao making drum
In America
On Baronial 17, 1984, the Thao family arrived in America sponsored by Paja's cousin. The family unit found themselves in an alien world, living on the eighth flooring of high-rise tenement house in Chicago, Illinois. In 1985, Paja and his family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, home to a large Hmong population. He is the begetter of 13 children. The oldest son yet lives in Laos.

Today, Paja continues as a respected leader and healer in the Appleton customs. Each weekend he is called to perform elaborate shamanic rituals for the immature and old.

The Journey

The Vietnam State of war
For thousands of years, the Hmong have maintained a distinctive civilization, including dress, oral literature and religion, valuing their autonomy and shut-knit community above all. In pre-state of war Lao people's democratic republic, the ethnic identity of the Hmong remained intact, because they lived high in the mountains and had fiddling contact with other people. They farmed in the highlands and harvested plenty crops for their ain needs. Opium was their only greenbacks crop.

In the late 1960s, when the Vietnam State of war spread into Laos, the United States recruited the Hmong to fight against communism. Wanting to hold on to their land and the independence they had maintained for thousands of years, the Hmong saw communism as a threat to their autonomy. Hmong soldiers, totaling over thirty,000 men, fought the footing state of war, flew combat missions, directed air strikes, rescued downed American flyers, fought backside enemy lines, gathered intelligence on the movements of N Vietnamese troops and more. They suffered heavy casualties for their brave involvement in the war: Hmong soldiers died at a rate x times as high equally that of American soldiers in Vietnam.

Before the war, between 300,000 and 400,000 Hmong lived in Laos. Although there is disagreement over how many died during the state of war, estimates range from one 10th to half of the Hmong population was killed. Some were soldiers, only most of the expressionless were civilians felled past mortar fire, land mines, grenades, postwar massacres, hunger and disease. One hundred and fifty g Hmong have fled Laos since their country barbarous to communist forces in 1975.

After the War
Displaced from their villages, which were either bombed out or burned by the Northward Vietnamese and the new Lao communist regime, many Hmong became refugees in their own land. U.S.-sponsored food drops - l tons of rice a solar day - fed more than than 100,000 Hmong, whose land and livestock had been destroyed by the war.

In February 1973, the Vientiane Agreement was signed, calling for a cease-fire in Laos, a coalition government and the end of U.S. air back up. American relief programs ceased, and the Lao's People Party declared the Hmong enemies of the state. Between 1,000 and 3,000 Hmong, mostly high ranking army officers and their families, were airlifted to Thailand, while thousands more who had fought for the CIA or remained neutral in the state of war were left behind. In a ravaged state strictly controlled by the North Vietnamese, many Hmong were forcibly relocated to lowland areas and assigned to state-owned commonage farms. More than ten,000 Lao intellectuals, ceremonious servants, teachers, police force officers and other suspected royalist sympathizers were interned in "seminar camps" for forced labor and political indoctrination. Fearing retribution and famine, well-nigh chose to migrate to Thailand on foot, journeys on which many Hmong died from disease, starvation, exposure and drowning while crossing the Mekong River which borders Laos and Thailand.

Refugee Camps
Once in Thailand, nearly Hmong were placed in Ban Vinai camp on the Thai/Lao edge in the northeast part of the land near the Mekong. The camp had no electricity, running water or sewage disposal, and was severely overcrowded. At its peak in 1986, Ban Vinai had 42,858 residents, ninety percentage of whom were Hmong. The Thai government airtight Ban Vinai in 1992.

Immigration to the United States
Because of their American military ties, many Hmong who left the refugee camps chose to come to the United States. The best educated Hmong and Lao were allowed entry into America first. The U.S. government gradually allowed more than refugees equally years passed. Around 200,000 Hmong currently live in the U.s.a., most of whom reside in Minnesota, primal California and Wisconsin.

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Source: https://www.pbs.org/splithorn/story1.html

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