A journey to the motherland
STORY AND PHOTOS BY BRUCE THAO
I am here to tell a story. Many stories. Stories of our past, our present, and our future as Hmong people. I am here to tell the stories of the lives that I interacted with in Thailand this summer.
As a Hmong person born in America, I only knew about the lives of my parents and siblings in Laos and Thailand from muddled stories and Wikipedia. My parents’ silence regarding their lives in Laos and Thailand echoed the trauma which still afflicts their hearts. They wanted to forget the past and move on. And we did. Yet for me, I always wanted to know more. I craved an understanding of our history, where we came from, what life was like for them in Laos and in the refugee camps. This desire to know more and to serve those still there in villages and camps led me to intern this past summer with RADION International, in the Hmong village of Khek Noi, in Petchabun, Thailand.
I am here to tell the story of the 10 yearold boy, and so many others like him, who told me that he started sniffing glue at age 8 because his older cousin told him to do it. It made him dizzy, but it also made him forget about how hungry he was. And a bag of glue is cheaper than a bowl of pho. But now he is off of the glue and going back to school, because he has entered the RADION children shelter’s drug rehabilitation and intervention program. I am here to tell the stories of my coworkers, who are all victims of domestic violence who now work with RADION to gain job skills and become financially independent. One of my coworkers was abused by her husband every day until he was put in prison for life for drug trafficking. She then lived on the streets with her newborn son, eventually moved into someone’s garage for a few years, then lived and worked in an orphanage with her son. She has built herself up over the years and now she is working with Radion International, helping to rescue women who, like her, have been abused by their husbands.
I am here to tell the stories of all of the lonely souls whom we visited in their shacks and huts. Such as the elderly woman whose children have all abandoned her. She lives alone in a hut made of bamboo and straw with a dirt floor. I remember looking over at the charburnt pot on her makeshift fire in the corner of the room. Her wise wrinkles reminded me of my grandmother’s. As the tears fell from her eyes, she told us of how she has no one to help her and no one to visit her. She sits home alone every day; she cannot walk well and cannot visit anyone. She was astounded when we handed her a bag of fresh vegetables, some dry pho noodles and other snacks. She said that she could never afford to buy a bag of food like this even if she saved all the money from her paj ntaub for a year. We were touched. We hugged her and cried with her.
This is what is occurring on the ground in Thailand. In the midst of cycles of drug abuse, violence and poverty, RADION is breathing life into the hearts of the broken, serving the forgotten, and reminding them that there are people out there who love them and that God has not forgotten about them. RADION International is currently the only nongovernmental organization serving Khek Noi and its surrounding villages, though Khek Noi has the largest concentration of Hmong in one village in all of Thailand (about 12,000). RADION’s work model is unique in that it is comprised of two arms: Empowerment and Relief. Through the Empowerment arm their services uplift and provide shelter for abused women and children and provide education, job skills training, and basic necessities. The women are our fulltime staff and are trained in managing an internet café, laundry service, integrated farm, the children’s shelter, and carrying out our relief efforts.
The Relief arm consists of humanitarian relief to poor HmongThai villagers and HmongLao refugees. For the past few years RADION has been able to work with the Thai government and provide food, medical and clothing reliefs to the refugees. However, as the political situation has escalated recently, the government has denied RADION access to the refugees. In the interim, RADION has focused their relief efforts on reaching the poorest of the HmongThai villagers in Khek Noi and surrounding villages within a 50mile radius.
Personally, this summer was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but also the most challenging. While it was incredible to have the privilege of entering into the suffering of our Hmong people, to live with them each day in the village, to hear of their hardships and be able to provide them with relief for a little while, it was also extremely emotionally draining.
This summer was an intense, lifechanging, eyeopening experience; I was pulled into the depths of darkness and injustice in this world. Into the pits of poverty, suffering, violence, drug abuse, sex trafficking and corruption. One doesn’t just see these things first hand and return to the world unscathed. I am definitely scarred, but trying to figure out how to heal, in order not to let my heart grow cold and jaded like the rest of the world. I believe that we can change this world. Not the whole world at once, but parts of it, slowly—the way years of erosion carve out great canyons.
I have entered into much suffering and pain this summer. In the broken, but healing hearts of children. In the lonely tears of the elderly. In the aching bones of the weary. It can be overwhelming; it can be overbearing. But then there are these bursts of hope that break through the sorrow like rays of sunlight through a storm. They take the form of a sudden smile after hours of tears. A victim of abuse learning to heal her heart through caring for others. Or a child’s laugh—the purest sound in the world.
In the darkest moments I had to believe that there was a reason I was here to see all of it. That there were ways out for our Hmong people. And the work that RADION International is doing here is a testament to that. RADION International has started a movement within Thailand. It is beautiful and it is powerful. It began because of their simple motto: Every Life Matters. They have refused to give up on the Hmong people, though the rest of Thai society has. What is even more incredible is that we in America have the opportunity to be a part of what RADION is doing in Thailand.
I will be opening a US field office for RADION International and will serve as the Director of Operations. The main role of the US office will be to raise awareness of the plight of the Hmong in Thailand and the work RADION is doing, to raise funds to support those efforts, and to recruit volunteers to go and assist them with this work. If you feel moved to become a part of the important work that RADION is doing in Thailand, if you would like to learn more, or you would like me to come speak in your city regarding my experiences and RADION’s work in Thailand, please contact me at bruce.thao@radion-international.org.
We cannot do this alone. But together, we can work to uplift and empower our Hmong brothers and sisters overseas and remind them that we have not forgotten about them.
