Shu
Blong Her lived in the Xieng Khouang Province in Laos. He was a student and was
also involved in the post secret-war rebellion. He left in 1978. Shu Blong is
employed at the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association as a school liaison worker.
What was your homeland like
while you were living there? The government, economy, and living conditions?
My homeland… when I was still, I think it was a very good country, a neutral
country. Although, economically it is not the way people in the country think.
Otherwise my country is a very beautiful country.
How
old were you when you left your homeland?
When I left my homeland, I was 14 years old.
Why
did you and your family leave your homeland?
I left my homeland because the Vietnam War ended, officers or soldiers
returned to America. Because my parents, my brothers, and sisters, and other
people of Hmong background had been fighting the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese
people or the communist regime’s government didn’t like us, so they
prosecuted many people, especially the Hmong who fought with the American camp.
And then we had to seek refuge somewhere else.
Was
it difficult for you and your family to move the U.S., and why?
It was very difficult, although it depended
on where and how you got to go to America like for my family, and myself we
escaped to Thailand through the jungle. I guess it made my trip to freedom or to
Thailand very difficult. We had to quickly cross thick grasses, and jungles, and
forests, climb mountains, and valleys. I myself swam across the Mekong River
with two pieces of bamboo trees, bamboo underneath my arms to help me float and
so that made things very, very difficult. In addition to that, my parents
didn’t have a chance to escape because we were starving in the jungle, and
they had to go back to surrender to the communist regime just for survival. So
considering the escape thing, it is very difficult.
Did
you come directly to the United States?
I came to Thailand, and stayed in a refugee
camp first.
After
that, did you come strait to Wisconsin?
Yes. I
stayed in the refugee camp for a year. Then
I came to America through my cousin’s sponsorship.
And when I came to America, I came to Wisconsin directly.
What
were some of the difficult parts of the journey to the U.S.?
Yes, the journey to the U.S.
For me was not that difficult. In
terms of just the transportation and so on, it was not difficult. But the difficult part for myself was that I came to America
without English. I couldn’t speak
English at all. That made
communication around the world extremely difficult.
The flight attendants virtually put a sign on my chest, telling another
flight attendant where these boys are heading, right to Wisconsin to Wausau.
So I carried the sign so I wouldn’t…
What were your first impressions
of the U.S. or Central Wisconsin’s airport when you first reached there?
I thought Wausau was great because I came
during summer when everything is blossoming.
The trees are green and the weather is just like Laos.
It’s even cooler than in Thailand, which was very hot, so I came to
Wausau and it felt great. The
country, the nature, and the way the people see you then are very fulfilling.
Did
you and your family experience any discrimination upon your arrival?
When I came to America, for myself, I
didn’t have the concept of discrimination or prejudice. We didn’t have the
terminology. And so whatever people did to us. Good or bad, we couldn’t tell
anyway, because we couldn’t speak English. And the facial gestures, whether it
was negative or positive, I couldn’t identify them. But afterwards, I began to
learn the terminology of people hating other people, especially of a different
race. And although I didn’t face it that much, and the person who respects
strangers, and so when somebody of the strangers gesture me a thing, I turn the
other way, so I don’t notice much of the discrimination.
I think because I turn the other way instead.
Did
you know a lot of people before moving to Central Wisconsin?
You mean people in the U.S?
Yes.
I didn’t know many people at all,
only my cousin, my first cousin who was my Sponsor. And then when he brought me
here, I realized that we had a few other cousins who lived in Wausau, so I was
welcome living here with part of my so called extended family.
How
did you learn how to ride the bus and go grocery shopping?
To go grocery shopping, because I came here
when I was still a teenager, I depended a lot on my cousin because I lived with
them, so whenever they went to the store I went with them. But about
transportation for places that I wanted to go to, especially school, my teacher
showed me how to go ride and wait for the bus and how to get transferred to the
place you wanted to go, so I learned from my American friends, especially my
teacher.
What
were some of the greatest challenges when you first came to central Wisconsin?
The greatest challenge for myself as an
individual is that I came here without my parents, so I had to have a lot of
self-discipline. And I think that was the most challenging thing for me.
In
what ways did you and your family change after arriving in central
Wisconsin?
Now, as we go into a new country, we see
people do things differently, whether it is transportation, traveling, just
basic communication, like using the telephone, knowing who to call when you are
in trouble, like knowing the social system, the police. And knowing where
resources are when you are in a needy situation.
So those are some of the things that myself, as a person, without then
faced.
How
are the members in your ethnic group different in central Wisconsin than they
would have been in your homeland?
Not that much of a difference, the
only difference in addition to the ethnic background and my homeland is that my
homeland, we just had Laotian, and the Hmong people, and a few other ethnic
groups, but we are still being called Laotian because we are from Laos. Now over
here, we have other people like Vietnamese, Cambodians. We have the Thai people,
and so I think those three groups make an addition to the ethnic difference
comparing to when I was still in Laos.
What customs do you still
maintain from your culture, such as foods, habits, kinds of clothes you wear,
language, and phrases?
We are the
still consuming the same types of food. How we cook, and the rest, like you
mentioned, I have to adjust to what is out there with a little bit that is in my
home country.
Are most of your friends from
the same ethnic group?
My friends are
varied. I have Hmong friends, Laotian friends, and I have many American friends,
and they call them Caucasians.
How
do other people view your ethnic group?
I guess in the Wausau area, I think we are
fortunate enough that many people are very accepting of us or respective of us.
There are from time to time business people who say negative things about the
Hmong people, but I have seen positive people more than negative people…treat
the Hmong people as an ethnic group.
What
language do you speak at home with your family and friends?
At home I speak Hmong with my friends
mostly, and I speak Hmong with my wife. I do speak half Hmong with my children,
and half English with my children. So that is different.
What
are parts of your culture you would like to be preserved for the future?
Part of my culture I would like to preserve
for the future is that clothing we have. Even though we only wear them on very
special occasions, we would like to continue to wear things and the practice
that we have such as respect the elders, respect the parents and respect even
strangers- I think that part, I would really want my children to learn and to
cherish that part of my culture.
What do you think Central Wisconsin will be like
20 years from now in regard to your ethnic group?
20 years from now, I envision that there
will be more people in the area. More people can mean that perhaps they will be
moving from other states to Wausau or central Wisconsin. And more people think
that the people living here will have their own new family and they’ll have
young children, and they will increase the Hmong ethnic population in the Wausau
area and around central Wisconsin.
What do you think it means to be an American?
I think, for myself it means a lot to me…
freedom, it means to be proud of yourself… and that is the way I see America
is to be liberated from the things that will try to hold you down or look you
down and I think that is how I see being an American.
If you
had a choice right now would you go back to your homeland?
If I had a choice I would go back to my
homeland, but otherwise I would maintain my homeland as my vacation home instead
[laughter]. Because my children are growing up here and the people I know are
here. Their lifestyle that I’m getting used to and learning too is over here.
Do you think it’s better for
children to grow up in your homeland than in the United States?
Right now I think it’s half and half. In my
country… I see that my children would be safer in terms of society norm
[police siren can be heard in the background of tape] gangs and other things
that try to break the family down so I think in Laos it would be safer to
preserve the family, but over here it is also good because we have opportunities
for education, for pursuing our success in the future and that has balance so in
a way it’s balancing out half and half… over there for one reason and over
here for another reason, but they both are good.
Do you think that it’s
important for the Hmong children of today to remember their background?
Yes, I think it’s extremely important for
Hmong children to know their roots, know where they come from and to be able to
answer to anybody, who are you… and then to be able to answer- I am a Hmong,
and then be able to answer again, what is Hmong?… and that my children will be
able to tell them exactly what Hmong is. I really want my children to do that.
Could you tell me what you think Hmong is?
The Hmong is someone who has a culture. They
have a unique history of their background- they have a language. They have a
religion that they practice. Someone who has his or her unique educational
system so far as survival goes. For example, Hmong people teach legends to their
children orally and I hope that can be passed on. I think the Hmong are people
that have a culture, have a unique history for a thousand years, have their own
language, their own religion, their own custom and culture, and I think these
are some of the main things that become what people are… like the Hmong.
While you were in the refugee camp, what did you do to stay alive?
In the refugee camp we didn’t have anything
so far as our possessions goes because we have left everything that we had in
Laos. So you came to a country where you worked day by day and depended on other
people like you, who stayed in the camp and you worked for the United Nation to
distribute food, clothing … you can’t go outside the camp to work. This is
my experience in Thailand and especially in the camp.
Were
you the only one in your family that came over, or did you come with other
people?
When I came to Thailand, I came with
a group of other young people. And young people I say that because we were a
group of young men who were still fighting in the war in the jungle as the
Americans were gone. We had about nine young men with a group leader, a
gentleman, and we escaped to Thailand.
Did you get any education while in the refugee camp?
In the refugee camp I didn’t get any
education academically, but I tied to speak English in the camp.
Why did you have to go to the refugee camp before
you came to the US?
I think that is how the United Nations worked
on helping the refugee. The camp is to hold refugees for whatever reason. Maybe
for safety or maybe just for a place that is temporary to keep refugees together
for further direction. I think that’s where everyone who came to America goes,
to the camp.
One of
the very special foods that Hmong consume, or special kind of cooking the Hmong
people have for long, I never know but it “taub tsuag?” Where we have a very
young pumpkin and pumpkin shoot or another kind we call “bitter” vegetable
“zaub iab” those we are still eating over here and those are very, very good
and healthy food I think.
On
certain holidays is there a certain dish that you cook?
Yes. The Hmong people usually cook certain
dishes especially they can cook a ham, or pork, and beef, and chicken with
vegetables and so on but over here special occasions has changed Hmong the way
Hmong consume food because we added the turkey. And other American dish that (?)
and now my wife is baking cake that we do have addition to our dishes.
Is
there a holiday that all Hmong celebrate?
Yes. Also we don’t, we don’t have a
word like “Holiday” for it but we do have a day a very special event that I
think is the only special event for the Hmong people and that is the New Year.
But we don’t celebrate for just one day or two days- we celebrate for a whole
month. And not everybody celebrates at the same time or same day – they
celebrate on a different day and communities can celebrate at the same day but
it happens all over and each day throughout the month of December an event will
happen and so I will say “holiday” but maybe I will say “holimonth” (laughing)
something like that.
What’s
a typical thing that happens at a Hmong New Year?
A typical thing that happens at a
Hmong New Year is the ball tossing game that happens between boys and girls.
Another thing is another game call “ballo”… a top spins... playing with
men and those are two types of games that young people play and ball tossing is
played by the young people who are single. Now the “tuaj lub” or hitting on
those top spins is played by the men. It can be young boys… young men, adult,
or the elderly.
Thank you.
Oral
History Project 
