Hmong Recent History

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Hmong Recent History

• At the beginning of the 19th century, half a
  million Hmong migrated from China to Indochina.
• They settled at the highest altitudes, between
  1,000 and 2,000 meters, in the region known today
  as Laos.

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• Indochina was a French colony until 1954, when it
  was forced to withdraw.
• The Geneva Accords of 1954 recognized three
  independent states in what was formerly French
  Indochina Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

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• Because the Hmong lived in such remote areas,
  they were able to remain undisturbed, and could
  resist assimilation into Laotian culture.

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Hmong Life in Laos

• Based on economic self-sufficiency
• Farming rice, corn and vegetables
• Hunting animals
• Fishing
• Gathering fruits

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Opium Poppy

• Had been traditionally grown by Hmong and served
  to
• Facilitate shamanic ceremonial trances
• Dull pain of headaches, toothaches, snakebites,
  and fever
• Control diarrhea
• Ease the discomforts of old age

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• Few Hmong aside from the chronically ill and the
  elderly were addicts.
• Addiction among youth was looked down upon Young
  males had trouble getting married.

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Opium in China

• Was introduced by the British in the 18th
  century, who were interested in making profits
  from local addicts.
• Caused devastating social ills.
• Drew the Hmong into the international opium
  trade The poppy became the only cash crop grown
  by the Hmong in Laos.

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Hmong Agriculture

• Based on the slash-and-burn technique, which
  requires no fertilizing, irrigation or plowing,
  because the ashes enrich the soil.
• When this technique is used, the soil becomes
  exhausted within a five-year period, forcing the
  population to migrate.

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1960s and 1970s

• The Indochina peninsula became one of the many
  Third World scenarios where the Cold War between
  the US and the Soviet Union was fought.
• Laos became a battleground for the Vietnam War,
  despite the fact that world superpowers had
  signed treaties promising that it would remain
  neutral territory.

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U.S. President Eisenhower

• Considered the fate of Laos to be the most
  important problem facing the U.S. If it fell to
  communism, it would be only a matter of time
  before South Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and
  Burma fell too.

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• The U.S. was anxious to support the anticommunist
  Royal government in Laos, which was engaged in
  struggle with the communist Pathet Lao, a
  guerrilla organization supported by North
  Vietnamese military forces.

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• However, the U.S. did not want to make it obvious
  that they were violating international treaties.
  Therefore, they fought the war by proxy.

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CIA advisers

• Recruited, trained and armed a secret guerrilla
  army of more than 30,000 Hmong soldiers.
• At its peak, this clandestine army was the CIAs
  biggest operation in the world, but it was
  virtually unknown due to its tightly-sealed
  secrecy.
• P. 128

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• The annual cost of the Vietnam War was about
  US20 billion, with soldiers salaries of
  US200-US300 per month.
• The cost of the clandestine Hmong army was US500
  million, with salaries of US3 per month.

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• Hmong soldiers had no vacations. They were
  trained to fly their planes until they died.
• Hmong soldiers were forced into combat
• Because bombing in Laos forced them to abandon
  their fields, and because there was no other form
  of employment.
• Because generals punished and attacked villages
  that didnt fill their soldier quotas.

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• More than two million tons of bombs were dropped
  on Laos by American planes attacking communist
  troops in Hmong areas.
• There was an average of one bombing excursion
  every eight minutes for nine years.

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• As Hmong casualties increased, younger soldiers
  were recruited.
• It is estimated that the war killed between 10
  and 50 of the Hmong population in Laos.
• In Northern Laos, were most Hmong lived, 90 of
  the villages were affected by the war through
  both death and displacement.

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• The war destroyed Hmong self-sufficiency.

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January 1973

• The U.S. pledges to withdraw forces from Vietnam.
  
• They do nothing to protect Laos from North
  Vietnamese invasion.
• In 1975, the last areas of Hmong resistance are
  attacked by the Pathet Lao.
• 3,000 Hmong are airlifted to Thailand. At least
  10,000 are left behind.

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• The Hmong who were left behind became prisoners
  of the Vietnamese in their own country. They
  attempted to escape several times.
• The Vietnamese took away two-thirds of their
  produce and livestock as tribute.
• They killed Hmong who disagreed with the regime,
  and tried to destroy Hmong culture.

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• The Hmong decided to migrate to fight oppression,
  famine, and dependence on American rice drops.
• For 10,000 there were no crops to harvest.
• An unknown number of Hmong who attempted to flee
  Laos died en route. When they arrived in
  Thailand, 80 suffered from malnutrition,
  malaria, anemia and infections.

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Spring of 1979

• The Lee family together with 400 other Hmong,
  attempt to escape Laos.
• They traveled on food for 26 days, until they
  crossed the border into Thailand, where they
  spent a year in two refugee camps, before cleared
  to emigrate to the United States.

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Ban Vinai Refugee Camp

• Had serious problems of inadequate health,
  overcrowding, welfare dependency, unemployment,
  substance abused, prostitution and anomie.
• Camp officials blamed Hmong for their miserable
  condition.

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• Refugees have three solutions to their
  displacement
• To integrate into local society (Thailand refused
  to accept the Hmong permanently).
• To voluntarily return to the place of origin (the
  Hmong could not safely return to Laos)
• To resettle in another country (for a while, the
  Hmong rejected the idea of going to the US
  because of rumors about the bad life there).

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Ban Vinai closed in 1992

• Its 11,500 inhabitants were forced to leave.
• In the early 1990s, when the Hmong applied for
  refugee status to the US en masse, most were
  rejected due to very stringent new eligibility
  requirements.
• The Lees had been accepted because they came
  earlier, in 1980.

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• In spite of the terrible life conditions the Lees
  endured in Laos and Thailand, nothing seems to
  have upset them more than what happened to Lia in
  the US.

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November 25, 1986

• Lia had the worst epileptic seizure of her life.
• It took a long time (20 minutes) for her to get
  to the hospital, because the Lees thought that
  she would be better looked after if she came in
  an ambulance. They needed to call their nephew,
  to get the ambulance because they didnt speak
  English.

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• Lia was on the verge of death, and seized
  continuously. The doctors used
• A plastic airway over her tongue.
• An oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.
• An IV in the top of her left foot.
• A hand ventilator.

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• Lia eventually received so much medicine that she
  stopped seizing.
• She was transferred to the Valley Childrens
  Hospital in Fresno because the MCMC doesnt have
  a childrens Intensive Care Unit.

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• Lias parents thought she was transferred because
  her doctors were going away on vacation.

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• Lias temperature began to rise. She also had
  diarrhea and a very low platelet count. Unusual
  symptoms that were disregarded due to the
  severity of her seizures at the time.

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• Lia was in septic shock, a result of a bacterial
  invasion of the circulatory system.
• This was probably caused by the saphenous cutdown
  procedure executed at MCMC to insert a catheter
  through which Lia was able to get her
  anticonvulsant medication.

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• Lia continued to seize at the hospital in Fresno.
• She developed disseminated intravascular
  coagulation, and underwent a double volume
  exchange transfusion.

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• Nao Kao was very upset that doctors had performed
  a spinal tap without his permission.
• Hmong believe this procedure is crippling.
• Misunderstandings between family and staff
  continued. The Lees did not understand Lia was
  comatose. Doctors continued to indicate invasive
  procedures.

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• Lias EEG was flat She was brain dead. She would
  not have seizures any more.
• The doctors and social worker began to prepare
  the family for Lia to die.
• Doctors disconnected intravenous lines, which
  upset Foua very much.

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• Parents wanted to take Lia home to help her die
  in peace.
• Doctors decide she sould go back to the MCMC for
  supportive care.

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• She is admitted with the following diagnoses
• Severe brain damage
• Septicemia
• Severe seizure disorder
• Status post disseminated intravascular
  coagulation
• Status post septic shock

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• Dr. Neil Ernst could handle seeing Lia, so his
  wife, Dr. Peggy Philip took over care of the
  patient.
• Lias family called a shaman to perform a
  ceremony at the medical centre.

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• The family wanted all treatment to stop because
  they thought it was killing her.
• Doctors thought they wanted to let her die with
  dignity.

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• Social worker Jeanine and Dr. Peggy arrange for
  home nursing visits and supplies, so Lia can be
  sent home.
• Foua is given a series of instructions she
  doesnt understand, but signs them nonetheless.

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• Nao Kao is told that in two hours, after
  paperwork, Lia would be released and he could
  take her home to die.
• Nao Kao is seriously offended For the Hmong, it
  is strongly taboo to foretell death. It makes
  the dab come closer to the child.

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• Nao Kao refuses to sign release papers which he
  interprets as saying that his daughter would die
  in two hours.
• He attempts to take Lia home on his terms, and is
  restrained by police.

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• Eventually, Lia goes home, on doctors terms.
• Parents boil herbs and wash her body, trying to
  take away the bad effects of all the medicine she
  received at the hospital.
• Against doctors predictions, she survives.

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