1. Grandma’s first steps in Thailand. The Mekong river is behind her, and Laos beyond. Her husband and grandchild sit, exhausted.
2. Those who made it from Laos to Thailand after crossing the Mekong River at Pak Chom and other localities.
3. Exhausted families await medical attention, food, and water after crossing the Mekong River from Laos to Thailand.
4. Some refugees could shelter in tents, but many slept outside while waiting to go to the police station/ holding center in Pak Chom of Loei Province, Thailand.
5. Waiting outside of the holding center, waiting for the Thai security to allow them to enter.
6. A nurse volunteer from Finland attended to people just as they arrived at Pak Chom, outside of the holding center.
7. Crossing under barbed wire fence into the holding center at Pak Chom police station.
8. Right inside of the holding center at Pak Chom. People were malnourished and weak. Exhausted from the journey, which took some days, weeks, months, and even years to get here. They were very sick.
9. The pond was full of mosquitoes and there were no permanent shelters, refugees had to somehow construct their own out of discarded or found materials.
10. The refugees were waiting for the Thai MOI (Ministry of Interior) police to do background checks.
11. Sometimes they waited for days and weeks until they were cleared by the Thai authorities to go to refugee camps in Thailand.
12. Minors’ team also provided medical attention to the refugees.
13. This chief’s family were robbed during their journey crossing the Mekong River to Thailand. They had just arrived, and he was telling his story to this medical man. Med listening to the chief gave him a watch.
1414. Girl was protecting her little sister, who was unconscious. ARC medical team took them to the camp hospital. Medical team needed permission from the Thai authority to take them to the camp hospital.
15. Nurse attempting, unsuccessfully, to awaken a girl who had been severely ill on the journey from Laos, was taken to camp hospital unconscious. She was later revived, diagnosed with malaria.
16. Photo of people waiting & on truck: At another arrival location Nong Khai Province, Thailand. A group of arrivals await transport to the camp, being told it will be another week before they can be transported. Finally on their way to Nong Khai camp in a truck of the Thai police.
17. The road to Ban Vinai refugee camp, looking back towards Laos. The road was muddy during the monsoon season, which made it difficult for trucks to deliver water and rations to the refugees.
More excerpts from Harding students’ interviews with elder relatives.
Chee’s Interview
I was scared, they shot me and your grandpa. We ran in the forest. We were running and the soldiers came and shot at us, 10 of the members died, I was the only one who survived so your grandpa came and rescued me. I fell into the river and my husband pulled me out. I was the only one left.
We packed food. When we run out of food we would eat whatever we could find, such as potato, yam etc.
Yes I heard it, they shot all our relatives, every family had as least one member missing when crossing the river.
There were floaties that people rode, people also used log/bamboo. At that time me and your grandpa rode garbage bags to cross. There were like 50 of us there.
There was no one there to pay to take you across, there were no boats.
At the time me and my husband were shot at from the war and we were injured so we got to come to America. They hit me in the head and my ribs.
For your mom, we didn’t drug her so she didn’t die. Other families drugged their babies and they all died. They were scared the babies would cry and the soldiers would hear so they all drugged their babies. We thought that, since we already had her, if we die then we all die together so we didn’t drug her.
During that time, we have never done anything like that before so we just came and most elders in my family stayed behind because they weren’t willing to come to America with us. So, it was just my husband, daughter and I leaving. Everyone was leaving and there were so many people everywhere, stepping and pushing others just to get onto the airplanes.
For some families, their children would be in the airplanes and the parents would still be out of the airplane, trying to find the rest of the family members. In our group, we didn’t come yet but we ran away on our feet.
The Vietnamese killed a lot of Hmong people that were trying to run away. They would also throw grenades and it’d kill a lot of people that way as well. People would die near rivers, under bridges, streams, in caves.
Geng Chang, Feng Her
- Our grandpa was caught by the vietnamese and then he was shot dead, so we got very scared and ran to thailand holding onto our life.
- Our village was attacked, when the vietnamese came, they captured a lot of our people and of course the people were shot along the way.
- A Lot of the villagers got shot at, we planned on leaving the day that our grandpa was shot.
- I was very scared so I ran, I hid in the forest.
- We did not prepare as there was not enough time and I was scared for my life.
- We did not pack much food, only a bag of rice and some blankets to keep us warm.
- The fear of being shot is always there when running.
- When we crossed there were people that we hired to take us across, when we got across we did not have any money to pay them, so we had to pay them later on.
- When people died, they were not given a ritual and they were buried in the mountains.
- People said that there are giants in America, but we did not believe that because nothing can be worse than the situation we are in right now.
Hillary
Living in Laos, we were very poor. After General Vang Pao came to America, the Vietnamese became mean to everyone so we ran after General Vang Pao to this country as well. If the Vietnamese were good to us then we would stay but since they were mean and killed many Hmong people, we decided to escape the country.
When General Vang Pao didn’t leave the country yet, we lived in our villages and there was no war. But when he left, there became a war. Vang Pao left so we decided to leave and follow him as well. When we came, we didn’t come to America with General Vang Pao. There were a lot of people trying to get onto the airplanes. During that time, we have never done anything like that before so we just came and most elders in my family stayed behind because they weren’t willing to come to America with us. So, it was just my husband, daughter and I leaving. Everyone was leaving and there were so many people everywhere, stepping and pushing others just to get onto the airplanes.
For some families, their children would be in the airplanes and the parents would still be out of the airplane, trying to find the rest of the family members. In our group, we didn’t come yet but we ran away on our feet.
The Vietnamese killed a lot of Hmong people that were trying to run away. They would also throw grenades and it’d kill a lot of people that way as well. People would die near rivers, under bridges, streams, in caves. Many people drugged their crying children or crying infants and most babies have died from being drugged too much. Some people on the other hand, were able to cross over and come to Thailand to go to America. When we came, we ran through forests and out in the jungle which we went through a lot of suffering.
Many people talked about leaving because General Vang Pao already left. Many Hmong people left to follow General Vang Pao to stay in America. Back there, Vietnamese treated people badly so there were a lot of suffering going on. General Vang Pao left and we figured we’d be starving without much to eat so that’s why many people left Laos.
During that time, we didn’t know anything. Everyone just ran away and I thought that if we didn’t come here, the Vietnamese would punish us. Since General Vang Pao left, a lot of people left as well so my husband and I thought that we might as well run away also. Also, we wouldn’t have food if we stayed and the Vietnamese would treat us badly so that’s why we decided to escape and run away.
When we were about to leave, we packed a bit of food for us but as time went by, we didn’t have food left so we would just eat whatever we could find in the forest while running away. There was nothing to eat so we’d have no choice but to eat things in the forest that was edible. For our clothes, we only carried about 1-3 outfits with us. The clothes that were ripped, we would leave it behind and when we arrived at the camps, we ended up with about only one outfit. We also did not carry guns with us.
We were really scared of gunshots. When we were in the process of escaping, we saw dead people everywhere we went. Everyone ran away in groups. Those that left first, were mostly killed and left dead on the roads and forests. We were one of the groups that sort of came last. Most husbands would leave the family go find food in the forest for the family to eat. Since the wives and children stayed behind waiting for the dads to come back, the Vietnamese probably killed some and others must have ran away, causing the husbands and wives to separate. If they’re lucky, they’ll be able to find each other and come to America together.
Yes, I was scared. I was scared that if we were caught and taken back, the Vietnamese would punish us.