This would be a good story to share with Schools. At least schools where most Hmong students go to. And I wish many of our Hmong youngsters have the passion & interests as you.

I wish I could do this one day. Travel to where my grandparents and parents once lived. I love my family & my people. They've been through so much yet they are always smiling and so humble. I hope to see more young hmong people trace their heritage. Maybe one day I can. (I cried watching this. Very touching and inspiring. Oh and your parents story is so cute!)

@deethao1

8 жыл бұрын

+blueberrysmilie1 You can. You just have to do it. Sometimes, its a struggle but your grandparents are the only ones who hold the true story to your family tree. It is better to do it now rather than later. I regret not doing this documentary before both my grandparents pass away. Their story is now lost. I encourage you to visit them and write down or record their stories.

@nraugseem2

4 жыл бұрын

Yes you can my friend. Just go don’t wait tor tomorrow to go.

Thank you everyone for watching and for your support. Please share. Thank you again. :-)

@mad.samart

14 күн бұрын

ฝ😊 9:54 😊 9:54 😊😊😊 9:55 10:00 10:02

Thank you for all those who are involved and made this documentary possible. Nowadays younger Hmong People or children don’t know much about whom they are. They are loosing the rich cultural and traditional way of life. Hopefully, this film will help those younger generation be of interest about their culture and appreciate who their parents and ancestors come from. Thank you, TxawjToog Yang of Minnesota

Thank you for this. It was very beautiful and touching. I couldn't help but cry. I hope to one day visit the places where my parents grew up and lived as well, so that I can also experience a little piece of what they did when they were there.

@hawjthatfaajkhaa8225

6 жыл бұрын

Maolia Lor - Are they from Laos?

Your Professor was a Champ for helping you spearheaded this research study.

I’m America raised since 2 and never thought that I’d feel this way, since all I’ve ever known was America, but I felt like I was “home” there. But you won’t experience this unless you’re there long enough and immerse yourself into the culture . First 2-3 weeks I hated it there and just wanted to leave. Last week I was there, I wanted to stay longer and didn’t want to leave anymore.

What a powerful journey u have. I admired your will and dedication to explore and retrace your roots and heritage. This is something I always wanted to do as a first generation born in the US . Retracing the footsteps of my parent,relative, and people also . I hope a lot of the younger generations didn't forget who they really are as Hmong person and it history.

In the first few minutes of your video I was moved by what you've presented. Thank you for opening your story to the world.

That's incredible story, we all came along the same path.

Wonderful documentary.... I'm sure many of the Hmong ppl can relate to the journey and hardship your parents endure...

Beautiful documentary! So emotionally close to home

This is one of my top videos I must say. Bravo Dee for your search for answers. My background includes all my uncles and my father as a pilot during the war and I admire your pursuit in Hmong history and cultural finding. You have my respect and I must meet you some day. Thank you.

Thank you Dr. Waters and Dee for this extraordinary effort to show many of those who have not experienced the struggle and suffering we have endured and experienced as a refugee. Hopefully, many of those who were born in this great country will learn to appreciate our great country. Oh, I once went up to that water tower in Ban Namyao. Thanks for sharing!

I couldn't help but become emotional and teary while watching this. We Hmong people have come so far

Amazing!!! It takes alot of courage to do what you did. Thank you for making such a great documentary. This makes me miss my parents so much. I'm so grateful my parents came to the USA.

I'm 4 years late to view this video by accident but the educational value is as fresh as yesterday. Thanks to Dee and Dr. Waters for the heritage project. I hope Dee had earned an A+ for this work and the course. I grew up in Refugee Camp Nam Yao and still have fond memories of the place. If anyone's interested, you can now Google it. The Thai government had turned the old camp into the Doi Phukha National Park Protection Unit 11. Hope to visit it someday!

Thank you and the professor who made the documentary short film happened for all Hmong people to see and hopefully appreciate who we are today.

Sister Dee thanks for the beautiful documentary! Feel like crying while watching this. Your parents are so cute and funny! I wish you all the best!

Thank you for this beautiful documentary, I myself have so many questions unanswered, but I know My time will come when I can answer my own questions.

I won't change anything about who and where I came from. This is absolute beautiful to watch.

I was very emotional watching your video. Thank you for taking us back into our history.

This was very interesting. You Dee did a wonderful job gathering as much information as you can and most of all you did your best to find your birth place and relatives! Hope one day I'll get to explore Thailand/Laos.

Thank you very much for this video of yours. It has touched me in many ways because we as Hmong are all related by blood and history. I hope to teach my daughter one day when she is older the history of our family so she may pass on our histories to her children.

I loved my Hmong people. We had suffered so much through our history. Our journey begins who knows how long ago before settling in China til now. Thank God that now our people is all over the world.

Great job Dib and Dr. Waters...just as emotional now as I have watched the first time awhile back. Life's full of questions as well as answers. Ua tsaug!

This makes me teary eyes. I was born in Vinai too and my ad is buried there. I wish to go see it one of these days.

What a beautiful documentary! I couldn't help but shed tears. I had the privilege of taking my parents back to Laos last year; Nov 2016. We visited my father's childhood home/village. It was one of the most powerful and emotional trips I've ever taken. If you have a chance, take the trip again with your parents. My father found friends that still live in the same village after 40 years. They remembered each others families. They spoke of all the families that each person remembered. So powerful! I'm so glad we did it.

@deethao1

6 жыл бұрын

@hias0701...that's what I want to do next! I just haven't had the opportunity or funding but my hope is to capture an adventure with my parents going to visit my uncles in Laos!

@hias-gk1bw

6 жыл бұрын

deethao you should make it happen if you can. They will not be around forever. Good luck!

Thanks for taking us along with you on your journey back to Your roots. You've educated me and encouraged me to look for my roots as well. Wonderfully done and inspiring.

Thank you for sharing the blood of Hmong people who have help the American fought the Indo China war. It still a path for all Hmong who have been through a tough situation. Now if u look back it still bring the memory how the Hmong become refugees.... thanks

Don't take this the wrong way. I wish us Hmong people would pronounce our names exactly how it would in our native language and not just how it is written in English. (like Spanish & The Chinese)!

I loved it, me and my family lived in these escat places you showed. Thank you for this

Wow. Beautiful video. I guess we Hmong People will always be asking questions of where we are from and never know the answers to those questions. Thanks for sharing your wonderful discoveries.

@saardfetner2452

4 жыл бұрын

that's life. thank you U.S.A.

I stumbled upon this video but this made my day. Thank you.

Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful story of your search for your family's heritage!

This was beautiful. Brought tears, sadness and happiness all together. Thank you.

@deethao1

8 жыл бұрын

+Chang Yang Thank you.

It is all but impossible for most Americans to appreciate the saga of the Hmong people who were relocated to America. Dee Thao has handled the subject with sympathy, honesty and deep emotion, all without a trace of bitterness or rancor.

Very touching and inspirational video. You are admired.

Foremost, it is good you admitted you were/am "clueless", to further peak and intensify your exploration into your cultural identity/ancestry. That is something a lot of New-Gen: 2n, 3rd, etc. Hmong kids (young adults) nowadays are too naive, prideful/whitewashed (for whatever reasons), or just simply do not care (am embarrassed/ashamed) to acknowledge; thus they only become, and idly accept their ignorance, or lack of cultural awareness -- including their ethnic identity. Your story is a good example, from which a lot can relate to, and empathize with. More so, in sharing it, it will help others to open up, explore, and hopefully embrace their cultural identity, plus other Hmong-centric elements as well. I am not suggesting, or even recommending it, but I do want to point out that beyond Southeast Asia; specifically into China, we -- the Hmong/Mong people -- have a tremendous obstacle/challenge before, and ahead of us in exploring, tracing and finding, and acknowledging that piece of ancestry/heritage of ours too. The mere fact that you, or other kids who are just as guilty, are not speaking with your parents -- whether in native Hmong/Mong (which many/most of you cannot articulate, nor comprehend), or even broken English with your parents -- only further perpetuate your ignorance and naivety, which you could have easily avoided, fixed, and improved upon at the very onset. (Yeah, this is a rather harsh criticism, but it is also the truth, of which everyone is guilty -- myself included, initially. But I quickly corrected myself, ces kuv kuj tau kawm thiab paub zog nej cov yau/hluas tom qab no lawm.)

@deethao1

9 жыл бұрын

Hi aliasdoe007 Thank you for your comment. I think its better to encourage younger Hmong generations to appreciate our culture then to blame them for things they did not realize were happening until it happened. (this is what I got from your comment, sorry if I misunderstood) I know that growing up, I didn't realize how easy it was to lose the ability to correctly articulate the Hmong language and as I moved out to college and spoke only english on a day to day basis, it was hard to keep practicing it. In addition, I think the issue is deeper than students/kids not wanting to learn Hmong. It is also that some parents aren't able provide Hmong youth the necessary resource to read, write and speak Hmong. There could be many reasons they couldn't provide these resources as well. I feel that we have to nurture and encourage learning of Hmong culture rather than force it or blame students/kdis for not learning it. We have to make it so that they want to learn by themselves. They already have a hard time as it is trying to learn the english language and succeeding in school. I'm not making excuses but I feel the issue is bigger than youths not wanting to learn. To conclude, there are many reasons why different Hmong youth do not know as much about their culture but I wouldn't blame everyone for purposely doing it. With this film, I hoped that it would inspire other students to learn about their own family history and about the Hmong culture but I do not blame anyone for not doing it because I do not know their reasons.

This made me tear up. I was also born in Ban Vinai and I am only a few years older than you. I hope that I may be lucky enough to go back there and visit one day.

I applaud your Will to search for answers.. Hats off to u

Recently I discovered that my dad was part of the Hmong groups that escaped Laos. He was still a child though, and if he had been any younger, he could've been the many infant children left behind to die in the vast forests.

This was very touching and inspiring.

Loved that you ceased the opportunity to trace back. I too was born in a refugee camp where I hope to one day go back and see as well. Enjoyed your story.

@deethao1

3 жыл бұрын

If you have the chance, please do.

awe. i cried watching this. thank you.

Fucken Amazing. You have inspired me to also go on such a Journey to know exactly where I'm from too. Thank you sister. Hmoob is a dying breed. We too are going instinct. Nothing wrong with interracial marriage (my daughters dates Hispanics). But our blood and our culture is fading fast. We have no country to concrete our bloodline or history. Stay Strong Hmoob people.💯

very well done. i too feel the same way. my culture and my tradition, slowly fading away. what i find so sadden is that our history only goes up to the vietnam war. i'm having a hard time to find the history beyond this.

💙 22:34 That newborn baby so cute 👶 Hmong American 🇺🇸 Much love to Thailand 🇹🇭 Laos 🇱🇦 France 🇫🇷 Vietnam 🇻🇳 Cambodia 🇰🇭 China 🇨🇳 Japan 🇯🇵 and so on...

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ so touching. Makes me want to search too

Thank you for sharing this. I love it

Love it! Was in the same camp nam yao back in 1977.

Great video. I am also curious to retrace my families steps as they migrated from Laos to the U.S. One day I will tell the story of my Father who was an unsung hero that was a soldier that came back and rounded up his family and fled the dangers of Laos and made their way to Thailand. Many would not be here in the U.S. enjoying a peaceful life if it wasn't for my Dad.

You did a great job ! I've learned so much from your video.

Wow! This is awesome Dee! Good job n well documented!

This is a beautiful video. Keep searching for answers.

You are so inspiring!! I love you!! Thank you so much for this video!!! Sorry if I cried.. i don’t even know why I cried at the end but I just did..

Kuv txiv hnov koj lub suab pom koj daim dua nco nco heev na kuv txiv aw..

Most Hmong dudes i known in Laos actually look like Japanese. They don't look like Southeast Asia. I'm an overseas Thai from defeated region in South Thailand by the way. I'm aware about this erhnicity in China but i didn't know they are scattered everywhere in northern SEAn mainland until i talked with this dude from Laos. I'll keep this document because East Asian refugees are not recognized like Mid Easterners. Please keep documenting this. We appreciate your efforts. Thank you

Great job! I hope you found what you were looking for.

Excellent documentary...

Thank you for sharing us your journey to retrace our history. I get very emotional watching your video because it reminds me so much about my childhood. Please let me know if you are still doing any more projects, I’d be glad to participate with you.

much respect. great video!

@deethao1

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Well done! So proud!

It is good that you're trying to build a connection with your heritage, To many people forget.

nice video love it and sad too i was born in the camp Nan Yao too and remember lil bit of vibnais too.

"How did you meet Mom?" "Before we came to Thailand, she was already flirting with me back in Laos." This part cracked me up hearing your mother in the background laughing away. "She said she wanted to live with us and so she did." Mom: "What you are saying is not correct. If you are going to say this you have to tell them the important things!" Loved your father's explanation (your mother's too of course).

@hleevang8321

4 жыл бұрын

🤣

Beautiful documentary ❤❤❤❤

This is a great video with an even greater story. Knowing that there are younger Hmong individuals out there that take an interest in our heritage gives hope to the future of our people and culture. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Great job putting this together!

Thank you for sharing your story of our people young sister.

@deethao1

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Thank you

Thank you for your comment! ^_^

@naisaephan5336

7 жыл бұрын

deethao Hmong/ mien/ negros and other tribes that have no country of their own are the biblical lost tribes of isreal. we were scattered throughout the 4 corners of the earth. for this is the curses God had put on us after our forefathers broke the covenant. That's why we have been running from slavery through our history as far back as we can trace. we can never rise as a nation until the day God gathers all his children from the 4 corners of the earth and bring us back to isreal. that day is near.

Amazing video!

Very inspirational, good video.

Dee i have dreamed of going one day to see nam now, in thailand. I was appox. 3 to 5 years old then, my dad and i would go swim in na now river and go look for bamboo shoots in the forest by the river banks. I am now 44 now and misses my time being on my dads back and swimming in na nows river and following my fathers steps when he look a step so i would not thorns in my feet. We were so poor, i had no flip flops. Then one day, when me and my dad came up from the river there was a big fire and we quickly went to my mom from our house and went to hid in the dry up bank close by, the fire came across, over us and burn more house. It was so scary, as a kid my heart was racing. After the fire, we came back to see what was left, there was nothing but the smelt of burned humans and i can recall a pregnant lady that lived a few houses by ours was burned and i saw her baby skeleton insde of her skeletion. It was so sad. My dad said she must of been sleeping and did not know there was a fire. Thanks for sharing your story, it just reminded me of my story. In nam now

My tribe definitely has a connection with Hmong tribe, I wanna see more of Hmong origins , migration story....

Awesome video.

I love this very much

I was born there. Nice to know...name yao!!

It is amazing how our Hmong people have become in less than 40 years. more interestingly, how our people have scattered throughout the world in an unthinkable way.

'A combination of Lao, Thai and English' - sounds like most of the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok. I've only been to Vientiane once but it was obvious that the locals had no problems conversing with the Thais from just across the border : no surprise given that Isaan was once part of Laos. Where it gets a little silly in Thailand is that my companion had grown up in the south of Thailand, and they speak another dialect again (regardless of what they're taught in school) - all part of life's rich tapestry, I guess. Thanks for the video.

Very well done!

thank you for sharing your wonderful story

Never forget!

Beautiful story and very inspiring.

@deethao1

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Nicely done! I am going to share this on my page on FB is that ok?

Thank you so much for sharing

Great video, thank you!

I loved this❤

Proud to be Hmong.

I think a lot of people who appreciate what they have now if they see what our parent went through .

Great job sis!

Hi Deethao, How did you come across the Photo with the three ladies? They are my aunts, my family and I would love to have a colored photo of them, they probably dont have a nicer one as well, but I’d like one for myself and to hopefully to keep a copy for them too. Please get back to me.

@deethao1

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Nikkic, the two on the left are actually my father's sisters (also my aunts). DM me and I can send you a digital copy. Thanks!

This was I came from, i had lived here for 6 and half years

well done

@deethao1

7 жыл бұрын

thank you!

Keep searching, educating and one day you will know all the answers.

Great job! I know how much work it is to make videos

Nice!

I cant recognize anything left of ban nam yao... I only remember our house n the school but it was flat land, not hilly.