To look into the face of Vangxeng Yang is to see a strength forged in war and a will to survive exile from the land he loved.

Born in Laos, Yang, 69, is a veteran of the Vietnam War, an officer who joined with thousands of Hmong in support of the United States’ war against the communists that had spread into his homeland. Twice wounded, once suffering severe injuries in the chest and leg from an explosion, Yang returned to fight until the withdrawal of American forces from Laos in 1975.

Fleeing the communists Yang crossed the border into Thailand, where he lived illegally in refugee camps for nearly 30 years. His last 10 years were spent in a squatters’ camp by Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist temple and rehabilitation center near Bangkok.

Yang is among 1,500 Hmong refugees arriving in the greater Sacramento area as part of the U.S. Department of State’s agreement to accept qualified refugees from Wat Tham Krabok.

On June 25, having just deplaned after a 13-hour flight from Thailand, Yang and 12 family members walked into the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Sacramento.

There to welcome him and provide resettlement assistance to the Yang family was Elizabeth White, associate director of social service ministry for the diocese, representing Catholic Charities of Sacramento.

“I guess I’m in awe to see these people, what they’ve lived through, coming to a different way of life,” White said. “When you’re displaced from your history, your roots and your value system and survive, you can almost do anything.”

Catholic Charities, an affiliate of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is one of four agencies in Sacramento facilitating the Hmong resettlement effort.

White, who has now initiated the resettlement process for more than 300 Hmong refugees, is responsible for identifying host families — typically family members of refugees with whom she signs a resettlement assistance agreement. She then personally meets with refugee families within five days of their arrival and makes sure that within 10 days their resettlement plan is in place.

Toua Xiong, a Hmong refugee who arrived from Thailand in 1991, has been instrumental in helping White connect with Sacramento host family members ever since he walked into her office in April.

Xiong had learned about the Catholic agency’s work with refugees from his sister and brother-in-law, who had been assisted by Catholic social services when they arrived from Thailand in 1976. His first task was to complete paperwork required to host his parents and son, who are among the current group of refugees arriving from the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp.

Now a proud U.S. citizen, Xiong has brought to White’s office more than 12 families volunteering to host incoming Hmong refugees.

“Many people know me,” said Xiong, a former leader in the Laotian army who is currently active in a network of services supporting refugees from Laos and Thailand.

White was there with Xiong at Sacramento International Airport on Sept. 1 to greet his parents and son as they arrived from Thailand.

“I can’t believe we’re together again but it’s true. It’s the real thing,” said Xiong of his separation from family members for 13 years. “I hope we never ever lose each other again.”

White has found among a majority of the refugees a firm belief that the United States offers them a better life, and they are “just very happy to be here.”

“When they come here they’re not expecting anything and are grateful for what they are given,” she said. “They are here the day I give them our address, they find the place and are always early. That tells me they’re motivated and going to be contributing members of society.”

White had her own personal encounter with the place the Hmong refugees left behind during a visit to Southeast Asia July 29 to Aug. 7. Acting as a representative of Father Michael Kiernan, diocesan director of Catholic Relief Services, White accompanied a delegation of CRS directors to observe relief operations in several locations in Cambodia and Thailand.

“I wanted to just get a feel for even the terrain these people are coming from, to understand what they are leaving to come to the U.S.,” said White, who grew up during the Vietnam War era in which many of this group of refugees supported the CIA’s secret battle with the communists in Laos.

“We owe it to these people to bring them to our country, because they helped us and then we left them,” she said. “We need to bring them home.”

This group of refugees benefits from the Laotian refugees who came before them such as Xiong, who are there to take them on their first trip to shop for groceries, to buy a pair a shoes and to provide transportation services.

For most refugees the greatest challenge is locating affordable housing within 30 days, as mandated by U.S. Department of State guidelines.

Home visits, which typically take place for White in the Sacramento area, are an opportunity to both ensure housing is safe and meets the needs of refugee families.

During one home visit in June, however, White traveled to Sanger, east of Fresno, to visit the family of Vangxeng Yang, who had moved in with relatives while locating a permanent place to live.

“The reason I knew I was in the right place was there must have been 20 pairs of shoes parked outside the door,” White said.

With her on the visit was Sherchong Yang, one of Vangxeng Yang’s sons, an “anchor relative” who worked with White to facilitate his family’s resettlement. Yang spoke of the hardships his parents and other relatives suffered from the time they fled Laos in 1975, moving from camp to camp.

Then in 1994, with no other options, they moved to Wat Tham Krabok.

“Thousands were crowded together living in wood shelters. There was nothing, no good water for a long time, but they had no choice,” Sherchong Yang said.

While the modest trailer home the Yang family was living in was filled to capacity, no one was complaining.

“Every piece of furniture had someone sitting on it with more on the floor,” White said. “To look at the family, you would have to say they were comfortable, warm and relaxed.”

The Yang family, like many refugee families arriving in California, includes several school-age children. They are among approximately 50 percent of the young refugees arriving this year who do not speak English.

Xeng Xiong, a resettlement counselor for World Relief in Sacramento, said the Wat Tham Krabok camp where the Hmong refugees lived was severely lacking with regard to educational opportunities for children.

“The camps (in Thailand) had schools but you had to pay for education,” said Xiong, who has been working with officials of Sacramento City Unified School District to prepare for students who not only need to learn English but may be attending school for the first time.

Xiong is a native of Laos who migrated to Thailand and lived in a refugee camp there prior to coming to the U.S. in 1979.

A member of the Central Valley Hmong Leadership Project and an organizer with the Pacific Institute for Community Organization, Xiong said the refugees are “just happy to have a free choice and opportunity to go to school and work.”

For most of this wave of refugees, the greatest challenge is the high cost of rent, he said.

“One family of eight is trying to figure out how to pay for a three-bedroom condominium that costs $1,000 a month,” he said.

Families seeking a solution to the problem may wait for more relatives to arrive and help with the rent, he said.

White said that while refugee housing may initially involve sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor, she has not yet seen a family that was inadequately housed.

“Homes may be neat and sparsely furnished, but people seem to be happy to be together here with their anchor relatives,” she noted.

Still ahead for this group of refugees is learning enough English to land a job and overcoming feelings of loneliness for relatives left behind.

But White has already placed her bet that this group of refugees will not only reach the state department’s goal of being self-sufficient in 90 days, they will be contributing members of society.

“This is their permanent home. They are survivors,” she said. “They send their kids to school and work within the school system to make it a better environment for their children.”

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