The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 2

MECKLENBURG NEIGHBORS 2M SUNDAY JUNE 2 1900 Cameras bring Hmong history to life Students tell family stories By ANN DOSS HELMS Staff Writer "My great-great-grandma told me about a flood in Laos when she was young Everybody got their things wet and they lost their paper money They put their dog on the roof of the house and the dog was safe and didn't get washed away" A striking black-and-white portrait of the great-great-grandmother accompanies that story in the foyer of Irwin Avenue Open Elementary School Ten-year-old Mai Thao produced both as part of the Hmong Photo Project an innovative attempt to celebrate ethnic identity capture a bit of Charlotte history and make minority families feel welcomed at school just think a an incredible says photographer and parent volunteer Nancy Pierce Shaver who sent cameras home with Hmong children in Februarj and coordinated the project Ask people about their lives and often get silence but get them to take photos and the stories pour out says Shaver who is working on a degree in psychology Irwin a school that specializes in teaching English as a second language has about 60 Hmong children The Hmong (the is silent) are a fanning people who made their way from Mongolia to the mountains of Laos where the CIA recruited them to fight the Vietnamese communists more than 30 years ago American withdrawal from Vietnam forced many families to flee to Thailand From there many sought new lives in the United States For many Hmong children a gulf divides home and school Parents who speak English well and work long shifts often shy away from visiting school while children are urged to put traditional ways aside and assimilate Shaver says The photo project tries to bridge that gulf Shaver and Virginia Stuhrenberg who teaches English as a second language rounded up seven third- fourth-and fifth-graders to take photos and record family stories The Light Factory a Charlotte photographic art center loaned simple automatic cameras that kids could take home The best of the photos and accompanying stories are on display at school Daniel Vang 11 says he snapped everything from his breakfast food to his house to his brothers and sisters in their Sunday best went to church and took a picture of our pastor but it come he adds The questions he asked his father brought stories Daniel heard dad died of cancer I know Daniel says know he crossed the Mekong River and got separated from his Some of the photos capture the elaborate beaded hats and costumes worn for Hmong New Year in the fall Others preserve such everyday scenes as Soua Vang 11 perched in a tree holding two puppies The children visited the in exhibit at the Museum of the New South They photographed a story cloth a wallhanging depicting the Hmong saga and put its message in their own words: "The Americans are sending rice from an airplane to the Hmong village The houses are burning A woman is making a baby to sleep They are cooking potatoes in the forest I saw on TV airplanes dropped down soldiers to shoot Hmong people Some people defended themselves They got When Keng Lee 11 photographed his stepfather and explained the project Anthony Ge Vang was inspired to write down his own story which also became part of the display His mother died of fever when he and his younger sister were babies he writes "Then after 3 months later my dad died by war shooting After my dad died my Aunt and my brother took care of us Then soon my uncle passed away by disease too In 1970 my little sister die for hungry because nobody take care of Vang tells of his eventual arrival in the United States and marriage here Now we both working and having a future in NC April 26 just last I received my certificate of citizenship at 11 in the morning I feel very happy it's a lot of freedom to Parents stopping to view the display seem awestruck As Shaver discovered when the children started talking worry about these trivial things sometimes We try to teach kids but we forget how much they have to teach A handful of Hmong parents came to a reception when the display opened in May it will still be up when school reopens in August For non-Asian students the display has been an eye-opener about the differences between Asian cultures says English teacher Stuhrenberg Shaver has applied for an NC Arts Council grant to take the Hmong project into several schools next year At Irwin Avenue she plans to move on to video She envisions children watching the tape with their families seeing the children try to teach the principal some Hmong words parents are so into being American that not valuing their she says CHRISTOPHER A RECORDStaff f- Above six of the seven participants in the Hmong Photo project at Irwin Avenue Elementary (from left): Daniel Vang Yee Ziong Shoua Thao Keng Lee Mai Thao and Mai Dee Yang with parent volunteer Nancy Pierce Shaver At left Mai Thao in front of part of the project.