I came to Sheboygan in July of 1981, I was part of the first generation of Hmong people living here. This is my story of leaving Laos.
Tzong Yang | Sheboygan, WI
Hmong people, we were recruited by the CIA to help fight the war. In the village where I lived, Hmong people were recruited to protect American pilots who dropped into the mountains. The Hmong men would go into the mountains to search for injured pilots and carry them out.
In 1975, the chaos started and we had to flee to Thailand, otherwise we’d be captured by the North Vietnamese. There were three ways you could escape Laos and get to Thailand since you had to cross the Mekong River to get there. An airplane taken from Long Chieng, a Laotian military base; a boat of some kind; or walk through the jungle and then swim. The lucky people got on an airplane. People who weren’t lucky but had some money hired taxis to take their families to the border of Thailand. Then they had to hire people who had a canoe or a boat to get them across the Mekong River. A lot of people were robbed by the people they hired or got killed on this journey. But this was still better than the third way, the way my family traveled. We fled and walked through the jungle.
We lived way up in North Laos and had to move from village to village to get to the border of Thailand. My family and I moved to a village further south and started farming. We stayed there pretending we were going to settle for good until we found a way to leave and go to another town. Then we moved again and again and got closer and closer to the border. In one of these villages, my family was persecuted by the communists. They put a rope around me and leashed me like I was a dog. I was a teenager at the time and I had to go to the bathroom, eat, and sleep with a man holding me with this ten-foot-long rope. This was the most embarrassing moment in my life to have to go to the bathroom in front of someone who wanted to kill me. They did this to my whole family for two weeks then they shipped us, still in ropes, to a bigger village. The communist leader was going to judge what to do with us, either send us to prison, kill us, or leave us alone.
They allowed us to live and we stayed in that village and worked really hard on the farm. When it was the dry season, we escaped into the jungle. We had to walk through rocky mountains, peaks, and valleys, but the most dangerous part of this was crossing the Mekong River. When we were almost at the river, they started shooting at us and two of the 22 people in our group died. Some were injured and turned back to a nearby village. I hid under a bamboo bush with my nephew and his wife until it was nighttime. Then we tried to cross the River.
I was 17 and I didn’t know how to swim. We cut both ends of bamboo since it was hollow and we could use it to float. I had a plastic garbage bag that I blew up and tied to the bamboo. I almost drowned three times. So many people died in that river. When we got to the other side, I was put in a refugee camp. I lived with some family in Thailand until I could come to America.
During the Vietnam War, we were told that since we were helping the CIA, if the country was lost to the communists, we would be rescued from Laos and taken to America. My older sister was already in America and she sponsored me when I turned 18. I came here alone in 1980 and I was as afraid as I was when I was walking in the jungle. It was the waiting period that was scary.
My sister lived up in Minneapolis so I went to high school there. It was nice to land at my sister’s house because we spoke the same language and I didn’t get lost. But it was also frustrating because she didn’t know English and I wanted to learn English. I always went to my cousin’s house to do my homework and talk in English. My sister wasn’t happy with that and kicked me out, so I moved to my cousin’s house. I lived in Minneapolis almost a year, then I got married and moved to Sheboygan to be with my husband. We met in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Minneapolis is a big town, so when I came to Sheboygan in 1981 it seemed like a ghost town. We only had one red light in town. There was not a lot of people walking around in the neighborhood or on the street, but I got used to it. I actually fell in love with Sheboygan. I raised my four children right in town here. I worked factory jobs and at an insurance company. I am retired now and am devoting this last chapter of my life to the God of Almighty. I live only a mile from the state park and I like to sit at the beach and walk the trails. I have grandchildren here in Sheboygan that I take care of and I love every moment of it.
My first job in Sheboygan was as a teacher’s assistant. I was 18 and pregnant with my first child. My husband and I were both in high school and we didn’t have an income.
So I left school and got a job. I didn’t speak much English. A co-worker helped me learn English. Every time that we didn’t have a student I would go through their homework with her and that is how I learned.
The teacher’s assistant job was only a part time job so when I heard about a full-time job, I applied. I started working at Wigwams factory making socks, headbands, and legwarmers, it was fun. I later worked at ASAA Technology making car doors and then welding at the Mayline factory.
I kept learning English. If a word was hard to learn, like ‘children’, it has too many letters, I would write the word on my palm. I would use my finger and keep writing the word until I didn’t screw up anymore. Then I’d start on the next word.
After one of my factory jobs ended I was on unemployment. I took some adult education classes since I didn’t want to waste my time. I went to an interview at the Jobs Consulting Center and they tested me for a position. I passed their test and they loved my personality, so they hired me. It was so exciting for me and I worked there for eight years. I had a tutor that came to the workplace and taught me English for an hour a day. I really learned English at that job and it allowed me to live a good life in America.
I saw an ad for National Mutual Benefit insurance company and I wanted to apply for the job. At the time the computer was so new and I didn’t know how to apply. So I went to my girlfriend and said, ‘You got to help me respond to this ad and see what they have.’ The manager talked to me and said he was not sure if I would pass the insurance licensing test. I said, ‘Just help me understand the language to get the license. I know what to do.’ He did help me with the language to get my license and there we go. I became the number one agent in the company.
I helped other Hmong people find housing in Sheboygan. If I learned of someone who needed a house to live in, I would talk to my landlord. I would ask, ‘Do you have another house because my friend needs a house?’ He might say he doesn’t have a house but might have a friend who is renting out a house. So that is how it went.
When I worked at the Jobs Center I helped the Hmong community get factory jobs. I would go to the factories where the employers were afraid of hiring Hmong people because we don’t speak English. I knew the employers were worried that they wouldn’t understand how to do the job. So I said, ‘Teach me how to do this job. Why don’t you train me the way you want your employees to be trained? Then I will come with them on their first days on the job and train them how to do it. And I will make sure they understand the regulations and how the production works.’ So that is what they did. The employer hired a lot of Hmong people and the production exceeded what was expected.
I helped people set up a bank account. This was all by word of mouth since people knew I could help. They would say, ‘Go to Tzong, she can help you.’ So I helped them. I struggled when I first got here so I knew exactly how they felt. I knew how hard it is to flee one country and come here not knowing the language. Even nowadays, many years later, someone might see me and say, ‘Thank you for helping me get a job.’
When my plane first landed in America, I sat off to the side and watched people walk by. I thought everyone looked like Ken and Barbie. So tall and so skinny. I thought to myself, ‘Wow. If anything goes wrong, if anybody robs me or hits me and runs, how do I know who to go after?’ Because everybody looked alike to me.
Now, when I wake up in the morning and look around, I know that coming to America was not a mistake. Yes, it was very hard at first. But I wake up in a country with freedom of speech and the freedom of feeling free to walk on the streets. Not every time, but most of the time. It was a gift of a lifetime.
Living in America, it’s a dream. This is a blessing from above. If this country is at war and they draft me, I will go. This is my country. I love it here. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than anything that I’ve seen in my life. I am growing old here and I thank God for it.
To learn about Wisconsin’s vibrant Hmong community and how the Hmong people have become an important part of the fabric of the state, check out this Wisconsin Historical Society Museum online exhibit.
Tzong Yang’s story is part of our Sheboygan story series. It was produced by Jen Rubin.
Love Wisconsin’s Sheboygan Story Series features stories of four people from different parts of the Sheboygan community. Check out Kate Krause, Frank Juárez, and Dan Welsch’s stories to read the full series.
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Sheboygan is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, has world-class sailing, premier charter fishing and has been called “The Malibu of the Midwest” for its great surfing. As of the 2020 census, Sheboygan has a population of 49,929 and is one of the largest Hmong communities in Wisconsin.
We partnered with The League of Wisconsin Municipalities for our Sheboygan story series. The LWM advocates for Wisconsin’s cities and villages, large and small, urban and rural, speaking up for local democracy and common-sense citizen-led government. Learn more here.