History of Hmong Village

Hi,

My name is Kx. Wayne Yang (Xf. Wayne or just Wayne) and I am the Administrator for the Hmong Village Network. I'm glad that you can join us in this great adventure to help, share and preserve the Hmong people and language. Please allow me to brief you about our history.

It began as I contemplate on the slow but inevitable loss of our culture as well as the struggles of our Hmong people between 1998-1999.  My main concern at the time was that we will lost the kin titles that our parents and grandparents have being gathered and mixed in the refugee camps--hu npe (ie. upon immediately meeting someone they can know what kin title to call each other such as Laug/Yaws Laus, Puj Laug/Phauj, etc.).  My fear was that afte their time, we and our descendants will not have the close family ties that they did.  From that, I was able to gather a number of people that I knew had the same burdens.  I wanted to call it Hmong Heritage because it was about preserving the rich Hmong heritage.  During that time, I also did a research on and fell in love with the Hmong people, culture and language.  My work with a Mekas church deepened this passion.  Then when it came down to reserving a domain name, I had another name that popped in my head the last second...

In 2001, I reserved www.hmongvillage.com and actually launched a Pilot site filled with Hmong resources (Education, Communities, Religion, Language, etc.).  Later that year, we incorporated a new format--on PostNuke.  As that community grew, we became both a resource center and online community.  One of our conversations at the time was about the mission of Hmong Village.  Through those discussions, we came to realize that we cannot maintain every aspect of the culture.  But even if we cannot maintain it, we can at least "preserve it."  This is why our interactions online about our people, culture and language is so important.  The goal is to keep these interactions to teach others about our culture, to guide it and for future generations to look back and basically recreate them.  I am ever so grateful for all those who spent countless nights with me (then and now) to ensure this is accomplished.

As I began seminary in 2004, we became incorporated with the state.  And I also had to leave the site with some friends who were also administrators.  Somehow, the site could not be updated and so, due to technical difficulties, it went out of use not too long after.  The site is still reserved by me.

In the meantime, Hmong Village existed as a local Hmong cultural resource where I would share about the Hmong at area colleges, classrooms and community events.  However, my heart was still heavy about taking things a step further.

It wasn't until Facebook came into the scene that I saw another opportunity to connect the Hmong people.  I started an FB profile for our group/organization--even before facebook organizational pages were even available.  Hmong VillageHmoob became my

alias to connect all the Hmong on FB.  Eventually, we reached 5,000 people--the maximum FB would allow.  I do want to thank all those who has helped me to add Hmong people to my friends list. But even with that number of friends, people unfriended me and I continue to add friends to stay at the maximum.

When FB Groups came out, I intended to add all my 5,000 friends into a group but never got down to doing it.  It wasn't until my distant cousin, Pastor David Yang, passed away in California that it pushed me to connect all the Hmong people together to realize this tragedy that happened to an innocent and all-loving individual.  That moved me to add as many friends as possible.

With Facebook's limitations, I was only able to add over 3,800 people.  Eventually, people dropped out and we went close to 3,700 but the number began to steadily rise--especially because I went back to make sure all my FB friends were added (yes, very tidious--"Add a friend": a, aa, ab, ac, aca, etc.).  Today with all the subgoups, too, we have over 7,000 people combined.  All this was made possible because (first, my wife worked and I couldn't find a job (:-P) but also) all the volunteers that stepped in to help.

We are now in the process of obtaining our 501(c)3 so that we can do more than just virtual preserving of the Hmong people, culture, and language.  With that, we can raise funds to help our staff and give recognition and appreciation to our volunteers.

So thank you for all you do as we partner together to help, share and preserve the Hmong people, culture and language!!

Yours Truly,

Kx. Wayne Yang

<= BACK TO WELCOMING NOTE:

http://www.slideshare.net/xfwayne/hmong-village-network-welcoming-note