NOU HANG

Nou Hang was born in a village in the mountains of Laos.  As long back as she can remember, there was war.  Her father fought with the Americans.  When she was 10 years old, she watched as an American pilot parachuted out of his plane that had been shot down.  He landed in a tree, his leg pierced by a branch.  Nou wanted to go closer but her parents were afraid she might get hurt.

Nou married when she was 14 and moved to Long Cheng with her soldier husband.  She was his second wife.  Her husband was the leader of several groups who were guarding roads and reporting on enemy activity

When General Vang Pao left, and the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese took over, Nou and her husband and their family escaped into the hills and became Chao Fa--“freedom fighters.”  Life in the jungles was very difficult and there was never enough food.  They escaped to Thailand around 1980 and lived in refugee camps until 2004.

Nou Hang lives with her extended family in St. Paul, MN.