From Laos to America: Changing Worlds, Changing Lives

The first Hmong refugees to arrive in Wausau, Wisconsin, came in April 1975. These Hmong and Lao pioneers faced great hardship; ultimately, they endured and prevailed. Over time, others joined these first refugees.

Some Hmong and Lao families came directly from the refugee camps in Southeast Asia; others moved to Wausau after living briefly in other American communities. All shared the common experience of having survived war and displacement. Today, over 6,000 residents of Wausau and Marathon County can trace their family history back to Southeast Asia. Some have lived in the Wausau area for over thirty years. Others, like the recent refugees from Thailand’s Wat Tham Krabok, have just arrived.

This web site is dedicated to refugee families and other victims of the Indochina War who continue to live in Southeast Asia, and to those who now reside with us as friends and neighbors in central Wisconsin. We also wish to honor the many people of good will in the Wausau area who have worked to make the arrival of refugees an event that will ultimately strengthen and improve our community.

Over the next six months, the primary activity at this site will be to record, through text and photographs, our lives and travels. We will be working on a variety of projects that assist victims of the Indochina War.

Jim and Marty Harris