Guest Post: Elaine Russell

When I was growing up, I had an uncle who was a ship’s captain for Matson Shipping Lines and traveled the world. Every time he came to visit us, he would bring my sister and me dolls from different countries dressed in traditional clothes. I became fascinated with other cultures, their history and traditions. In high school I devoured novels set in other countries--Pearl S. Buck’s books, Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country. This led me to a history major as an undergraduate with an emphasis on China and Russia, along with classes on Chinese and Russian literature.

It is from this background that I came to write my new novel Across the Mekong River about a Hmong family’s journey from Laos to the US. I first became interested in Hmong immigrants—quite a large number settled in the Sacramento area where I live--when I met Hmong children in my son’s elementary school. I was entranced by their beautiful dancing and clothes at the Spring Talent Show.

About this time, the Sacramento Bee ran a series of articles about the Hmong, detailing their tragic past fleeing Laos after the civil war and the difficult time they have had adjusting to the US. Most Hmong were subsistence farmers high in the mountains of Laos. They could not read or write in their own language, making it even more difficult to learn English and understand their new environment. Then my book group read Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, discussing the clash of the American medical community with the Hmong traditions of shamanism to cure the sick. I began reading other materials about the war in Laos and the Hmong.

At first I envisioned a short story that would capture the Hmong journey with its struggles and sacrifices, an immigrant story unique to their rich cultural heritage. Everything I did kept pointing me in this direction. A young Hmong woman, Lee Yang, came to work in my husband’s office. She shared her story of her family’s escape, her marriage at the age of twelve and becoming a mother at age thirteen. She introduced me to her friends who also shared their experiences. I soon realized I would be writing a novel, and to do it properly would take a great deal of time.

I immersed myself in the Hmong world, reading every book I could find on the Hmong–their life in Laos, customs, beliefs, and traditions. I studied the civil war in Laos, an extension of the American Vietnam War. After the communists took over Laos in 1975, close to 300,000 Hmong and other Laotians, about one third of the total population, fled their homeland. I read accounts of families’ escapes, the years in refugee camps, and experiences on coming to America. I interviewed numerous Hmong I met through Lee and other friends. I attended Hmong New Year’s celebrations in Sacramento, learning more about Hmong music and dance, traditional dress, and other customs. Hmong associations working in the Sacramento area and nationally provided me with additional materials. Meanwhile, I wrote and rewrote
the novel, struggling with point of view and how expansive to make the story. I put it aside for long stretches of time, but always came back, determined to get it right.

In 2006, I traveled to Laos to gain a greater sense of place, of what had been left behind. I fell in love with the people and landscape and have returned on four occasions. While there, I learned about the extensive problem of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from U.S. bombing campaigns over Laos during the war. Nearly fifty years later, there are close to 80 million unexploded cluster bombs scattered throughout one third of the country. The bombs regularly kill and maim Laotians, many of them children. I joined a U.S.-based non-profit, Legacies of War, which works to get additional funding for UXO clearance. Through my association with Legacies, I met other Hmong and Laotians and learned more about the war and its aftermath. I wrote several journal articles on the subject and presented a paper at an international conference in Gutenberg, Sweden in 2010.

I continue my work with the Hmong and its culture and people by trying to encourage art through adversity. I will be part of the Hmong-Lao Recognition Day on July 20th in Sacramento and hold a reading as well at Avid Reader July 22nd in Sacramento.

Writing this book has been a long and rewarding journey for me. It will be released in August and I hope readers will enjoy the story and find a new appreciation for the immigrant experience of Hmong and other Laotian refugees, escaping war and persecution and struggling to adjust to life in the U.S. amid poverty and prejudice. The story hold themes that are true for all new immigrants who come to the U.S. filled with hope, but often facing a harsh reality.


For more information about Elaine Russell and her books visit http://www.elainerussell.info/