The Mission for Hmong Village, Inc.

1. Hmong Village Mission
The mission of Hmong Village is to help, share and preserve the Hmong people, culture
and language. When incorporating, we listed our organization as a nonprofit
educational institution.
Let's start from the subjects involved--the Hmong people, culture and language. These
three are inter-related and, yet, distinct. The people can continue to exist without the
culture or language. The culture is manifested by the people. And the language can
die but the culture and people can still live on. So considering these three aspects of
the Hmong, they are distinct, yet directly related to each other.
At Hmong Village, we have a global and dynamic view of what it means to be Hmong.
This mean that you don't have to be of Hmong descent to be Hmong or join our groups.
It also means the topics we focus on are not necessarily those pertaining the traditional
Hmong cultures or customs. Rather, we include the global Hmong experience. These
topics include nontraditional Hmong language, food, and even non-Hmong politics (to
name a few)--as long as they are of Hmong interest.
The Hmong people have been taken advantage of and looked down upon by countless
ethnic and racial groups--in China, SE Asia and in the US/Western countries. As a
refugee people in contemporary or contemporizing countries (like Laos, China,
Vietnam & Thailand today), the Hmong are marginalized and taken advantage of. The
is not much we can do as in stepping up to confront these injustices. We can,
however, help them to adjust to their new environment--misunderstandings, tensions
from within, etc. These struggles that we can help with exists among individuals,
couples, families, clans, churches, lineages, local communities, and even nationally.
Again, we can at least alleviate these by helping both the Hmong and the community at
large to understand where the other is coming from.
The Hmong culture is rich and beautiful. I won't say much here because we all
understand some of these things already. I will say, however, that our marriage,
religious, funeral, family, interpersonal traditions; our artifacts, clothing (and their
variations), and personal/family possessions; our ideas, beliefs, and worldview are
beautiful and it would be a shame if we lost them without preserving these aspects of
the culture.
Next, the language is also beautiful. You know that the Hmong language has one of the
most tones in the world? It's second next to Cantonese--9 tones. The spoken language
is also very beautiful--both dialects, White and Blue Hmong, can be considered as
"Romantic Languages." They are every bit as expressive and effectual as they are
pleasing to listen to--almost "orchestraic." Researchers have verified that the language
is the first thing to go for cultures that are becoming extinct--and the Hmong language is
not exempt from this. If anything, it has been considered a language that is becoming
extinct. Note this is true in Asia as it is in Western countries--especially with the
Chinese moving into Hmong territory and the Hmong camps being set as their mobility

2. becomes restricted. In these countries, the majority and society is no longer Hmong but
other languages. So like those of us in the US and in order for them to be competitive
and survive, the Hmong have to immerse themselves into the culture and language--
sometimes masking/hiding their own.
About helping, sharing and preserving these things, I've already expressed sentiments
of how we can help, share and preserve the Hmong people, culture and language.
Thank you for joining us in this tough but rewarding journey. We hope it will be as much
an adventure for you as it has been and will be for us. God bless you for all your
efforts--those noticed and unnoticed. We can assure you that our efforts online and
what not will NOT go unnoticed!
<= BACK TO WELCOMING NOTE:
http://www.slideshare.net/xfwayne/hmong-village-network-welcoming-note