“Khamphiou Vang’s Story: Aim for the Skies”

Npaus Baim Her

Saint Paul, Minnesota | Hmong | She/her/hers

When I was a child, I lived in a village in Laos. Everyday airplanes flew over us. I told myself that one day, I would get my own airplane. I eventually surpassed that dream and owned two airplanes after coming to America – a Cherokee Six and a Piper Warrior II. 

I am the second youngest child, so I couldn’t help on the farm as much, so my older brother sent me to a boarding school. In 1964, my village was attacked by communists, so my family fled to Long Cheng, then Vientiane. 

I went back to school in third grade, but once I finished sixth grade, I realized that I wanted to get more education so I could earn a good income someday. My family no longer lived on a farm where we could raise crops and livestock so I knew I must go to school.

In high school, I was ranked the second top student. After graduation, I worked for the Lao Transportation Department and made 35,000 kip a month (that’s worth about $4 today). After four months, I left to work for a Lao Manufacturing company where I took care of packaging machines and made 55,000 kip per month (that’s about $6.50). I was still not making enough income to support myself. Finally, when I was promoted to a supervisor and had a salary of  80,000 kip per month, our country was taken over by the communists so I had to leave. 

We didn’t have a choice to stay because my two older brothers were soldiers who fought against the communists. If they stayed, they would have been jailed. If I stayed, I would likely not be paid, or I would have lost my job because the communists do not like people who were part of the resistance.

In 1975, I crossed over the Mekong River to Thailand and made it to the refugee camps. I stayed there a year before being resettled in Minneapolis, Minnesota with my older brother and his family in 1976. We were the first Hmong refugee family to be resettled in Minnesota. The first family came as immigrants. 

I was 21 years old at the time and wanted to pursue higher education. I worked hard for my dream and goals. I took English Second Language courses to prepare for college. I then went to an aviation tech school and received an airframe and powerplant certificate. Soon, I received my electrical and pilot license and worked at a small airport. I wanted to continue my career in aviation, so I went to the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities for four years. I could not finish my bachelor’s degree due to my family situation. 

I was married with three children andr one more on the way. My wife worked a full time job to support the family while I worked part-time and went to school. In 1986, I landed a job with Northwest Airlines so I was able to work on airplanes. I enjoyed that so much. Eventually I was able to buy two aircrafts.  

I’ve worked hard since the beginning. I had a dream and goals, and I strived to reach them. That has allowed me get to where I am today.