The Khamphouvong Story

The Khamphouvong family has a story. Your family has a story.

The Khamphouvong family lived a rather influential and affluent life in Ban Keng of Sayaboury Province, Laos of Southeast Asia. Life was peaceful in the mountainous region of northern Laos for the family until the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Lao Civil War (also known as the Laos’ Secret War) infiltrated Laos.

Bouarith Khamphouvong, the father, was working with the United States of America’s Embassy’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for 14 years. He was taken into a “re-education camp” as a prisoner for three and half years due to his work with the U.S. government and being highly educated. It was then that the Khamphouvong family knew the only way to live was to escape to Thailand to live with freedom.

From Sayaboury Province, Sangath Khamphouvong, the mother along with her nine of ten children took their escape route westward from Sayaboury to cross the Mekong River over to Thailand. It consisted of long walks through rice fields and bamboo jungles across Northern Laos. The oldest daughter and the father took a different route from the prison camp. Two by two in the middle of the night, Sangath placed her children in a small fishing boat to cross the Mekong River to a safe house on Thailand’s soil. By grace, everyone made it out of Laos without any physical harm!

The Khamphouvong family entered Nong Khai Refugee Camp in 1980. The Khamphouvong family of 12 lived in a small bamboo stall for two years as papers to be sponsored to the U.S. were initiated as a vetting process as refugees. Limited resources, food, and opportunities were a part of the refugee life where safety and resilience is a daily survival mandate. The Khamphouvong family under their father’s leadership and continued international aid work along with their mother’s unwavering strength had enough to eat and live despite the challenging camp’s conditions. There at the camp, the Khamphouvong family were taught the ways of life by short term resettlement workers, of how best to assimilate to the U.S. American way of life.

After two years in Nong Kai’s Refugee Camp, the refugee resettlement process of sponsorship was granted to Bouarith’s former USAID workers, Jon and Carol Wells along with World Relief. In 1982, the Wells family of Castleford, Idaho and their local Castleford Baptist Church welcomed the family of 12 to their small community with a full Matthew 25 provision of housing, clothing, food, and compassion. The family learned to live a new life with people that did not look like them, the English language, snow, white bread, apples, and whip cream! No longer were they in the hot and humid Southeast Asia climate with mango trees and coconut groves.

The Khamphouvong family is deeply grateful for continued protection and for each individual who has extended love and compassion as they started a new life in the U.S. Like most escapees, refugees, and immigrants worldwide, the Khamphouvong family has endured and persevered much. Being displaced with land relocation and cultural adaptations, survival and resilience are non-negotiable characteristics of each family member.

The hope is for families like The Khamphouvong to remember their stories and inspire future generations to embrace their heritage. From a sense of belonging and purpose, a better world is possible.

Each of us has a story. Learn it. Own it. Share it.