Later this year, a group of Hmong American young women from Sacramento will travel to Laos to finally meet their yearlong pen pals in person.
They are part of Hmong Youth Beyond Borders (HYBB), a Sacramento-based initiative that has mentored and fostered the relationships between the four Hmong young women from Sacramento and 13 young women in Laos. The upcoming trip, which they are fundraising for, is an effort to help connect the participants across the world and learn more about their Hmong heritage.
“It’s going to be so unreal,” said Mikayla Her, 19, a participant of the program.
Founded in July 2024 by Pachia Xiong, winner of last year’s Miss Hmong Grand International, HYBB was conceived through deep reflection of her own life. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from Thailand, and as the 10th child in her family, she is the first one to attend college. Much of her life and upbringing were rooted in tradition, and she sought out opportunities beyond the expectations of marriage, she said.
Looking back, she wondered what kind of guidance would have been beneficial to her as she navigated young adulthood and a pathway to college.
“I didn’t realize there were youth out there like me,” she said.
After being crowned in 2024, she made it her mission to mentor, guide, culturally support and empower Hmong girls, teaching them to be proud Hmong women. By playing the role of “big sister,” she hopes to help the young women reach their full potential to become leaders of the future as they head off to college. While its inaugural cohort happens to be all young women, HYBB serves Hmong youth ages 14-21 of all genders.
When Her heard of the opportunity to apply to be part of HYBB, she didn’t hesitate.
She had always wanted to do more within her community, but was hesitant because she didn’t speak Hmong. She’d spoken the language as a child with her grandparents, but it faded as she grew older.
Since being part of the program, her pen pals have helped her reconnect with the language, increasing her confidence as she continues to practice with them.
“They’re the most supportive people ever,” she said. “They’re like my long lost sisters.”
Through HYBB’s partnership with Seeds4Hope, a nonprofit that mentors and empowers young people to develop into leaders, Xiong said they were able to help internationally connect the 17 pen pals to each other, whose ages range from 16 to 21.
While how they connect doesn’t fit the traditional sense of being a pen pal, which is based on letter writing, the youth stay in touch using video calls and messaging through WhatsApp. The program also sets up virtual talks with guest speakers who educate all the participants about generational trauma, abuse and more.
Xiong said the Hmong American participants are excited to meet their pen pals in Laos, visit their towns, villages and explore their gardens. In her observations about the experiences of the women in Laos, she said “they come from a background where they really had to fight.”
“They had to prove they were more than just a young daughter,” Xiong said.
The American cohort is “equally ambitious,” and the young women from both countries are aiming to become entrepreneurs or doctors. Xiong said HYBB is helping create opportunities for scholarships.
She hopes the upcoming trip widens the perspectives of the Hmong American pen pals, who are all traveling outside the U.S. for the first time, she said.
“It’s a learning experience for all of us,” she said.
But there are challenges surrounding politics and constant changing laws about travel that have been geared toward specific countries like Laos. In June, the Trump administration issued an executive order partially suspending immigration from Laos, and many other countries, citing concern over overstay by some visa holders.
“That’s been really heavy on us,” Xiong said. She is unsure how and if the executive order will affect the upcoming trip and hopes to forge ahead with the original plan, but said she is gauging if the trip needs to be delayed out of caution.
Despite the concern, the American cohort is excited to travel.
Her said since being part of the program, she has realized she doesn’t have to speak the language to be more involved with her community, but it is a goal as she loves her culture very much. And just like Xiong, Her hopes get better at her Hmong to compete in pageants.
But beyond the language, Her points to similarities that she and her two pen pals share — they all have hard working parents, which motivates them to work just as hard, are goal-oriented and want to help people.
Her aims to be a teacher, and one of her pen pals works as a translator, and the other aspires to be a social worker. “We all want to help people but in different fields,” she said.
But above all, while they may live in different countries, they are all Hmong, the biggest connector of all, she said.
This story is part of the Solving Sacramento journalism collaborative. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Hmong Daily News, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review and Sacramento Observer. Support stories like these here, and sign up for our monthly newsletter.
By Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria
