In Thai refugee camps during the 1970s, Hmong (pronounced "mung") men and women started hand-stitching brightly colored tapestries with images of war, journeys across rivers, and other scenes. With no written language until 50 years ago, but having instead a rich tradition of oral story-telling and highly developed cross-stitch and embroidery skills, the Hmong community used the story cloths as a popular way to document their experiences.
While the story cloth developed by the Twin Cities Area Chapter serves as a teaching tool, it also demonstrates the talents and traditions of the Hmong people.
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Hmong immigrants to the United States have continued making story cloths, creating intricate art that tells their own stories as well as pictorially displaying traditional folklore. A new tapestry created in the Twin Cities is weaving a different tale — using pictures of mittens, whirling tornadoes and fire extinguishers — to teach recent Hmong immigrants how to stay safe in their new surroundings.
This unique teaching tool was designed by the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter's Hmong staff and volunteers. To create a four-panel tapestry, the Chapter partnered with a group of Hmong elders.
Each of the panels in the story cloth shares a different set of safety skills. "The winter weather panel shows images of Minnesota winters, including an icy lake and a car stuck in a snow bank, while the summer safety panel reminds people to wear lightweight clothing instead of traditional layered Hmong dress," said Chau Vue, Hmong/South East Asian Outreach Coordinator with the Twin Cities Area Chapter, who shares these safety messages with the local Hmong community.
"Another teaches fire safety lessons with pictures of a fire extinguisher and a person testing a smoke detector. The final panel teaches immigrants how to prepare and respond to severe spring weather such as tornadoes and hail," she added.
The story cloth is one of several culturally specific tools that the Chapter's Multicultural Outreach Program has developed to promote healthy lifestyles and safer behaviors to diverse communities. The Twin Cities in recent years has seen a dramatic increase in culturally diverse populations, with the largest Hmong population and the second largest Somali immigrant population in the United States. The Chapter has developed a number of culturally-specific safety presentations and materials for the local Hmong, Somali, and Spanish-speaking communities. Last year, the Multicultural Outreach Program's efforts reached more than 16,000 people of color in the Twin Cities.
News of this distinctive communication tool has spread quickly beyond Minnesota. A number of other Red Cross Chapters have expressed interest in modeling the program, and daily newspapers from Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Chicago have highlighted the Red Cross Hmong tapestry and its message of safety.
For more information on the chapter's Multicultural Outreach Program, contact Viviana Sotro, Multicultural Outreach Program Senior Coordinator at (612) 872-3224. For information on the Hmong story cloth project, contact Chau Vue at (612) 872-3248.
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