Kids Prepare for the Future by Exploring Their Past

More than 150 children drawn from 44 metro area schools converged on the Concordia campus this summer for the Hmong Culture & Language Program Summer Camp.

The two-week day camp is designed to help children in grades K-12 learn about their cultural heritage through traditional storytelling, gardening, art and language.

This year, in response to many requests from non-Hmong communities, the camp was open to anyone interested in learning about Hmong culture. From July 31- Aug.11, 2006, campers participated in historical simulations of village life for the Hmong in Laos before the war, life as refugees, and immigration
to the U.S.

Youth leaders, the “clan leaders,” helped campers develop Hmong conversation skills, aided by cultural experiences in Hmong arts, gardening, music and dance. They made their own Hmong story cloth called Pja Ntaub, planted traditional food crops and learned about uses for their “harvest.”

The camp ended with a Community Celebration where campers presented what they had learned with demonstrations of traditional Hmong dances and instruments, storytelling, crafts and other displays. This year’s camp was offered in collaboration with the University of St.Thomas, St. Paul Public Schools and East Metro Integration.

Both the summer camp and the Hmong Culture and Language camp operated throughout the year are directed by professor of Education Sally Baas,who also directs the Southeast Asian Teacher (SEAT) licensure program.

Grant Focuses on Healthy Kids

Campers learned important lessons on adopting a healthier lifestyle thanks to the Champions for Healthy Kids grant from the General Mills Foundation.

The $10,000 grant allowed Hmong Culture & Language Program Summer Camp organizers to offer a program called “The Chicken, the Pig and the Pepper: Gardening for Health,” designed to “plant the seeds” for healthy living by showing kids how to adopt a balanced diet and physically active lifestyle.

Kids learned about nutrition, snacking, portion control and choosing healthy foods, such as the traditional Hmong vegetables and herbs they learned about during the camp.

Popularity: 17% [?]