"The specialness of Ia goes way beyond her rice growing," says Lisa M. Hamilton, "she really is a portrait of resilience." A writer and photographer, Hamilton has documented rural communities and agriculture around the world. In her latest book, The Hungry Season: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival, she turns her focus on Ia Moua, a Hmong woman, who has survived war, loss, and displacement, and now grows rice in Fresno, California.
Born in 1964, Moua began her journey in Laos, where Hmong people, who originally came from China, are an ethnic minority. Although their social status has changed in recent years, the Hmong tended to reside on the poorest lands, at the highest elevations.
During the Vietnam War, Laos was as much of a battleground as its next door neighbor, North Vietnam. The Hmong sided with the Americans during the conflict. When US forces left Vietnam, Hmong people were often targeted by the communist government. On May 29, 1975, Pathet Lao forces opened fire on 10,000 Hmong people attempting to cross Hin Heup Bridge so they could get to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
Moua had to make a decision — stay behind with her parents or join her brothers who were headed to Thailand. She chose the latter. At age 15 and nine months pregnant, Moua (along with her husband and other family members) arrived at a refugee camp along the Mekong River in Thailand. She lived there and gave birth to eight children before leaving at the age of 30.
Hamilton explains that Hmong culture centers on community. After attempts at immediate assimilation in the United States, many Hmong immigrants undertook a secondary migration, following clan leaders to hubs in places like Minneapolis and St. Paul. As a capital of agriculture, Fresno, California enticed many Hmong who wanted to restart their lives as farmers. But the terrain was dissimilar to that in Laos. Many of those who moved to Fresno struggled to successfully farm.
Moua's resilience, explains Hamilton, allowed her to grow a particular grain of rice, nplej niam tais or "grandmother's rice," across four acres, caring for it by hand. It has turned into a hot commodity. Hamilton says people will pay three to five times as much for this particular variety of rice and every year, Moua sells out.
Lisa M. Hamilton has documented agriculture and rural communities around the world. Photo by Lizzy Meyers.
"The Hungry Season: A Journal of War, Love and Survival" is the story of Ia Moua, a Hmong woman, who escaped Laos and now grows rice in Fresno, California. Photo courtesy of Little, Brown, and Company