Dear Minnesota - Ben Boutsavath

Ben Boutsavath

Woodbury - 1st generation - Laos

I was born in Vientiane, Laos. I am a son of a civil servant of the Lao Royal Government. I came to the United States in 1986 at the age of eighteen as a refugee. I graduated from Central High School in Saint Paul and Concordia College in 1994.

My life with family in Laos before communists took over in 1975 was comfortable, I would say because we were the middle class. My dad worked as a director of the rural development department and he was a member of the coalition government. I attended the French catholic school from 1973-1975.

After 1975 I remember myself, my mom, and a younger brother and sister had a difficult time making a living because when the communists came my dad was sent to the concentration camp. My Mom was a housewife and my other brother and sisters were sent to France by my parents. I was the big brother to my siblings although I was a kid.

In 1984, when I was in High School in Laos, I didn't know what my future would be like. I lost interest in school and I didn't like what they were teaching (communism).

One day in school a friend and I were discussing about leaving the country. We decided to leave without telling our family at that time we were only about 17 years old.  My friend picked me up with a motorbike and went to the village by the Mekong River. We left the bike at the house and ask a girl whom my friend knew to take us to the island by a canoe. 

We swam across the river from the island to the Thai side in broad daylight.  When we got to Thailand, we paid the local guy to take us to the main road and took the taxi to the Police Station. We were in jail at that station for a month waiting to be transported to the refugee camp. The worst experience for me is being in a Thai jail for a month. It was cramped and I never had a good sleep.

I arrived in Roanoke, Virginia (1986). I lived in Roanoke for two years before moving to St. Paul in 1988. I went to 10 and 11 grade in Roanoke, VA. I was welcome there and I also experienced discrimination as a new immigrant to this country.  I graduated with a Social Science degree but I couldn't find a good job so I went back to school to study Law Enforcement. I was lucky to find a police job in two years after school. I resigned from the Saint Paul Police Department because of personal reasons. I experienced discrimination on the job.

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