TAI DAM

by David Nuttle

The Tai Dam ethnic group made their home in the heavenly jungled rugged mountains of NW Vietnam for over 2,000 years. History records they were never conquered by Viets or Han Chinese when they controlled Vietnam. During the Vietnamese communist war with the French colonial forces some Tai Dam supported the French. When French forces were fully defeated, Tai Dam villagers living near Viet controlled areas elected to exist Vietnam to gain more security. They crossed Laos to Thailand where they were held in refugee camps.

In 1975, a USAID employee in Thailand, Arthur Crisfield, wrote letters to several U.S. state Governor's asking for help in relocating Tai Dam refugees. Gov. Robert Ray, of Iowa, agreed to do so and obtained approval from his state's legislature to support Tai Dam resettlement.

He appealed to residents of Des Moines, Iowa, to volunteer to be host families for Tai Dam families on a 1 to 1 basis. Gov. Ray also enlisted the support of local businesses to offer the number of jobs needed for adult males in the first group of 633 Tai Dam refugees who were to soon arrive in 1975. Thus, these Tai Dam refugees were fully supported from the first day they arrived in the U. S.

Following the above efforts, Gov. Ray arranged to acquire a large tract of land near Des Moines where he obtained approvals for the Tai Dam to construct a traditional Tai Dam village with cottage industries and adjoining Tai Dam farms. This effort created a good tourist attraction that produced income for Des Moines businesses. In brief, a win-win situation was

created along with a model for refugee resettlement. This is a resettlement model we can all learn from.

At the time the U. S. was seeking an agreement, with the Viet communists, for the U. S. to exist the Vietnam War, Viets believed the Tai Dam were about to start an insurgency in North Vietnam. If this belief was true or not, the Viet communists have been confirmed to have thus agreed to affirm this agreement the U. S. needed to escape an armed conflict we were losing. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Tai Dam for helping to end our losses in Vietnam. I worked with some Tai Dam in Laos, and they are a great people.

As a nation of refugees, the U. S. needs to do far better for most new refugees while soon deporting those who seek to do us harm.