Her Vang is one of the few Hmong students from Laos who received an opportunity to study abroad in the United States. He is a first year undergrad student attending Bates College in Maine.
Despite growing up in a broken family with illiterate parents, he fought his way out of his family’s cycle of poverty through the help of many other generous people. At the age of nine his mother left to the U.S. one of his dream was to come to the U.S. to see her again. He learned English in his teens by speaking to foreigners and practicing English. Eventually he was able to study English for free in a non profit organization and earned a two year study abroad program to the Netherlands before coming to study in the U.S. in 2017.
He aspires to be a motivational speaker and recently spoke at HCON to share his story that you can not let your past define who you will become today. With the help of several friends they have decided to pay forward the gift they received to others in need. In the summer of 2017 they created the Dreams Givers, to help other underprivileged children of Laos to get out of their own cycle of poverty by assisting and supporting them with all the means they need. This video is a glimpse into what we do for the children during the summer of 2017.
If you are interested in supporting Dream Givers you may donate here https://www.facebook.com/dreamsgivers/
Listen to his story in this TedxYouth Talk he gave in the Netherlands in Feb 2017.