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LYNETTE NYMAN: The skies are blue and sunny on the morning Girl Scout Troop 2675 arrives at Camp Ajawah, north of the Twin Cities. For many of the girls, it's their first overnight stay away from home, but it's their second visit to the camp. In April, they took a half day practice trip when the trees were bare of leaves. Now the nearby lake is barely visible through the foliage. And the mosquitoes are hungry. But Kalia, 11, and Pachua, 9, don't seem to mind.

SPEAKER 2: Today, we're going to go at the lake near Camp Ajawah, over there. And Julie already found a lifeguard. And we're going to go over there this afternoon.

LYNETTE NYMAN: They quickly lug their gear to the lodge where they'll sleep as a group, then it's straight to first aid training.

JULIE GRIFFITH: As fun as camping is, occasionally, when we're having too much fun, somebody gets hurt.

LYNETTE NYMAN: Kalia's hand is one of the first to go up to assist troop leader Julie Griffith in the CPR demonstration.

JULIE GRIFFITH: You can't laugh, you're not breathing. [LAUGHS]

LYNETTE NYMAN: Griffith is one of eight women co-leading troop 2675. She's also pastoral intern with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis and oversees its youth programs. Griffith says the troop is exclusive to Southeast Asian girls for two reasons. First, she says, to link the girls to old Hmong ways, such as forest living using traditional American scout techniques.

JULIE GRIFFITH: Secondly, I think it's an important avenue to help acclimatize young Southeast Asians to life in America. Because a part of the requirement for girl scouting and boy scouting is understanding the civic responsibilities of being a citizen of this country.

LYNETTE NYMAN: For the girls, it's more of a chance to experience the freedom traditional Hmong parents usually offer only to their sons.

SPEAKER 2: I need another worm, the fish ate it.

LYNETTE NYMAN: Some of the girls and the leaders are fishing off the dock. In the forest, they dug worms for bait. Across the lake, a blue heron stalks fish in the shallows. For the scouts, it's catch and release. Kalia takes her turn with a fishing pole.

SPEAKER 2: Well, I got a fish. I got a fish. I got humongous fish. What kind is it? I wonder what kind of fish is it.

LYNETTE NYMAN: A small perch dangles from her line. Nearby, a troop leader is as excited as young Kalia because she has caught a fish too. Pafu Yang, who's 29 years old, wanted to be a girl scout, but could not. Her mother spoke little English and didn't drive. Even if she had, Yang says girls in traditional Hmong families are expected to marry young and work in the home.

PAFU YANG: I don't want them to think as a Hmong girl that they have to be married before 18. I want them to go to college, have a career, be financially secure before they even think about marriage. There are so many opportunities here in America. I want them to experience it all. I want them to go to school and become something.

LYNETTE NYMAN: At the same time, Yang is concerned her daughters are losing touch with Hmong culture. So she supports Southeast Asian troops like 2675 as well as the Boy Scouts Troop 100 for Hmong boys. Both troops encourage cross-cultural activity. So they might have American hot dogs for lunch and Hmong sticky rice for dinner. Yang says being mostly Hmong, the children are more likely to speak their mother tongue in the troops.

PAFU YANG: My son is in Troop 100. And he speaks really good-- well, not really good Hmong, but he speaks Hmong more to me now than he did ever before. Because the boys on the troop spoke Hmong. And so he's learning a lot of words from them.

(SINGING) Valerie. Valerie. Valerie. Valerie. My knapsack on my back.

LYNETTE NYMAN: Around the campfire later that evening, the girls sing songs, new to them, but old favorites for the leaders who were once girl scouts themselves. One holds a spiral notebook in her hands. The words written in green ink are in the round shapes of a young girl's script.

SPEAKER 3: Ooh, so hot. Ooh, mine is burning.

LYNETTE NYMAN: The girls roast marshmallows to put between chocolate and Graham crackers and head to bed with their bellies full. Kalia leaves her clothes on because she signed up for night watch, an activity in which she and another girl head out into the woods to make observations. Kalia's partner decides not to go at the last minute, but Kalia goes anyway.

SPEAKER 2: I can see the stars out. I think nobody else wants to go because they're scared. It's OK to be scared.

LYNETTE NYMAN: Kalia scans the sky for the Big Dipper. A motor hums in the distance. A firefly approaches from the lake. She jots down her observations on a notepad, including the mosquitoes swarming her legs.

SPEAKER 2: So itchy. I think I want to go back.

LYNETTE NYMAN: She finds her way back to the lodge and slips into her sleeping bag, after waking the entire room with a loud knock on the door. But these girls are exhausted after the day's journey and quickly return to slumber. I'm Lynette Nyman, Minnesota Public Radio.