Driven by hope for a better life, my dad weathered the most difficult of conditions in his journey from Vietnam to America, demonstrating the resiliency and determination that is required of refugees.
(Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault and Death)
The story I am going to be sharing today is the story of my father on his journey to the United States of America as a refugee after the Vietnam War. In the section where I write about my dad’s journey, I will be writing it from his point of view.
All my life I have always known that my dad was a refugee from Vietnam. He had an accent my friends' parents did not have and we had many customs that my friends did not have. Although I knew my dad was a refugee for most of my life, I had never truly understood that my dad was a refugee until a couple of years ago. I had always heard the term “refugee” written in various news articles and history books but I had never considered what it really meant to be one. I never thought about the constant harassment, struggles, and hardships that came with leaving your home and immigrating to a brand new country. I never considered what it was like to be in a country that was engulfed in a giant civil war.
The image I chose to accompany this essay was sunlight breaking through a cluster of clouds. The image symbolizes the hardship and the hope that can break through the hardship that accompanies the refugee experience.
I began to recognize that although my dad always presented himself as a fun, outgoing person, there were many stories of his that I had yet to recognize. I learned that he was the first one of his family that attempted to leave Vietnam. His story is one filled with so much information and hardship that I hope that I am able to do it justice via this oral history report.
The Story
As a fifteen-year-old, I felt like I had no future. The Northern Vietnamese government had won the war, defeating the South and instilling a brand new government throughout Vietnam. My father, being a Southern military officer, had also just been placed in a “reeducation” camp and my family was punished because of his military status. We were not allowed to go to school and
my mother had to find odd jobs to earn money for food such as bootlegging medicine as it was nearly impossible to get.
My mother knew that she wanted her children to have a better life; however, my family was poor and we only had enough money to pay for one child out of nine to leave. I was selected to be the first child to leave.
To escape, we had to work underneath the government’s radar; if my family was caught conspiring to leave, we would have been imprisoned. Through careful planning, we secured the route that I would take. This route involved taking a 2-person boat to a larger fishing boat that would take a group of people to the refugee camps in Malaysia.
It took me 2 days to go from the smaller fishing boat to the larger boat. Conditions here were miserable: it was cramped, mosquitoes were everywhere and we were constantly looking out for military boats. Although these conditions were difficult, they did not waver my confidence in escaping. I was willing to endure anything to leave.
After arriving at the larger boat, we soon began our journey to Malaysia. A few hours after departing for Malaysia we noticed another boat approaching us. Immediately upon recognizing that their boat was military, they began shooting at us to make us stop moving. Fearing for our lives, the captain stopped the boat, and when the military caught up to us, they discovered we were trying to escape so everyone on the boat was captured and placed in jail.
Life in jail was horrible. We had no blankets, pillows, or clean clothes. They only fed us rice and rock salt and I would constantly feel hungry after eating. There was no privacy and because the jail was so crowded, we slept in groups on the ground. We used plastic bags to cover our hands, feet, and bodies so we wouldn't get bit by mosquitoes.
It was about two days of being attacked by mosquitoes until a friend, whom I met on the boat, and I were approached by a man with a mosquito net. The man told us he would be willing to share his net if we agreed to sleep next to him. Being tired of the mosquitos constantly swarming us all night, we quickly agreed.
At night, I slept right next to the man; however, events took a turn for the worse. As I was sleeping, the man began groping me, prompting me to scream and push him away, waking up my friend and those around us. We immediately left the net and made a plan that if the man tried to do anything to us again, we would fight back.
We then had to go back to using plastic bags as cover for 3 days until more prisoners were released. When prisoners were released, they left their mosquito nets behind and luckily I was able to take one of the extra nets. Because the prison was so crowded and the mosquito net could fit three people, my friend and I wanted to help those who needed it. There was an older man who we had met who told us stories about his life before he went to prison. He told us how he had a large house, a kind family, and an abundance of money, however when he was sent to prison, none of his family had visited him. They had kept his money and forgotten him. Hearing this story we felt pity for this man and allowed him to sleep with us in the mosquito net. He had to endure so much hardship and we thought protection from the mosquitos would help him out.
After 2 days of sleeping next to him, I woke up one day and noticed that the old man had died right next to me, never once having his family come to visit.
After around a month in prison, my mother found out that I had not escaped and instead that I was in prison. When she found out where she had to come and bribe the guards so I could leave.
After I returned from prison, I knew I had to do whatever it took to escape. Although my attempt had failed, my mother found enough money for my eldest brother to attempt an escape.
After a year after returning from prison, my father returned from the reeducation camps. After he came back, we realized that if we didn't escape soon, we would stay in Vietnam for the rest of our lives. So, we decided to risk our life savings to try and escape Vietnam again, this time as a family.
We used similar methods as before, using a fisherman's boat to escape Vietnam for Malaysia. Thankfully, we were able to escape Vietnam without getting caught.
After escaping Vietnam, we had to traverse open water to get to Malaysia. This involved going through the open sea where we had to worry not only about the Vietnamese Military but also about pirates.
After being out in the sea for a few days, we saw an unfamiliar boat in front of us. When we first saw the boat, we had no clue of its origin. Were they pirates or were they the Vietnamese military taking us back? Did everything that we had worked for come to waste because we ran into military patrolling in the open sea?
When we got a little closer to the boat we realized immediately that these men were not Vietnamese military. In what felt like a blink of an eye, gunmen immediately boarded our boat. They immediately began attacking us, taking all of our money, jewelry, watches, and anything valuable we had. After taking everything, they then proceeded to take 4 women and raped them. While all of this was happening I made sure to cover my younger siblings' eyes so they couldn't see what was going on.
We were expecting the worst, for all of us to be taken captive and sold around the world; however, they let us go. We were in the water for 2 more days until we finally arrived in Malaysia. After landing in Malaysia we were immediately escorted to a refugee camp. Arriving at the refugee camp gave us all so much joy. It was a breath of fresh air not having to worry about pirates or the military.
In the refugee camp, we studied English to prepare for life in any country that we were accepted into. In the camps, we were interviewed by government officials to see which countries would accept us. We stayed in these camps for two years until we heard back from a country that was willing to take us in. These 2 years were full of anxiety, hoping that we would be accepted to the United States to be reunited with our oldest brother. Thankfully for us, the United States allowed our entire family to enter the country.
After being accepted into the United States, we came to the Philippines for one year to get quarantined. The camp in the Philippines was very similar to the one in Malaysia, with conditions being good enough to survive. After waiting in the Philippines for a year, we were allowed to take an airplane to the US from the Philippines.
The plane ride to the United States was amazing, I had never been on a plane before and it was amazing how we were able to get so quickly across the world.
On the plane ride, I couldn't help but think of the journey that led me here. About the struggles of being the first one chosen to leave Vietnam, about the difficulties when I had to survive in prison, about the pirate attack that left us fearing for our lives, and about the anxiety during the two years spent in Malaysia, praying the United States would accept us.
After arriving in the United States, I registered for 10th grade at Crawford High School where I had to take night and summer classes alongside my normal schoolwork. Alongside taking these classes, I worked part-time whenever I was free. This money was used to help pay for groceries, rent, and anything else to help my family.
Even through all of these struggles, I was optimistic about the fact that I was able to escape Vietnam and make it to the US. I was glad that my family and I were not constantly on the run anymore and finally could live in a country that was not ravaged by a civil war.
Conclusion:
I would like to thank Professor Yến Lê Espiritu and Dr. Thuy Vo Dang for giving me the idea to interview my father about his journey to America. I learned from Professor Yến Lê Espiritu and Dr. Thuy Vo Dang about the importance of having living records of Vietnamese refugees that are written by Vietnamese refugees. Refugees like my dad, deserve to have their stories shown to the public. They take on journeys, sometimes dangerous, for the greater good of not only themselves but for future generations also. They deserve to have the right to be able to talk about their own experiences. They are witnesses to some of the most awful things that people can do to one another and become storytellers simply through their existence during these experiences.
After my dad graduated from high school, he was accepted to SDSU where he studied Aerospace and Civil engineering. He was able to attend the school through the CAL grant, however, while in school, he had to work more jobs to pay for rent. After he graduated, he was offered a job by one of the companies that he worked near. He met my mom at SDSU, a fellow Vietnamese refugee.
My father's journey to the United States constantly amazes me. He had to endure so much hardship as he traveled from Vietnam to the United States. Despite all of these hardships, he was able to succeed and make the most of his new life in the United States.
In addition to thanking Professor Yến Lê Espiritu and Dr. Thuy Vo Dang for giving me the idea for the oral history project I also wanted to thank my dad for everything he has done so I could
succeed. Thank you for raising me to become the person I am right now and thank you for letting me interview you so more can hear about your story.
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