LS 4: Hành Trình Vuợt Biên và Cuộc Sống Trên Đất Mỹ

Xin đọc LS #12 bằng tiếng Việt Nam.

§ Kenneth Nguyễn

LNĐ: Đây là câu chuyện vượt biên đường thuyền của một thiếu niên đi vượt thoát một mình, và tự học cho đến khi trở thành một bác sĩ Y Khoa. Bác sĩ Kenneth Nguyễn đang cư ngụ tại thành phố Westminster, California.

Anh đang thu thập những tài liệu về người tị nạn đường thuyền và đường bộ để làm tài liệu và để nhớ lại những chuỗi ngày gian khổ. Anh viết lại câu chuyện vượt biên bằng tiếng Anh. Hy vọng sau này, chúng tôi sẽ dịch thuật sang tiếng Việt.

Đây là một tấm gương phấn đấu kiên cường của một người trẻ. Thật là đáng ngợi khen và khâm phục. Xin trân trọng giới thiệu với quý vị. (KH)

November 21, 2007

”Hi Cô Kim Hà,

Yes, I'm the MD and am the one who ordered "Qua Con Bao Du" from Cô few months ago). And yes, I'm a Westminster resident as well.

About my childhood is quiet unmemoriable and unremarkable. My big family (aunts, uncles, brother, sister) had a long legendary of escaping fr VN by boat. One of my uncle came to the US in 75'. One other uncle and aunt escaped by boat in 78' under "Chinese orderly departure program" which was guarded under VC at that time (by the way, we're Chinese/Vietnamese). I was too little at that time to realize what was really happening around. But I was related later by them that there were 2 boats were escorted parallely by VC to the ocean. The 1st night they still saw each other but when the storm hit on them on the 2nd night, the other boat was disappeared and never heard again. My aunt thought they all died b/c one of her friend was in that boat.

Continually, another uncle and my brother (both age of 19 and 10) escaped successfully in 80' with a tiny boat but full loaded of people. They were rescued by a Singapore submarine just few hours before a typhoon hit on. Per the captain, the whole boat would be drowned for sure w/o a question b/c the boat was intended to use for commercial transportation on rivers only. They took the risk b/c they thought the weather would be nice in April.

Learning from that, my parents started building our own boats (2 totals) with their 2 friends' association. The purpose was to have all other uncles/aunts/my sister and me to be safe and secured. Unfortunately, those 2 boats were stolen by one of my parents' friend. Since then, we joined many other "trips" but unsuccessfully. I was very little to realize what was going on around; I knew that it was about "Vuot bien" but didn't have any concept about it at all. We got caught 2 times and were jailed for months (I and my sister were released after few days b/c under 18; both of us was taught to act strangely like relating nothing to our uncles/aunts; that was why we were considered as minor and were released in few days. Of courses, we had no money to catch the bus home but luckily there was a woman, who worked at the VC police office, took us to the bus station in Soc Trang and paid for the whole trip to Saigon. She gave us to one of the bus driver assistant. We told our parents the story and location after got home; my parents immediately came down there to appreciate that lady the gold and tried to "bail" my uncles/aunts out.

After many failures, my uncles/aunts decided to stay and wait for ODP. My parents still pursued their goal by keep sending both my sister and me too many other trips. The last one was in 84' when both of us was hidden in a small boat and floated to somewhere I didn't even know for 2 or 3 days, and then we were told to get up and crawled out to get on a larger boat. It was extremely dark that I couldn't see anything or anyone but heard people mumbling. I was then lifted up and tossed down into another boat belly; my face was hitting someone or something that was extremely painfully. I screamed and called my sister name out loud but there were people surrounding told me keep quiet. I hid myself in a little comfort corner w/o seeing anything clearly.

I forgot how soon the boat started leaving after that, and as I mentioned in previous mail, our boat was hit by Thai pirates several times; someone was killed and captured by pirates. We were on the ocean for 7 nights or so; I still remember one thing that we were out of food/water or it ran low or so, they gave very little water and rice to us but most of the time the people around me always had priority to have food/water before me. That was the time I realize that my water and condensed milk bottles were stolen by someone somehow. For some reason, I didn't care much about the food/water at that time; it might be because I had some Korean/Chinese ginseng in my mouth (my parents packed me up w/ a whole ginseng and homemade sugar-coated lemon candies in case of thirst/hunger). We saw several commercial ships but they ignored us completely. The night before we hit the land, there was a man lifted up the incenses and asked everyone to start praying, right after that, we saw something shining and reflecting the moonlight along the sides of the boat. We didn't know what it was until the captain (the real good one) told us they were whales (Ca Ong). They "played" all night long with our boat until the sun started rising; that was when we started seeing the land from the distance. Indescribable, everyone was so happy. At that moment, I wasn't sure what the term "Vuot bien" really meant. I just wished to go home staying w/ parents and eating Phở, Bánh Cuon, Hu Tiếu and ice cream. That was all I wanted, seriously. I had no concept about Vuot bien" and VC at all. Too young to realize and understand what made my parents put me on that boat.

We then hit on one of the island of Malaysia some time in the afternoon; they residents pointed us toward another island, which is about 1/2 day far, where is called Bidong. On the way there, some wanted to stop by Pulau Bidong; some didn't but rather go straight to Australia b/c of their families are there already. Anyhow, we landed on another island which we all thought it would have been Pulau Bidong but it wasn't. It's Pulau Redang (I think) which is about 3 hours from Pulau Bidong. As soon as we arrived there, the residents called the UNHCR in Pulau Bidong; we were instructed to rest in a large wooden house over night. Next morning, a big ship from Pulau Bidong came over and took us to Bidong.

I only stayed in Bidong for few months b/c I was a minor. They asked me who I traveled with; I told them I was with my sister but lost her somewhere somehow. I wasn't sure whether my sister was taken away by pirates b/c I was frightened out at that time.

Two months later my parents received my letter for the first time. My mom cried so much b/c she heard several others related to their families in VN that our boat was hit by pirates several times. And someone was killed as well. She wrote that for 2 months she was about to go crazy w/o eating/sleeping well. She cried every single night especially when she saw my sister went home alone (my sister was left behind; in fact she was dropped into a river when trying to climbed up to the big boat. Luckily, she swam back to one of the small boat and was taken to land safely. Our parents registered us in swimming classes at Tao Dan Club in hope that we could survive if get hit by the storm). Yet, one of my cousins dreamed about me being drowned in the ocean one night; she came and told my parents about her dream. My mom could hardly swallowed meals daily. Everyday, she drunk orange juice and milk, skipped many meals b/c she kept thinking and worrying about me all day. By the way, I'm the baby in my family. I remember it was about 2 wks before Chinese New Year that I left VN. Every single night she kneed down in front on the 3rd floor to pray for me hours. Her tears kept falling down endlessly. People across the street saw my mom as such, they came over and comfort her daily but still the pain was there unresistingly. She lost a lot of weight b/c of that. She even went to see hundreds fortune tellers whom she heard "a real good one". Some told her everything was alright; some shook their heads. That made it even worse. The most important thing she did daily was sitting in front of the house to wait for the mailman. As soon as she saw the mailman, she ran toward him and asked for any news. Every single headshaking of a mailman was a pain thru her heart; it was invisibly painful and killing and full of disappointment. She dropped everything but just lied there thinking, questioning, answering and wishing herself. The word "IF" was repeatedly appearing in her mind. "If she wouldn't put me on the boat then I wouldn't be....as such" "IF...and only If..." Her hair turned gray evenly in short period of time. Her face dropped and sobered; her eyes were darken due to endless insomnia. She wrote that her heart pounded as louder and faster as the mailman approached from the distance. Until one day, he gave her a thick foreign letter which stamped Malaysia; she broke out loud in tears when seeing my handwritings from the outside. She gave the mailman so much money for bringing her a hope, happiness.

Several things I remember about Bidong were people there were not nice to me at all. They took advantage of me a lot. They asked me to pull the water from the wells or carried the food/grocery supplies daily. When my uncles sent me money, they told me to give it to them to keep for me b/c I was too young; other people may rob me if they would know that I carry the money around. Instantly, I listened to whatever they told me. They never gave it back to me when I left Bidong.

When I finally came to the U.S after 6 or 9 months in the refugee camps (Bidong and Sungei Besi), I stayed with one of my uncle. My brother just grad from high school at that time and joined the U.S Marine right away. I wasn't happy with my uncle's wife at all. She was not nice to us at all, me and my brother. The negative thing about it was my uncle didn't say a word or took any action to prevent her from treating us badly. You may not imagine that we rarely had new clothes (might be once a yr or mostly from our friends old clothes or my brothers) or foods daily (food were cooked enough for her and my uncle and were hidden away somewhere that I didn't even know; or were cooked a little excessive depended on the mood) There were too many things personals about her that I don't want to detail here but overall I think it might be because of the financial circumstance that lead to her immature attitudes. It's understandable and forgiven. I moved out when turned 18. I worked 2 part-time jobs while attending GWC (Golden West College). Catching bus daily between classes and works. Eating out and sleeping anywhere from the lawn to classroom to donut shop (I used to go to donut shop on Dinger across Bank of America to study until 2-4am b/c 1st the house owner didn't like seeing me turned on the light all night, secondly, my roommate sometimes slept early; we shared a room for $250 at that time; we spitted the rent. We both went school at GWC but rarely seeing each other due to different schedules). When my mom was sponsored to come over the U.S in 93' or 94', I and my roommate moved out and rented a 1 bedroom apt. We slept in a living room; my mom slept in a bedroom. I started working another 3rd part-time job while maintained a full-time school at CSULB. After earning a BS in Medical Microbiology, I was applied to Dental, Pharmacy and Medical schools. While waiting for being matriculated, I worked as a chemist at a lab dept. Within a year or so, I was called and granted into a professional school. My live changed from there. I frequently flew home during Christmas or summers to help out my mom on bills (gas, electricity, rent, phone, oil changing, etc). When my school accomplishment was over; I flew home and took the board exam and was luckily passed on the 1st round. I then put my mom on tours yearly (She had visited China, Canada, New York, DC, Philly, Korea and Hong Kong so far) This March will be Thai-Singapore-Hanoi/Chua Huong/Sapa/Hue/Nha Trang/Saigon and Europe will be in late May.

I had bought several books such as "Hanh Trinh Bien Dong vol.1 and 2" "Qua Con Bao Du" "Le Tran Bien Dong" "Hai Tac ThaiLand and dao Kra" "Tam Long Bien" "Gia Tu Do". My mom silently cried a lot when read those true stories about boat people, especially your true story. She could not imagine how strong and confident you were throughout your hardship. She said you were an unbelievable and most admirable woman she ever read about. I wish I could be more mature at the time of "Vuot bien" to remember what happened to my boat in order to add on another small piece of history about boat people legendary. I am excitingly to wait for the "Bolinao 52" to come in DVD. It will be a touching meaningful movie.

Anyway, it's all about me above. I hope you could help me to contact anyone in hope he could authorize me to email him for more info about books relates to boat/walk people.

Warmest regards

Kenneth Ng.

Kenneth Nguyễn