I grew up with the ocean and I loved the ocean.But I didn't know that the ocean out there could be so rough and mean...
Progress:
The aim for this quarter is to track down the series of events that Mr. Nguyen had to go through in order to to the United States. From last quarter, we left off with him letting go of his country in order to find freedom. His mom and family got into contact with his Dad, who was residing in America. The next big step is: America
I will be conducting some more interviews to organize the events that he had to experience. My goal is to discover any hardships and to find out more about the process of immigrating to the United States.
Interview Session #2:
How did you first leave Vietnam exactly?
"I left Vietnam in a boat. At first they only let the Chinese leave, and luckily I had a Chinese Uncle. I used his son's name to fake my identity in order to leave the country. I left with my Uncle, grandma, and my brother. My Mom, other brother, and sister stayed back."
Where was your first stop?
"We were on the boat for fifteen days. We stopped at Hai Nam, China, to stock up on water and supplies and to fix the boat engines. We started going up to the North. The whole point was to go to Hong Kong. We stayed there for two days to fix the boat's engine."
What was it like on the boat?
"It was a 60 foot long wooden boat and ten foot wide. We had 356 people on the boat. On the boat, it was very tiny. There were no chairs. We were packed in like sardines in a can. We didn't have any space to lie down at night and we just waited in anticipation for the next stop. Food wasn't too scarce so we had enough. Water was very important. 40% of the boat was reserved for water. 20% for gasoline and 40% of the boat was for people to stand. We just sat around and waited. Kids and old people were prioritized of course, so they got to lie down to rest at night."
What happened when you stopped in Hai Nam?
"After we stopped there, we started to head up to the North- towards Hong Kong. It took around 8 more days."
Did anything happen when you were on the ocean? How did you feel during these nights?
"After six days leaving Hai Nam for Hong Kong we hit a storm. The storm was very big and very scary. There were a lot of high waves and strong wind. The boat captain was a very good sailor. He managed to steer through the waves. We were in the storm for 4 hours. We had some waves crashing down on us. There was a lot of raining. The engine would stop after the wave came crashing down. I remember, we had to all gather our canteens and scoop out the water just so that the engine could work again. The women and the elderly started to pray. Luckily after four hours, the engine started working again.
By the time it started back up, we went back on track. We lost direction of where we were going after the storm. The captain of the boat started using the North Star to navigate. None of us knew how long it would take. We were too terrified to do anything. We could only hope. As morning approached, the engine started to die down. We ran on whatever fuel we had left. But it was getting hopeless. Everyone was so tired and felt defeated.
About 4 in the morning, the Captain yells out "we see the light! we see the light!" So we started moving slowly towards land. We saw a big bridge crossing the across. We couldn't go any further, so we stopped for a bit and hoped that the Coast Guards from that country would see and come out to help. 2 hours pass and fishermen stopped by to give us food and the coast guards came out to help us. "We're from Macau." "
How do you feel about the waters now?
"It was very scary. It was pitch black. You wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of you at night. It was really scary. The ocean was not very nice. I used to love the ocean, since I lived near it, but after seeing the ocean behave so roughly I was pretty scared. Luckily, I knew how to swim. I think I was mostly scared of the dark. If we were lucky, we'd see the stars. Otherwise, it was scary. The oceans are very hard to control. That's what I kept with me.
If I had the chance to go on a boat again, I would say no thank you. The ocean is NOT NICE. I was only 14. I grew up with the ocean and I loved the ocean.But I didn't know that the ocean out there could be so rough and mean."
What did it feel like when they said they're from Macau? What were your reactions to this after the long treacherous nights in the ocean?
"Everybody started waking up and we were overjoyed! We were so happy to see land. Macau was about 20 miles away from Hong Kong, so we were close to our destination. Everyone started crying, and they were just so happy. I remember some people would say "This is freedom. We have freedom now!" "
What happened after meeting the Coast Guard?
"Since we were refugees, we wanted to go to Hong Kong. We asked them if the Macau government can help us fix our boat so that we could continue our way up to Hong Kong. They said that they had no refugee camp, but they can tow our boat near Hong Kong until the Hong Kong government could come out to help us.
We agreed. So they towed us to Hong Kong. They gave us food and sandwiches and milk.
Ten miles away from Hong Kong, the Macau Coast Guards let us free to cross over the borders by ourselves."
What happened when you crossed the borders?
"We can't let you go on the land yet. We have to verify that you guys are real refugees from Vietnam, they told us."
What happened after that?
"We did series of interviews to check out whether we were legit or not. They were checking for weapons. After we were cleared they started pulling us into a really really big warehouse."
Describe the warehouse.
"It was like a Wal-Mart. It was just a big open space to sleep. Our boat was in a corner and another boat in another corner. There were only two ways to get out. When we got in there, there were around 1,000 people already in there. Maybe even more. They let us keep our boat so that we could sleep in it. They locked us up because we had a curfew. They would open the door at 6 in the morning and lock it at 9 in the night time. "
Life in the warehouse?
"We got really good food. We got hot foods. They were really nice to us. We were there for about 4 days until they finished filing up our paper works. They took pictures and asked every single little detail about ourself.
I told them that I had my father in the United States, so they sent my paperwork to the United States embassy. They sent our paperwork over there. In five days we started to leave for another camp. "
Where was the other camp and were living conditions the same?
"The other camp was close to the airport, called Khai Tak. It was a better camp. We stayed here for about a good solid week. They started to check on our background there and then let us free. Not free as in we were let loose into the country, but we were able to go wherever we wished to go, and if needed we would be able to come back to stay at the camp.
We were able to travel around Hong Kong. We got freedom to travel through Hong Kong. We used gold to trade for money at jewelry stores in order to buy clothes and supplies. We were able to apply for jobs."
Did you do anything while you were in Hong Kong?
"I started working in Hong Kong, I was around 14 years old. I worked for a flower company, making plastic flowers. Then I worked as a purse-maker. I just did assembly line stuff. I also worked in canned foods packaging. Then I worked with watchmen. We made watchbands. I worked longest here. I stayed in Hong Kong for about six months.
After six months, I went through another interview process with the US Embassy in order to get over to America."
Reflection:
Going through this interview was a much harder and difficult process because of the details and translating was becoming tougher. But I managed to capture the main image of my Dad's story. While going through this interview, I felt a pang of guilt because here we are indulging ourselves in the now that we forget about the people who sacrificed so much just to give us the freedom we have now. As I listened to my Dad talk, I started feeling a great amount of respect (more than before of course). I can't imagine being a 14 year old, traveling without my parents to a whole foreign country by boat for days. Just the thought of it is scary, and after hearing the descriptions of the ocean out there- it's a big no. The goal for this quarter has yet to be met and achieved because there were many stops to go through before getting to present day.
The aim for this quarter is to track down the series of events that Mr. Nguyen had to go through in order to to the United States. From last quarter, we left off with him letting go of his country in order to find freedom. His mom and family got into contact with his Dad, who was residing in America. The next big step is: America
I will be conducting some more interviews to organize the events that he had to experience. My goal is to discover any hardships and to find out more about the process of immigrating to the United States.
Interview Session #2:
How did you first leave Vietnam exactly?
"I left Vietnam in a boat. At first they only let the Chinese leave, and luckily I had a Chinese Uncle. I used his son's name to fake my identity in order to leave the country. I left with my Uncle, grandma, and my brother. My Mom, other brother, and sister stayed back."
Where was your first stop?
"We were on the boat for fifteen days. We stopped at Hai Nam, China, to stock up on water and supplies and to fix the boat engines. We started going up to the North. The whole point was to go to Hong Kong. We stayed there for two days to fix the boat's engine."
What was it like on the boat?
"It was a 60 foot long wooden boat and ten foot wide. We had 356 people on the boat. On the boat, it was very tiny. There were no chairs. We were packed in like sardines in a can. We didn't have any space to lie down at night and we just waited in anticipation for the next stop. Food wasn't too scarce so we had enough. Water was very important. 40% of the boat was reserved for water. 20% for gasoline and 40% of the boat was for people to stand. We just sat around and waited. Kids and old people were prioritized of course, so they got to lie down to rest at night."
What happened when you stopped in Hai Nam?
"After we stopped there, we started to head up to the North- towards Hong Kong. It took around 8 more days."
Did anything happen when you were on the ocean? How did you feel during these nights?
"After six days leaving Hai Nam for Hong Kong we hit a storm. The storm was very big and very scary. There were a lot of high waves and strong wind. The boat captain was a very good sailor. He managed to steer through the waves. We were in the storm for 4 hours. We had some waves crashing down on us. There was a lot of raining. The engine would stop after the wave came crashing down. I remember, we had to all gather our canteens and scoop out the water just so that the engine could work again. The women and the elderly started to pray. Luckily after four hours, the engine started working again.
By the time it started back up, we went back on track. We lost direction of where we were going after the storm. The captain of the boat started using the North Star to navigate. None of us knew how long it would take. We were too terrified to do anything. We could only hope. As morning approached, the engine started to die down. We ran on whatever fuel we had left. But it was getting hopeless. Everyone was so tired and felt defeated.
About 4 in the morning, the Captain yells out "we see the light! we see the light!" So we started moving slowly towards land. We saw a big bridge crossing the across. We couldn't go any further, so we stopped for a bit and hoped that the Coast Guards from that country would see and come out to help. 2 hours pass and fishermen stopped by to give us food and the coast guards came out to help us. "We're from Macau." "
How do you feel about the waters now?
"It was very scary. It was pitch black. You wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of you at night. It was really scary. The ocean was not very nice. I used to love the ocean, since I lived near it, but after seeing the ocean behave so roughly I was pretty scared. Luckily, I knew how to swim. I think I was mostly scared of the dark. If we were lucky, we'd see the stars. Otherwise, it was scary. The oceans are very hard to control. That's what I kept with me.
If I had the chance to go on a boat again, I would say no thank you. The ocean is NOT NICE. I was only 14. I grew up with the ocean and I loved the ocean.But I didn't know that the ocean out there could be so rough and mean."
What did it feel like when they said they're from Macau? What were your reactions to this after the long treacherous nights in the ocean?
"Everybody started waking up and we were overjoyed! We were so happy to see land. Macau was about 20 miles away from Hong Kong, so we were close to our destination. Everyone started crying, and they were just so happy. I remember some people would say "This is freedom. We have freedom now!" "
What happened after meeting the Coast Guard?
"Since we were refugees, we wanted to go to Hong Kong. We asked them if the Macau government can help us fix our boat so that we could continue our way up to Hong Kong. They said that they had no refugee camp, but they can tow our boat near Hong Kong until the Hong Kong government could come out to help us.
We agreed. So they towed us to Hong Kong. They gave us food and sandwiches and milk.
Ten miles away from Hong Kong, the Macau Coast Guards let us free to cross over the borders by ourselves."
What happened when you crossed the borders?
"We can't let you go on the land yet. We have to verify that you guys are real refugees from Vietnam, they told us."
What happened after that?
"We did series of interviews to check out whether we were legit or not. They were checking for weapons. After we were cleared they started pulling us into a really really big warehouse."
Describe the warehouse.
"It was like a Wal-Mart. It was just a big open space to sleep. Our boat was in a corner and another boat in another corner. There were only two ways to get out. When we got in there, there were around 1,000 people already in there. Maybe even more. They let us keep our boat so that we could sleep in it. They locked us up because we had a curfew. They would open the door at 6 in the morning and lock it at 9 in the night time. "
Life in the warehouse?
"We got really good food. We got hot foods. They were really nice to us. We were there for about 4 days until they finished filing up our paper works. They took pictures and asked every single little detail about ourself.
I told them that I had my father in the United States, so they sent my paperwork to the United States embassy. They sent our paperwork over there. In five days we started to leave for another camp. "
Where was the other camp and were living conditions the same?
"The other camp was close to the airport, called Khai Tak. It was a better camp. We stayed here for about a good solid week. They started to check on our background there and then let us free. Not free as in we were let loose into the country, but we were able to go wherever we wished to go, and if needed we would be able to come back to stay at the camp.
We were able to travel around Hong Kong. We got freedom to travel through Hong Kong. We used gold to trade for money at jewelry stores in order to buy clothes and supplies. We were able to apply for jobs."
Did you do anything while you were in Hong Kong?
"I started working in Hong Kong, I was around 14 years old. I worked for a flower company, making plastic flowers. Then I worked as a purse-maker. I just did assembly line stuff. I also worked in canned foods packaging. Then I worked with watchmen. We made watchbands. I worked longest here. I stayed in Hong Kong for about six months.
After six months, I went through another interview process with the US Embassy in order to get over to America."
Reflection:
Going through this interview was a much harder and difficult process because of the details and translating was becoming tougher. But I managed to capture the main image of my Dad's story. While going through this interview, I felt a pang of guilt because here we are indulging ourselves in the now that we forget about the people who sacrificed so much just to give us the freedom we have now. As I listened to my Dad talk, I started feeling a great amount of respect (more than before of course). I can't imagine being a 14 year old, traveling without my parents to a whole foreign country by boat for days. Just the thought of it is scary, and after hearing the descriptions of the ocean out there- it's a big no. The goal for this quarter has yet to be met and achieved because there were many stops to go through before getting to present day.