The Vietnamese Refugees (1980-1992)

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS...

That's how I felt about the Vietnamese Refugees 
in P.F.A.C. Palawan, Philippines.


"I'm indeed grateful to God that at my very young age He allowed me to 

experience something that was truly remarkable and that I believe 

very few human beings will ever experience in their lifetime".

Andrew Taylor

These were the faces of the people I served.  They did not look like me, but I called them brothers and sisters, or probably friends.  I even called the others mothers and fathers, or sons and daughters. There's no word to explain but when I was working for the Vietnamese Refugees Centre in Palawan, I felt as though the Vietnamese people in the camp were my own blood... my own family.
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To be exact, I started working for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on June 24, 1980. It was not easy for me to forget that day because it was Saint John the Baptist Day. I remembered traveling on a tricycle from the center of Puerto Princesa City (Palawan, Philippines) with two other volunteer English teachers (Benny Ong and Zenny Beran) on our way to the refugee center or camp as they used to call it. When the tricycle pulled in the so-called V.R.C., I was astonished to see over nine thousand (9,000) political refugees, who were obviously very much aware of our coming, eagerly waiting for us.

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Yes, indeed. They knew we were coming. Apparently, the camp chairman (Dr. Ky) had announced to his people that there were three teachers who had offered their services, which was to teach English as a Second Language on the volunteer capacity. We were then introduced before a congregation of about six thousand Vietnamese people, exceedingly anxious to see us and hear what we had to say.
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At that momentous gathering, I gave my biggest audience (6,000+ people) a rendition of my favorite song "All I have to do is dream." The song caught the attention of Van Le, who also loved the song. He immediately became my first Vietnamese best friend. (Van Le now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Tien and their kids, and has a master's degree in computer engineering). That was the biggest round of applause I've ever been bestowed upon- truly inspiring and unforgettable.
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On the same day, Dr. Ky took us to the Catholic Church (in the camp) and assisted us as we started registering the students (ages 4 to 16) in our classes. As expected, we were bombarded by hundreds of enthusiastic Vietnamese children waiting in line and very eager to get into our classes. Dr. Ky was so proud of the enthusiasm shown by his people; he gave us all the support that we needed. The following day (June 25) the two other volunteer teachers and I started teaching English using the Catholic Church as our classroom. we started with 72 students in one class and the following day, the attendance rose to 107.
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After a week, our class had over 300 students and we could no longer fit them into one classroom, which was the Catholic church. Dr. Ky suggested that we divide the students into three groups and hold classes under the trees. We were all open to anything so we obliged. We split the class into three and each of us had our own separate groups of students.
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The students had to sit on rocks as they learned listening, speaking, reading and writing. We had to use portable blackboards, ones that we then put against the tree trunk in front of the students. The students had to move around with their rocks to follow the shade as the sun moved. I found that situation unique and I'm indeed grateful to God that at my very young age He allowed me to experience something that was truly remarkable and that I believe very few human beings will ever experience in their lifetime.
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Six months later, the two other volunteers left the camp for personal reasons. I was left alone with Sister Tomasa (our School Manager) but I stayed because I found so much joy in serving the Vietnamese refugees, who gave me love and respect and filled my life with an enormous feeling of satisfaction. Yes, the job I was doing gave me a sense of fulfillment... something that was definitely worth more than any material thing in this world. My job made me feel complete as a human being. And how could I leave those people who needed me?
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Eight months later, two other volunteers arrived. They were Marian Lynch and Muriel Knox both from the United Kingdom. These two B.V.S.O. volunteers brought new energy in the camp. Then before we knew it, the UNHCR had already started constructing a school building for us. The new school building had twelve very spacious classrooms to the delight of our students. The school's population quickly increased to an astounding 1,200 students.

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Dr. Heracleo Lagrada, who was then the president of the former Palawan Teachers College (now called Palawan State University) joined our school as a consultant and initiated the development of our school curriculum with the assistance of Marian Lynch, Muriel Knox, and myself. Then we named our school Vietnamese Refugees School for Children. As the school grew further our school manager (Sister Tomasa Rivera, O.P.) had to hire two exceptionally competent Filipino teachers- Rubi Diao and Ramona San Luis. The following year, two other volunteer teachers arrived, Adrian Seviour from England and Ann Cusack from Australia.  A few months later, my brother Sammy Taylor arrived in the camp and brought renewed energy to the students with his enthusiastic teaching style and his guitar and songs. 

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