Flashback and Nostalgia - A True Story

Translated and Edited by Andrew A. Taylor  

A Refugee Story by Nicolas Nguyen

It has been decades since I left the Vietnamese Refugee Camp in Palawan, Philippines. I spent many years attempting to settle and live happily, warmly, and prosperously in a foreign country. I believed I had forgotten where I had been until today, a day off after a week's work while I took a rest and lay in my backyard. I looked through Facebook and suddenly noticed photographs of South Vietnamese people in Palawan from the time I was there… as a refugee. I saw my compatriots, and among them were my beloved brothers and sisters. The striking images transported me back in time and filled my heart with emotion.   

To tell the truth, there are moments when I am reminded of my background and identity. I would say that I am lucky and grateful to have a lovely and glorious life like what I have today, especially in contrast to my life as a refugee in the camp and my life before that, back home. I am grateful to everyone who offered me another opportunity at life. 

It was an era when the world was antiquated, with little evolution or modernization. There was no Internet or social media to enable people to communicate and share knowledge. It was a time when knowledge could only be accessed through video books or compact discs, as well as cultural shows and magazines from the United States and France. 

Facebook was created in order to reunite with something that appeared to have faded in the mosaic and slept soundly in a distant place. Facebook has made it easier for folks like you and me to create what looked like a page or group for ourselves and the refugees on Palawan Island. We have been reunited through the PFAC Palawan Facebook group, enabling us to share stories of our experiences crossing the West Philippine Sea and to form religious unions. The Philippines in collaboration with the UNHCR established orderly settlement camps as a small society of people, the Vietnamese refugees. The camp offered us foreign languages (English and French), vocational studies and many other services to prepare us for easy integration into the western society.

Back in South Vietnam, I was just a lonely fourteen-year-old boy, no father, no mother, no loved ones, and no education. I had absolutely nothing as a result of war in my native country. I was literally an orphan and the orphanage that used to take care of children like me was no longer in operation. I wandered everywhere to beg for food. I floated to the land of Cam Ranh, a city along the sea to earn a living at a young age. I was satisfied just to have a bite to eat and just to keep me warm enough in the storm. Finally, a family saw me and found compassion for an orphan like me and knowing what I was going through. They let me live with them and embraced me as their adopted child. With the assistance of my foster mother and my foster father, who was a fisherman at the time, my daily task was to choose the fish, cook it, and carry it to the flea market to sell. My foster father was a military man who worked for the government of South Vietnam. He was sent to a re-education camp for "rehabilitation". My foster parents are the parents of a girl and a boy. I was the youngest of five members of our family.

Though life was incredibly challenging at the time, I felt like it was a pretty wonderful moment in my life. In my native country, both the local authorities and citizens were a bunch of criminals who persecuted and harassed a great number of people without cause or justification. Everyone had a sense of unease. In order to live, my family ultimately made the decision to flee, packing up everything and traveling to a new nation in pursuit of freedom. 

My parents had loaded up on food, water, and gas. They arranged for passengers to escape on a tiny boat.

Most of us were aware that several border-crossing guards' families had pretended to be refugees and joined the escaping persons, who are now residing abroad. These escaping people bribed crooked guards gold to allow them to leave the nation. Finally, the life-changing journey arrived. My family and I boarded the little boat, along with around sixty other people. I followed where my parents went. I was hungry, but I wasn't sure if I was hungry or joyful. The boat began sailing towards the open sea. I felt worried rather than terrified. 

I had never gone sailing on a wide body of water before. I took a seat atop the boat. Below where I sat were the grown-up men and women. I had a far view of the horizon and the water. When the sun shifted, I could see it. Both the sound of the waves and the boat engine were audible to me. The boat was getting farther and farther away. I just sat there and looked about. I saw a glimpse of the Cam Ranh region's mountain ranges. After a panicked night of rushing out to sea, my tired and fatigued eyes began to sink and go to sleep. 

My father told me that the boat would be out of Cam Ranh Bay in a few more hours and would need at least two more days to reach the international sea. Because my existence was solely dependent on the land to make a living, all I could do was listen to adults tell me that I didn't comprehend anything. And carefree slumber was whisked away by the sea breeze. However, I had no idea when I awoke to the noises and screams that would change my life forever. 

Everyone was screaming, “Philippines! Philippines!”

 

DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that pictures used in this story, though related, are not of Nicolas Nguyen's and do not reflect the actual events in the story.

 

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