Ballet Dancers - PFAC Palawan

It was a tradition at HTC-PFAC School in PFAC Palawan to perform to the delight of visiting dignitaries and international volunteers during Bon Voyage Parties. This is one of them. Van and Kim Loan perform a ballet dance choreographed by Teacher Benny Ong to say good bye to Father Kenneth Jacques in 1986 in PFAC Palawan.

Here are Van Nguyen and Kim Loan dancing at Father Kenneth's Bon Voyage Celebration in PFAC Palawan way back 1986. 

Below are Van Nguyen (Canada) and Kim Loan (Australia) now.

 

Vo Ngoc Son (Norway)

VO NGOC SON

Vo Ngoc Son was one of the HTC-PFAC students

way back 1987 to 1988.  He left PFAC in 1988 and 

immigrated to Norway. In the refugee camp, he was

an active member of the PFAC Boy Scout.

 

 In the camp, his English teachers were

Maricor Torrecampo and Andrew Taylor.

 

 
He had the father-son relationship 

with his teacher Andrew Taylor.

 This picture was taken the day before he left

PFAC.  He invited his teacher Andrew Taylor,

Sammy Taylor, and Benny Ong to his marvelous 

farewell party.

 It was an emotional good bye, 
but it was sweet and memorable.

  

In June 2014, Vo Ngoc Son and his

teacher Andrew Taylor were reunited 
in Orange County, California.

ooooo

Vietnamese POEM

Palawan Our Second Home!
By VUONG GIANG PHAM

Nhớ về ngày ấy năm xưa
Một thời dãi nắng dầm mưa xa nhà
Dưới tranh nhà lá mặn mà
Chung tình thắm thiết đậm đà sẻ chia

Nhớ về thuở cách chia lia
Có người may mắn khui bia reo mừng
Có người nức nở không ngừng
Đời không may mắn ngược đường hồi hương

Nhớ về tình ấm thân thương
Ôm bao kỷ niệm tha phương tình hồng
Yêu nhau nên nghĩa vợ chồng
Dìu nhau vượt khổ mặn nồng có nhau

Nhớ về bãi cát trắng phau
Rủ nhau tắm biển xôn xao chiều tà
Đêm về trăng ánh ngọc ngà
Khánh Ly điệp khúc mặn mà ca vang

Nhớ về trường lớp hợp tan
Ê A từng chữ mê man từng vần
Tin Lành Chúa Phật kề gần
Cùng nhau xem lễ ngút ngàn câu kinh

Nhớ về những tối xem phim
Ghế tầng chất lớp đàn chim lướt nhìn
Phim hài kiếm hiệp chữ tình
Hiu hiu ánh biển bập bềnh lung linh

Nhớ về thư tín rung rinh
Cầu mong hồi đáp chờ tin xa gần
Chờ phiên phỏng vấn bần thần
Chờ tin thanh lọc gian trần khóc vui

Nhớ về vòi nước của tui
Nặng gàu giếng nước tới lui ngồi chờ
Xếp hàng lương thực hàng giờ
Dừng chân lặng đứng chào cờ Quốc ca

Nhớ nhiều nói hết không ra
Mỗi người mỗi niệm xót xa trong lòng
Vui buồn cười khóc mong ròng
Kể sao cho hết những dòng thướt tha

Palawan, tựa quê xa
Chôn nhiều dấu ấn khúc ca lòng người
Ghi sâu tiếng khóc câu cười
Nhớ về ngày ấy một thời không quên

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

WHAT DOES "VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE" MEAN?

(Adapted from Phuong Minh Nguyen's PFAC Palawan Facebook posting on October 24, 2014.)

Vietnamese boat people refers to refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but continuing until the early 1990s.



 The term "Vietnamese Boat People" is often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means or method between 1975 and 1995.

The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totaled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995. Many of the refugees failed to survive the passage, facing danger and hardship from pirates, over-crowded boats, and storms. The boat people's first destinations were the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore plus the British colony of Hong Kong.

The mass flight of hundreds of thousands of boat people from Vietnam in 1978 and 1979 caused an international humanitarian crisis with the Southeast Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept ever more boat people on their shores. After negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit the flow of people leaving the country, the Southeast Asian countries agreed to admit the boat people temporarily, and the rest of the world, especially the developed countries, agreed to assume most of the costs of caring for the boat people and to resettle them in their countries.

From refugee camps in Southeast Asia, the great majority of boat people were resettled in developed countries, more than one-half in the United States and most of the remainder in France, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Several tens of thousands were repatriated to Vietnam, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Programs and facilities to carry out resettlement included the Orderly Departure Program, the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, and the Comprehensive Plan of Action

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PFAC Palawan Plaza where the main stage used to be.

OOO



THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS.

                           ***********
THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS.
    We thought they would never end.
 Photos courtesy of Vo Anh Tung.  We really appreciate your generosity.

 

PFAC, Our Second Home!

Behind:  Mona, Lenny, Benny, Florence, and Virgie,

     Front Row:  Sammy, Pilar (Babes), Maricor, Maritess Dalisay,

     Nenita, Gemma, Bessie, and Andrew

 



Typical Boat that the Refugees Used to Cross China Sea

 



Gemma Ledesma

 



Estella, Mayette, Bessie, Marivic, and Minh Chuong

 

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