MEMORABLE HTC-PFAC PALAWAN REUNION 2024

Sharing some pictures taken during our HTC-PFAC Palawan Teachers' Reunion on January 2, 2024 in Puerto Princesa.

From left: 

Teachers Marivic, Tess, Andrew, Mona, Gemma, Tina, Florence, Sammy, and Violly.
 

A Big Tribute to Sister Tomasa Rivera, O.P.

SISTER TOMASA RIVERA, O.P.
It is with great sorrow that we announce to you the passing of our dearly beloved Sister Tomasa Rivera, O.P. 

Sister Tomasa served as the School Principal of the HTC-PFAC School for Children from June 1979 to December 1995. Her immense love for the Vietnamese refugees and dedicated service had remarkably inspired the locals and international volunteers in the camp, including the HTC-PFAC Teachers and Staff.

We are deeply saddened by her passing; on the other hand, we are joyful that she has now joined her creator in heaven and forever in peace. Sister Tomasa had lived a life so beautifully lived and deserves to be remembered as a person with a huge heart for the Vietnamese refugees.

A part of who we are today is because of the HTC-PFAC School for Children, Sister Tomasa, and the teachers and staff of the school, who served the camp from 1979-95.

BIG THANK YOU TO YOU, SISTER TOMASA on behalf of the Vietnamese refugees, especially the children, who once lived in PFAC Palawan, Philippines.  May you rest in PEACE

THE STORY OF KIEU PHUNG

Other Countries Can Learn from the Philippines.

Former UNHCR Field Officer, PFAC Palawan Jan Top Christensen and wife Kieu Phung

During a sweltering May evening in 1988, a 20-year-old Kieu Phung and five members of her family escaped from Vietnam. Kieu's father, a doctor for the South Vietnamese army, had just been released from prison, where he had been held since the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975.
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Being on the "losing side" of the war, Kieu's family was on the communist government's blacklist, and was frequently harassed by the police. She and her siblings were even barred from attending university, she said. Her family had little choice but to leave their homeland.

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Kieu, now a medical doctor and wife of Denmark's ambassador to the Philippines, recounted her family’s story, as she expressed misgivings over the treatment of thousands of refugees who fled Myanmar and Bangladesh in recent weeks, and are still lost at sea. She said the ongoing ordeal faced by the Rohingya brings back memories of her own family's experience, when Vietnamese refugees were "pushed back into the sea". 

As the Asia-Pacific Leaders met on Friday in Thailand to discuss the Rohingya migrant crisis, Kieu is adding her voice to the call to save the lives of the refugees.  "I can understand how desperate these refugees feel," she said in an interview.  "It's a matter of life and death."  Kieu said other countries in the Asia Pacific region can learn from the example of the Philippines.  "I think it is our obligation to save their lives first. It is not acceptable to push them back to sea to die."

'Not destined to die'
On the night Kieu's family escaped, they were joined by 46 other migrants as they crammed into a 12-metre long cargo boat operated by smugglers. The deck was so crowded that there was only enough space to sit, Kieu said. One pregnant woman was allowed to lie down, she reminisces.
During the first day of their journey, they had a bowl of rice to eat, but that did not go far and they were forced to subsist on candies and lemons. Water was rationed, and each passenger got one sip each day from a container that smelled of gasoline. 

Every day that passed by drifting at sea, they became more desperate, Kieu said. "We had many children in the boat. My sister, who was 13, had a fever and she was severely dehydrated. We were so thirsty, so we took the [salt] water from the sea just to cool off our mouth."  Throughout the trip, many large ships that passed by rejected their cries for help, Kieu said. But somehow, she did not lose hope, and she felt that she "was not destined to die".

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Teacher BENNY ONG and BAO THUY NGUYEN 2010

Bao Thuy Nguyen: Like what so many former refugees say,  I am also indebted to so many people in the camp.  If I have a chance to go back, I will definitely see them all again. I miss HTC-PFAC School. I miss Sister Tomasa Rivera, O.P., Kuya Romy, Teacher Boy and Babes, many Filipino friends, and many Vietnamese friends. Somehow, I think that I miss the Philippines more than I miss Vietnam. Why?  I guess Philippines is the place where I started to grow up, mature and understand real life. The Philippines and the Filipino people have taught me love, caring, hard work, compassion and self-confidence.

June 21, 2010 at 1:15am

Bao Thuy and his Beautiful Family

Benny Ong: I got so emotional reading your message here, Bao Thuy.  I'm sure a lot of people have touched your lives at one time in your life but it's so sweet of you to mention especially us. We thank you for that.  You don't need to repay things that we've done for you.  If you could remember us in your prayers, that would be fantastic. What you are now as a human being and your success in life are the greatest things you've done to make us extremely happy and proud. Keep up the good work and remember to celebrate life always. We love you and your family.

June 21, 2010 at 6:11pm

Bao Thuy Nguyen:  Thank you, Teacher Boy.  Time has gone by, but not a moment that I don't remember the time I spent at HTC School and with the teachers, Teacher Boy. I guess I have grown up and lived with HTC School Family during my childhood and teenage life. HTC and the camp will forever be in my heart. Never forget it for a moment of time. I will be back sometime in the future and would like to see you all. You take care now.

June 23, 2010 at 3:57pm

Teacher Benny Ong and his Beautiful Family

Benny Ong: We will be waiting for that time, Bao Thuy... the time when we will be together again to savor the great moments we all shared before.  I hope it will be soon, so Sister Tomasa and Sister Bernadette will still be with us.  My best regards to your family. You make us so proud.  Please keep in touch, Bao Thuy.

PFAC Palawan Main Stage 
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Notes from Admin.  This conversation has been edited.  If you have any concern, please contact us directly.

THE BILLETS WHERE THE REFUGEES LIVED

These billets were built using light materials such as bamboo sidings, wooden posts and frames, coconut shingles and concrete flooring.  

These houses were well ventilated because they had windows around them and also in the attic. They had bedrooms, kitchens, private bathrooms (only for showers) and living rooms. 

A few had gardens in the backyard and improvised benches where they could entertain their guests and chat with them. Those were the days.

OOO

THANK YOU, MISS MURIEL KNOX

MISS MURIEL KNOX, UNFORGETTABLE!

August 2, 2014

Hello,
 

My Name is Tien Vo. I was eight years old when I was in the refugee camp in Palawan in the 1982. I am 41 now. I discovered the blog PFAC Palawan yesterday and I saw you were also looking for my former teacher Miss Muriel Knox. I'm also looking for her from France.
 

If you or your friends have any information about her, I would be very happy if you tell me whether she's all right.

Thanks a lot. Regards!

Tien Vo

From France

August 2, 2014

Hello Tien Vo!

Our beloved Muriel Knox lives in England and is all right.  Her brother emailed us last year to say that Muriel doesn't seem to be enthusiastic about reconnecting with anyone from her past and we respect her choices and well deserved privacy.  We and the many Vietnamese former refugees truly miss her and hope that she continues to be well and one day open her heart again to us once more.  We love Muriel and are forever grateful to her for her profound contributions to the VRC, HTC, and the Vietnamese refugees that their hearts she touched.  

Thank you very much for your beautiful letter and we hope you're well too.  This letter will be posted on our PFAC Palawan Blog with accompanying pictures.  Please connect with us on Facebook- PFAC Palawan.  

By the way, your name seems familiar.  Were you also in Andrew Taylor's class? 

Thanks.

PFAC Palawan Admin

 

  
Muriel Knox with Marian Lynch and Sister Tomasa Rivera, O.P. (VRC Palawan 1981) 

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Teacher Marissa Ladica

TEACHER MARISSA

with her HTC-PFAC Students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of Marissa Ladica. 

Please do not reproduce without

permission from Marissa Ladica

or impeccable37@yahoo.com.

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