We Call It PFAC Palawan Grand Reunion And It Will Be

Mark your calendar, July 2nd to July 10th. See you there folks! 
I miss and love all of you tremendously.

I'd like to take this opportunity to convey my sincerest gratitude to Peter Duong of Sydney, Australia for organizing this once in a lifetime PFAC Palawan Grand Reunion 2015 in the place where it all began. 

The home we cherish and treasure.

Regardless of your creed, please don't forget to visit the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the heart of Puerto Princesa City.

We crossed the vast sea and landed on the second home we hold so dearly in our hearts. 

Thank you isn't really enough. We have to be there and we will be.

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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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AN OPEN LETTER FROM LUAN HUYNH

An Open Letter from LUAN HUYNH

March 4, 2012

Dear Andrew,

I have read your blog at http://pfacasylum.blogspot.com/ and found your volunteer work in the refugee camp truly amazing and inspirational.

Reading the blog make me feel so nostalgic of that “once upon a time”….

I am a former Vietnamese refugee who stayed at the Palawan refugee camp as an unaccompanied minor between 1988 and 1990. Even though I was not your student I still feel a connection with people like you who volunteered your time and money to help refugees like us back then.

Until this day when I have resettled in America and have integrated rather well into a new country I find what you and others gave up back then to come to the Philippines to help us even more meaningful and selfless. I have often asked myself if I can now be like those volunteers and put my life “on hold” for a stretch of time and go to some corners of the world and help some less fortunate people. I might not be able to do so honestly (I need to keep working to pay the bills. The best so far I can do is to participate in a few charity programs so it is no comparison to your work.

Please accept my sincere admiration and appreciation.

Sincerely,

Luan Huynh

 

Luan, I admire your sincerity and modesty. Thank you so much for this beautiful letter. I will treasure this forever. With your permission, I would like to post this letter on my blog. Please forward your picture to me if you want it included with the posting. thank you and God bless you.

Please keep in touch.

Andrew Taylor

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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IMAGES OF PFAC Part Three

IMAGES OF PFAC Part Three

Rubi, Sis. Bernadette, Gemma, Bessie, Marivic, Florence, & Mayette



The PFAC Boyscouts in front of the Refugee Boat

 



Teachers: Gemma, Florence, Nenita, and Pilar (Teacher Babes)

 



Teachers: Maritess, Andrew, Nenita, Bessie, and Gemma

 

 

 

 

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