PFAC Palawan Son

Ai Thien Tran

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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HTC-PFAC REUNION (Unplanned)

HTC-PFAC REUNION (January 19, 2014)
Please click pictures to enlarge.

Sammy, Florence, Tina, Ernie, Gemma, Rubi and Andy

 Sammy, Florence, Tina, Ernie, Gemma, Rubi and Andy

 Sammy, Florence, Tina, Ernie, Gemma, Rubi and Andy

Bert, Lan, Sammy, Florence, Tina, Ernie, Gemma, Rubi & Andy 

Sammy, Florence, Tina, Ernie, Gemma, Rubi, Andy, Bert and Lan

At PHO SAIGON Restaurant

When in Puerto, please visit PHO Saigon.

Bert and Lan own PHO SAIGON in Puerto Princesa.
This Vietnamese Restaurant serves authentic Vietnamese 
food (like Pho, Beef Stew, and Canh Chua Ca

Gloria, Tommy, Andrew, Ernie and Rubi

at Puerto Princesa City International Airport

Cristina and Andrew

PFAC Palawan Volunteers Part Two

PFAC Palawan Volunteers

 Cong Nguyen (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 

 Andrew Taylor (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 

 Ann Cussack (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 

 Gemma de la Cruz (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 Marian Lynch (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 

 Tony Mahon (CADP Volunteer)

 

 Buddhist Monk (PFAC Palawan)

 

 Sammy Taylor (HTC-PFAC Volunteer)

 

Toto Cinco (PCCS Adult Education Volunteer)

My Former Colleagues Ann Cusack and Adrian Seviour

Vietnamese Refugee Center Education Staff (Palawan, Spring 1981)
on our way to Cowrie Island on Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa City. Seen in the pictures are Lien, Marian, Tony, Andrew, Zeny, Josie, Leny, Diep, Rubi, Evelyn, Lesley, An Thu, Huy and Letty. (I forgot the names of all the others.)
My friend Dr. Luis Medrano
Father Kenneth and Andy
My friend and colleague Ann Cussack

ANN CUSACK

Ann Cusack brought some innovative ideas to our school. Anne was an excellent poet and she brought poetry into the classroom. She incorporated poetry in her lessons and her students loved the poems that she herself had written. I love music and Ann enjoyed my company because of my singing, which she described as outstanding. I believe she and I became best friends because we both loved arts- I music and she poetry. One day I fell ill and Ann wrote a poem and dedicated it to me to brighten my day. In return I wrote her a poem describing how fortunate I was to have her as a friend. Since then I have been writing poems and getting better as time goes by.

ADRIAN SEVIOUR

Adrian was a quiet person. He would socialize with us but wouldn’t normally speak unless spoken to first. I am the kind of person that will always approach someone whom I see is feeling left out. I decided to always sit and talk with Adrian at school meetings or during parties or social functions in the camp. One day, Adrian found a best friend in the person of Rubi Diao. Ann also found more comfort socializing with her Vietnamese friends. I then focused my attention on my Vietnamese friends. After a year, Adrian returned to England wrote a letter once and then we lost contact. The following year, Ann returned to Australia. The next thing I knew was that she had moved to California and married her Vietnamese fiancé that she met in the camp.

 

 Adrian is the gentleman sitting next to Sammy.

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