Boat People, 1985, Hai Nguyen
From MemoryArchive
Who: Nguyen What: Another Boat People Story When: 1985 Where: Vietnam
Regardless of where you are on earth, when you look up at night, you catch some glimpse of the stars. As the year progresses the stars change, some disappear below the celestial horizon, while others rise up. Two people located on completely different parts of the earth stand a chance of seeing the same stars on different parts of the year. In effect, we all see the same sky, just from different places.
From my childhood, I have two distinct memories of seeing the sky at night. Once when my dad and I camped out next to the pond by our house in Vietnam. I remember asking him about the stars and how far they were away from us. I wish I remembered which constellations they were, but I was too young. The other memory I had of seeing hte night sky was waking up at about 3AM on a Vietnamese river boat. This would be the last time I would ever see the sky from Vietnam.
Several days before, my dad had taken me to visit his friends some miles from our house in South Vietnam. There wasn't anything unusual about the trip. I think we had been here before when I was much younger. I distinctly remember eating some fruits and playing with some other children and then falling asleep next to my dad.
I was suddenly woken up by some shouting. My dad was holding me and we were moving along the river. There was a guy standing in front of me. He was dressed in military gear and carried a machine gun. I remember his mustache because my dad had one that looked like his. I recall him turning around and telling the other people on the boat to be quiet down. The boat finally stopped and I was taken to a bigger boat. I started crying because of the unfamiliarity of the situation. There was an old man that my dad knew, he sat next to me and showed me his lighter. Being as young as I was, I thought it was neat and stopped crying. I fell asleep at some point and my memory of the next few days are some what foggy.
I remember my dad arguing with some people saying that they had gone the wrong way. Several people were on his side, and several people were on the other side. They had gone the wrong direction and were way of course. My dad's side wanted to make the course correction and continue on. However, the other side wanted to stay on this current course and change the destination.
The next memory I have was an older woman on the boat slicing up a root of some sort. It was round and contained a lot of water. She gave some to me and told me I was a good boy and we would reach land soon.
I vaguely remember crying because I was so thirsty. My dad later told me he used sea water and some sugar to moisten my lips so I would stop crying. He also told me never to do that because it was a stupid thing to do. Sea water has a high salt content and would've actually made me more dehydrated.
We spent about five days on the sea, maybe six. By the time the sixth day arrived, we were pretty much stranded. With very little water left and a quickly diminishing supply of food, death was almost certain. I can't recall if anyone went into a fit of hysteria or not, but I do remember people panicing.
At some point on the sixth day, we were spotted by a shipping vessel. They were headed for Singapore and the captain and crew were of kind heart. They stopped and picked us up.
As they were pulling us up, I remember asking my dad if we were going to come back for the battery. He and the others had used a battery, about the size of a small car battery, to power a light so they could see a map. I don't know why I asked him if we were returning for it, I suppose I thought it was valuable.
Keep in mind that this is only one of the thousands of stories of people who left Vietnam by boat in search of a better way of life.
Here's a few things I've heard throughout the years from various people that I've talked to regarding their voyage across to oceans to reach America:
Pirates - no the swashbuckling kind with an eye patch, but the ones from Thailand and various other southeast Asian countries. Some even from Vietnam themselves. Pirates were a big concern since they were known to attack the boats that were leaving from Vietnam. Usually they were in search of jewelry or captives. I've heard that jewelry was a big targte for them, but only a few times did I hear of them taking women or girls. Most of the time a visit from the pirates meant death for the men and boys.
The Whale Myth - this is pretty absurd, I don't see how it's feasible. There was a story that was told round the refugee camp that they thought was an island. The story goes on to say that it was a whale that was sleeping. They didn't find this out until they started a fire on its back. The whale became so shocked that it took off swimming. No one was hurt, just a few startled individuals. I've heard the story several times, but I don't think it's true.
Getting caught - imprisonment and sometimes execution was guranteed for getting caught by the Vietnamese government for trying to leave the country via boats.
Separation of family - it's unfortunate, but true. I've met a few of these individuals through the years and sometimes the offspring. Many men left their wives and children behind to get to America or wherever they were going to go. Some promised they would get them out via sponsorship and immigration. Some just left without saying a word. Many of the promises went unfulfilled for one reason or another. Sometimes the men met another woman. Sometimes they died by whatever cause. Sometimes they just couldn't do it. But it's their story to tell.
Destinations - The destinations of individuals on some of these boats were not always the same. Often they would get to refugee camps and contact their families or friends in Australia, France, Canada, England, or the US and arrange some way to get there. The typical stay for a person at refugee camp was somewhere between a few months to no more then two or three years. Of course there were exceptions.
