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I recently read the Vietnamese article “Farewell to California Autumn”
written by Mr. Hiep Vinh Vuong, a Khai Minh alumni and also a successful
businessman in Nha Trang.
In his article, he mentioned about the hardship of Vietnamese
refugees in their early days in this country encountering language
barrier and financial struggle. When I read that part, I suddenly
remember myself in the early 1980’s when I stepped out of LAX and began a
new chapter of my life in a new country. Honestly speaking, I was not
very scared of the situation since I was still an excited young man
unaware of the hard reality waiting for me ahead.
Going to America,
I was officially on my own without my family financial support. For the
first time in my life, I looked for apartment, paid utility bills and
handled government paper works by myself. Some of my friends didn’t even
know what a rental contract, utility bill or CA-7 form look like. Thanks
to the conversational English class I took in Vietnam prior to this
journey, I was able to handle the daily conversation without major
problems. However, transportation posed some inconveniences for me. I was
a loyal bus rider for 6 years from 1980 to 1986 until I got behind the
wheel for the first time in late 1986 for my first job after my
graduation from UCLA in the summer of that year. It all happened like a
dream. A dream that when I look back, I am proud of myself for what I
have achieved today.
I have read several articles of Mr.
Hiep Vinh Vuong. I salute him for his strength
to weather all those financial hardship and mental stress during the
years when most of his friends were leaving the country and he himself
couldn’t get on the boat for the same journey. I remember I was really
depressed. I was, at one time, riding my bicycle on the streets wondering
what I would do and how I could get out of that desperate situation. It
was a mentally and financially difficult moment and I don’t want it to
happen to me again. Mr. Hiep Vinh Vuong not only survived the hardship,
he emerged from it and becomes a successful businessman today. I know it
is a hard task. A task can easily terrify most people but not Mr. Hiep
Vinh Vuong. For that reason alone, I salute him.
Welcome to America!
Dennis
Phan 潘家墉
Los Angeles, California,
U.S.A., 08 October
2009
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