Born and raised in 1960’s Saigon, Mother and her two younger brothers had a middle-upper class upbringing as her mother was a pharmacist and her father was an accountant for the government. Her parents sent them to a French immersion private school that was owned by the French. After the Vietnam War ended, Mother was kicked out of private school by the new communist government and attended a public school where she took English classes.
As the government considered her family to be wealthy, the government took her mother’s pharmacy and her house, taking over the ground floor while her family was forced to lived upstairs. Her parents decided that it would be best for the entire family to flee the country in the mid-1970’s. As sponsorship was not established at this time, those people who wanted to leave had to do so by boat. They tried very hard to connect with a boat owner to leave for a nearby country like Malaysia or Indonesia. Her parents were persistent and finally were able to use connections with people they knew to bride a boat owner with gold into allowing them passage. They were elated that they were able to find a boat that would take them.
The wooden boat was small and should have only carried about 180 people, but about 400 people were squeezed onto it. Mother described the boat trip as difficult and unpleasant as she had to sleep sitting up as there was no room to lie down. Everyone was instructed to stay in the lower portion of the boat in order to keep it afloat. The boat trip, which was heading towards Bidong Island in Malaysia, took a total of ten days. During the voyage, the boat encountered a Norwegian ship from which they were able to receive food and water. The passengers were extremely grateful as the food and water which they had brought onboard ran out after five days.
Danger in the form of Thai pirates reared its head, but was thankfully avoided. Before reaching the shores of Malaysia, the boat was destroyed to hide evidence of escape and the passengers had to swim ashore. They stayed in huts made of leaves and tree branches, and were interviewed by Canadian immigration officials there. When asked why they wanted to go to Canada, her parents said that they had a few relatives who had gone to Canada before the Vietnam War for the purpose of studying abroad. Her family stayed in Malaysia for six months before being allowed to take an airplane to Canada. They landed in Montréal, Québec in the winter of 1979, and stayed with her uncle’s family.
The next day, her parents had to go out to look for jobs while Mother and her brothers enrolled into school. Her parents were both able to find jobs working in a factory. Her father was also able to find work as a dish washer at a restaurant. After a few weeks, they made enough to be able to rent an apartment for their family. After six years, her parents saved up enough money to buy a convenience store and to send Mother and her brothers to university. She wanted to be a schoolteacher, but decided to pursue pharmacy school at her mother’s insistence. After a conversation with her uncle who told her that there was no money in pharmacy, she switched to dentistry. She was able to attend dental school at the University of Montréal and took out loans to fund her studies.
With this knowledge in the back of my mind, I knew how hard my parents worked and how much they sacrificed so that their children could have a better life. I felt obligated to be the perfect son, even to the detriment of my well-being.
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