Autobiography: Reunion after Separation
Autobiography: Reunion after Separation
My name is Duong Pham. I was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in November 11, 1981. I have been here in The United States for almost seven years. I am living with my parents and my two sisters. For less than seven years in United States, I have learned great things both in education and life. Separation in my family shaped my life differently from others, significantly, in family value and education. It gave me a sense of urgency, to strive for better opportunities and joy in life. This is how my new life began; however, the most painful memory in my life, which I will never forget, is my family separation.
In 1989, the business in Vietnam was so slow, bankruptcies and debts were all over the country. In September 3, 1989, my father and my oldest sister decided to leave Vietnam in order to seek for a better life, where we can find freedom, better education, and better future. They had to escape, which was hard to get to United States of America by boat, and there were a lot of pains. They didn’t want the rest of us to go with them because they were afraid that we were all going to get caught by the police, or if something bad happened the whole family would die. In addition, I was only 6 years old, my father was afraid that I could not suffer that much of pains. There was no way to contact them after they had left. We cried a lot, every single day, because we thought that either they were dead or the police had caught them. The only thing we could do was pray to God, and hope they were still alive. About two months later, we received their letter. A Holland ship rescued and secured them when they were almost dead because of Tornado. They were taken to Hong Kong. They had to live in Hong Kong for six months and Philippine for six months to wait for the paper work and learn English before they could come to the U.S. They came to the United States in 1990. My father tried to take us over for a family reunion. The U.S immigration called my mom, my older sister and me in 1993 for an interview. Unfortunately, there was a problem; they didn’t believe that my parent’s marriage was real....