Thuc-Anh Ho - La Plata, Maryland - USA

I am the Boat People!

It has been 35 years since I left my native country seeking freedom.

My journey began in March of 1980 three months shy of my high school graduation from Gia Long High School. I carried a small backpack with a change of clothes, a bag of dried lemon sugar cubes, a bottle of water and $100.00. Accompanied by my sister, niece and nephew, we boarded a bus heading south to Can Tho City, Vietnam. Late that afternoon, the bus stopped in front of a local restaurant. A family of three, one of four and my family got off the bus and went inside. Quietly and patiently, we waited, it was a very long wait! Then, a stranger walked in the restaurant and greeted us and the other families as if he had known us for years. We all looked at him with hesitation but finally realized he was our "contact". We followed him to a trail leading us to the water area, a channel to Mekong River and to the South China Sea. There was a small riverboat awaiting us.

Hours later, we got closer to the mouth of the sea. The water was choppy, the wind was stronger and the boat was rocking as we approached the Sea. The fear of flipping over attacked us! We finally reached our destination boat, AG1958‬, a 12 x 3.5 meter vessel. On this boat, we reunited with my uncle who also escaped from a different direction. We spent seven days on sea heading further south. We were attacked by sea pirates three times, watched helplessly as two children died and experienced many more horrible things. The boat suffered cracks due to the pirate ships ramming into our tiny boat. The boat began to take on water slowly. We tried to balance the boat by throwing items off and moving to one side. We desperately hung on for hours until we were rescued by workers from a German oil platform. They brought us to Songkhla Refugee Camp, Thailand. We stayed in the camp for three and a half months, transferring to Bangkok Camp for another month. At the end of July, we flew to San Francisco, California then two days later

were reunited with my brothers at Camp Pendleton, California. We settled in Porterville, California.

My name is Thuc-Anh Ho, I have an accomplished professional career and live in La Plata, Maryland with my husband and two sons.

My photo at Songkhla refugee camp, Thailand: in the picture, front row far left in white with brown stripe shirt.