[vacets-gen] ['We lived in constant fear']

[Hai Tran]

 Posted on Mon, Apr. 25, 2005 

'We lived in constant fear'

By K. Oanh Ha
Mercury News


The North Vietnamese captured Saigon and the Vuong family decided not to flee to America. Instead, they tried to make the best of it under the new government.

A few days after Saigon fell, loudspeakers in the streets started to crackle. The accent of the northern communists, to southern ears, was crisp and harsh.

``Lay down your weapons. We are here to liberate you,'' the voice blaring from the loudspeakers said. ``We don't mean you any harm.''

The voices from the loudspeakers urged anyone who had served in the South Vietnamese armed forces or government to report for classes to learn the ways and teachings of the new communist government. The classes would take only a few days -- no more than a week -- after which those who reported would return to their families, the voices promised. People were urged to pack lightly or not at all.

Vuong Quoc Qua, who worked as a civilian distributing American funds to the South Vietnamese government, wanted to believe the voices. ``I had done nothing wrong,'' he said years later.

In a small bag, he packed two changes of clothes and medicine. He reported for ``re-education'' training at a police station and was driven to a military barracks once used by the South Vietnamese army outside of Saigon.

The promised week turned into months, and then years. ``That was the first deception and betrayal of the Vietnamese people by the communists,'' said Qua. ``I knew from then on that this was a government you cannot trust.''

It would be two months before Qua's family received word that he was alive and well. His letters didn't reveal his location.

``I was worried, but there was nothing you could do,'' said his wife, Chau. ``You couldn't complain or protest. We kept our mouths shut.''

Out in the streets of Saigon, posters of Uncle Ho, the nickname of the North Vietnamese communist leader, plastered buildings and walls. Red flags representing the new government blanketed the city. Soldiers, though friendly, roamed the streets.

By day, lives again took on the routines of normalcy. Chau re-opened her pharmacy. The children went back to school. At night, it was different. Beneath the moonlight, they would hear the rumble of a large truck, muffled voices and sometimes a hushed scream. After a while, the rumbling trucks retreated into main streets outside their neighborhood.

Family after family disappeared. Stripped of their homes and valuables, they were sent to ``new economic zones'' -- remote rural locations where they had to farm for survival. Soldiers of the new regime and their families moved into the vacant houses.

``It was like living in an inferno. We lived in constant fear. I was certain they would come for us, too,'' Chau recalled years later.

In 1978, after 2 1/2 years, Qua was released from the re-education camp. He returned home to Saigon, certain that he would be re-arrested. But when armed men representing the new government came, it was for his wife.

That morning, on the front stoops of the Vuong house, 13-year-old Quyen was selling tart, green star fruit picked from grandfather Ong Ngoai's house. A handful of men, armed with AK-47s, drove up. They entered the house and asked for Chau.

They instructed Chau to escort them through every room while they took inventory. They confiscated the pharmacy's medicines. Then, they took Chau away.

``How can this happen? How can this happen?'' Chau's mother, Ba Ngoai, said, tears rolling down her face. Her granddaughter Quyen stood next to her, feeling helpless and thinking that there was nothing anyone could do.

Chau was sent to prison, charged with being a capitalist for operating a pharmacy. The family was allowed to bring her food and supplies occasionally. After four months, she was released.

When she returned home, she and Qua knew they had to flee the country. There is no future in Vietnam for us, only horrible things, Qua confided to his wife.

Slowly, they planned their escape. They realized that an extended family of five children and several adults was too large to escape together without detection. They would have to split up. They were also being pragmatic.

``In the back of my head, I knew what the risk was. If I sent all of my children into one boat and something happened, they would all die. That was too huge of a risk,'' Chau said years later.

Qua decided he would escape with the oldest daughter, Diep, then 16, and son, Hieu, 14. It was 1980 and Vietnam was engaged in a war with Cambodia. The family feared Hieu might be drafted.

After two failed attempts, the trio and Qua's mother boarded a Saigon bus and arrived in a coastal Mekong Delta village one April night. The family acted as if they were tourists. Hieu got a haircut.

A storm was approaching. This was a good thing. Organizers of the boat trip to freedom wanted to leave during a storm, when there would be fewer patrols.

If the tiny vessel got into trouble on the rough seas, well, passing ships, bound by the maritime code to save those in distress, would have to pick up the refugees.

Qua, Hieu and Diep boarded the 90-foot-long fishing boat, along with 66 other people who had each paid three gold taels, each tael worth about $200, for passage. They spent two nights riding black waves that threatened to capsize their boat.

On the second day, a Norwegian cargo ship spotted the sea-drenched boat and picked up the refugees. When the ship landed in Singapore, Qua was overcome.

``As we sailed into the harbor, I felt that I was being reborn,'' Qua said. ``This was the start of my second life.''

Tomorrow: The Vuongs face hard times in America.

Contact K. Oanh Ha at kha at mercurynews.com or (408) 278-3457.



=====
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.le.org/pipermail/vacets-gen/attachments/20050425/d82ef82d/attachment.html