Background
MR. NGUYEN: Hello America. I’m Bao Nguyen. And welcome to my home. A couple students from USC (University of Southern California) joined me here in my home to talk about my experiences. I’d like to start by talking about my story. Before I was born — when my mother was 8 months pregnant – when I was in the womb — this is really where my story begins, when she escaped the country (Vietnam) in the middle of the night through an underground passage way. They had attempted many times to escape Vietnam and it was a crime punishable by death. Yet they tried again and again. They had to pay bribes to escape out of the country. They had to go through underground passage way and when they made it onto the boat and as it drifted into seas to somewhere, hopefully land, they were hijacked by pirates. They were starving, thirsty, and robbed multiple times by those pirates. There was a lot of desperation. That’s how my story begins. I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. Before the boat landed, the people weren’t sure if the boat was going to land. It wasn’t until they saw these dragon flies that they knew land was near; it indicated that land was near somewhere. But when they saw the shore line, it was spotted with folks that didn’t want people to land. They were holding weapons. Folks were ready to break the boat apart.
MICHAEL: What year were your folks on the boat?
MR. NGUYEN: What year? 1980. My brother he was about ten at the time. And he remembers having to join the men to push the pirate boats, from one on each side. So people would have to be on the boat and have to hold the pirate ships at bay because they (the ships) would attempt to crush the tiny refugee boat.
MICHAEL: How big were the refugee boats compared to the pirate boats?
MR. NGUYEN: They were really tiny in comparison. Really tiny.
MICHAEL: It was similar to the size of a life boat to.
MR. NGUYEN: Not the size of a life boat, maybe a couple living rooms.
SID: How many people do you think would try to squeeze on each of these?
MR. NGUYEN: It was jam-packed. My mother recounts stories of going under and she couldn’t stand being sea sick, being on deck.
MICHAEL: How did people survive on the boats? What kind of food did they eat to sustain themselves?
MR. NGUYEN: Well, people packed different things for themselves. Sometimes the captain would prepare those things. But there wasn’t enough food. People would hide precious things as well. A lot of that was stolen. But on the shore line, as I was saying, they didn’t want the refugees to come in, so folks were prepared to break the boat apart as a sign of desperation and the people would have to rescue them. You really can’t let people drown. But luckily a group of Thai Buddhist monks, in saffron orange robes that appeared through the commotion and made a human chain and they were the ones that brought us to shore. So we were given refuge at a Buddhist temple. On our first night we were fed there and we were brought to refugee camps and processed there.
MICHAEL: This was in Thailand? MR. NGUYEN: This was in Thailand and a month later I was born. And because I was born in Thailand to parents that did not have legal status in Thailand, I did have citizenship in Thailand. In fact I did not have any citizenship in any country what so ever, until I became a U.S. citizen.
SID: Did you grow up in Thailand?
MR. NGUYEN: No I didn’t. I left Thailand at three months and came to the U.S. We were processed in New York City. Then we were settled in Nashville, Tennessee.
SID: Were you raised out in Tennessee?
MR. NGUYEN: Until I came to California — when I was five. Boarded a Greyhound, came to California and have been here ever since.