Life As a Refugee in Guam
When we get to Guam, really that’s when we realize that the Americans already prepare, you know, to receive us, the refugees. We didn’t know anything because I think the last month in Saigon, they block, they censor all the news. We didn’t know that we were losing. We know that we were losing because we have a lot of refugees coming from the central. Everybody coming to Saigon, but we didn’t know that we in that bad shape. When we went to get to Guam, that’s when we realized, “oh my god, this is it”. You know, because the Americans already, we got in there and they processed your paper. They check your health; they check your, they do x-rays, they do everything. Everything was set up. We went through the whole process and they asked your name and the American the last name come last. Our way, the last name come first. That’s the Vietnamese way, right? So they keep asking, “Which one is your last name? Which one is your first name? Which are your middle names?” My name changed completely. The American way, we have to switch everything. But we didn’t understand English that well, so it’s like, “What? What?” It was really hard at that time to understand these, but they very nice, they help us.
And I think I stay in Guam for, I don’t know, two weeks. But it was horrible though because we came to Guam at night. And I remember clearly that night they took us on a truck, and this American GI, he drove all of us, my family, the refugees, and he drop us at midnight. All we saw is the stars. We didn’t see anything. They say get off the truck so we got off the truck. They say just sit there and wait for us, so we sit there for hours and hours. We didn’t see anybody coming. All I saw was darkness around us, nothing. And all Vietnamese, I don’t know maybe 40 or 50 of us, waiting and waiting. And then my aunt start crying, and my mom, you know, start crying. Where are we? What’s happening? You know, nobody knows exactly what’s happening. By the time morning come, then we realize we in the middle of nowhere. And finally the American GI came back and they brought woods and tents and they told us help them to set up the tents. Most of these Vietnamese men, they come from upper class. They don’t know how to do anything, you know. So nobody can help.
So the American GI, they set up like rows and rows of tents really quick. And then they assign my family to one tent with cots. In each tent, they have about 50 or 60 cots. So my family shared a tent with a couple more families. They gave us blankets and that’s it. Then, in that moment, I realize this is it. From the moment I left Vietnam, I mean the day I left school, I went home, I packed, to the day that I came to Guam, I didn’t have time to think and analyze anything. But that night when I slept in the tent and I looked up, it was like oh my god, I don’t know what’s going on really. This is not good, whatever it is, this is not good at all, you know. And nobody knows what happening because at that time we didn’t know that the Americans already have a refugee program, helping us. We didn’t know anything about it. And none of us speak…see the problem…we all study English. I can write, I can read really well because we study English since 5th grade. I was in 9th grade already so I have four years of English. I can speak French, I can read French fluently, but English was our, what you call it, foreign language. French was my main language in that time in school. But when they talk, I cannot understand anything because different Americans have different accents, really hard to understand.
We don’t dare to ask them anything. And then they set up tents every day, three meals a day. We just stand in line, wait for the food, go home. And it was like a camp, but a bad camp, really bad. And then they set up a restroom. I still remember the restroom. It was really funny. All they do is put a piece of wood around and then they have a showerhead. And then we were taking a shower, I look up and I saw this American GI dangling on the electrical pole looking at me. I said, “What?!” Oh it’s so funny, it’s really funny. Then this toilet is really funny they have these drums like this, I don’t know what kind. Wood, or something, and they make a hole, put a door, and then that’s it. If you want to go, I usually go at night with my father. He stayed at the door and everybody go at the same time. Take a shower at night, go to toilet at night. So my father guarded the door. And then when we washed the clothing, all of us lined up. There’s only one fountain, everybody washed. Only one piece of clothing, we keep wearing the same thing over again and stay in line. That’s why, I think, for the rest of my life I hate to stand in line for food. It was unbelievable. Long, long line, miles and miles waiting for food, and it was unbearably hot in Guam. Very hot. That was in, I think, beginning of May. Super hot and everybody wear a towel on their head because it was so hot. So you put water on the towel and then you put the towel on your head to protect yourself. And that was the beginning of my refugee life. It was no fun though, oh my god. First couple of days it was like oh my god.
At night, I was scared to sleep because I heard about snakes at night. And we were living in a tent on a cot and it was super cold. It was cold at night, very cold actually, but in daytime it’s extremely hot. Very strange weather in Guam. I don’t know if you know where Guam is or not. Yeah it’s an island. In WWII the Japanese used to occupy them, right? I never heard of Guam until I came there, but we stayed there about two weeks, and then they transferred us. They say that after we clear of the health and everything and all the background and anything, and they know we’re not Communists, we not spy, we not this and that, then they say okay now you can come to America. So we boarded the plane and it stopped in Hawaii for like one or two hours. And from Hawaii we supposed to go to California, one of the refugee camps. But when we boarded the plane, midway they told us Camp Pendleton in California was full now. We cannot take all of you there so this plane will be diverted to Fort Chafee, Arkansas. My family, nobody knew where Arkansas was. We had never heard of that place. All I know was California and Hollywood and New York. Basically that’s all of my knowledge about America, Disneyland. Arkansas, we don’t know what that is. Anyway, when we end up in Arkansas, we get out. My whole family say, “What is this?” And they took us to another refugee camp. This one, I don’t know if it’s an army or what, but we lucky because we were the first wave of refugees who came there so they put us in the barracks, you know, for the high ranked officers. So at least we stayed in the barracks. After that, everybody stayed in the tents again. And I heard that at one point it had up to 50,000 refugees in the camp. I stayed there from May to September. Four months in there.