English As A Second language ( ESL )

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A special story for Mother's Day

My mother's sacrifice
by Chuong Nguyen

(Editor's note: San Diego ESL teacher Mimi Pollack sent us the essay below. Chuong Nguyen was one of the finalists in the 2006 Immigration Museum Contest in San Diego. At that time Chuong was an ESL student. Now he is working as a teacher's aide at the SDCCD North City Center. This is the entire essay that Chuong wrote. A shorter version was published in the May 2008 issue.)

I am thankful to my Uncle Luong, who was the sponsor for my family to come to America. I also thank all Americans and their government that have opened their arms to help my family create a new life of hope, happiness and success in San Diego. I am going to tell a story about the history of my family in Vietnam. You will see how lucky I am to live in America.

Before 1970, my grandfather, Nguyen Be, and my father, Nguyen Cu, were farmers. They worked on their fields with their vegetables and cattle while my grandmother stayed at home and did the housework. My father and grandfather usually started to work at 7 a.m. and came home at 5 or 6 p.m. My grandmother always brought food to the field for them at lunchtime. They had a poor life, but they were happy. Suddenly, everything changed in that small family. In 1970, my dad and grandfather did not work on their farms anymore; they worked as soldiers in battle. They fought the North Vietnamese army, the Viet Cong. At that time, the North Vietnamese army was strong and they wanted to take over the South. There were many battles in the South and a lot of innocent people died. Many factories, farms, schools, families were destroyed by this civil war. In 1972, my grandfather died in a battle in his homeland, Binh Long. My grandmother could not find his body.

When my father found out about that, he was really shocked and frustrated. He wanted to kill all the Viet Cong who had killed his father and invaded his country. Unfortunately, American soldiers withdrew troops in 1975, and the Viet Cong army grew stronger because China and the Soviet Union gave more weapons to them. In addition, the Viet Cong were very wicked and they would do anything to win the war. For instance, in order to get more people and food for the war, they put every man that they saw on the street in the army. They did not care how old. He could be 14, 15 or 60 years old. If the man refused to go, they would kill him right away. Moreover, in every village that the Viet Cong passed through, they got all the food that they could from the people there.

By doing all the bad actions above, the Viet Cong won the war on April 30, 1975. My dad lost his homeland, his country, and his freedom.

In September 1975, the communists sent my dad to re-education camp. At that camp, my dad was very sick because the Viet Cong beat him frequently during the first year, and they gave him spoiled food to eat every day. They re-educated my dad because they said he had gone the wrong way of the Republic, and was against them. Therefore, the communists wanted my dad to learn everything again to become a new person who saw that everything the Viet Cong government did was always right. In addition, my dad had to know that the country under the Viet Cong was a free country.

After four years of punishment, my dad got out of that terrible camp. He met and married my mom in 1980. My dad wanted to work as a farmer like before to support his family, but he had no land to farm because the new government had already taken all his land. Then, my dad decided to start a business of selling clothes in front of his house. They had their first child, my sister, in 1981. Although my dad and my mom's shop was busy, my dad still could not earn enough for the family. Do you know why? The reason is because the officers and soldiers of Viet Cong were always watching my dad's business. They did not want my family's living condition to get better. They wanted my parents to always be poor. First, they always checked if my dad’s shop had any illegal clothes, which were clothes from other countries with no taxes or papers. If my dad had those clothes they would close his store. Second, they said that my dad needed to pay a variety of taxes every month. Third, he needed to donate clothes to the government. After 15 months of business, my dad closed his store. On that day, my dad went home and said to my mom, “I can not live in this society with my eyes open because the government is so ruthless.”

I was born in 1983 when my father became ill. His liver and stomach had problems. He could not digest food well, and his stomach got very big. My mother believed that the main cause of his disease was the spoiled food that my dad had to eat many times in the re-education camp. His disease got worse and worse. My mom did whatever she could to cure my dad's disease. My mom asked all her relatives to lend her money. Moreover, in order to have more money for my dad's medicine, my mom sold everything that she could from her bicycle, which was her only transportation, to her ring. She took my dad to Saigon which had better doctors and good hospitals. Since my mom did not have enough money to deal with my dad's illness, she brought my dad home after two weeks in the hospital. My mom knew that if my dad stayed at home, he would die soon, but she could not do anything. One day, my dad called my mom to his room and said, “I am so sorry that I cannot help you to raise our children, or to give you a good life. I know that I will die very soon, but I hope you will get our children out of this country. If our children live under the control of the Viet Cong, they will have no future like mine.” When my mom heard that she said, “Do not be silly, you will be fine.” She just wanted to encourage him although she knew that his disease was really bad. Several months later, my dad died when I was 23 months old. My mom was very sad and miserable. She did not say anything because she knew that nothing or nobody could bring my dad back.

After my dad passed away, my family was poorer and life was more difficult. My mom had to take on the responsibility of two people, father and mother. Do you know what I mean? In Viet Nam, the father usually worked to make money while the mother stayed at home, did the chores, and took care of the kids. For my mom, she took care of us (my sister and me) and went to work. She was a wonderful mother. My mom was a hard worker in a small company in my village. Also, she never thought about herself; she only thought about her children and how to buy enough food and clothes for my sister and me. She usually went to work without eating anything, and she did not eat any cakes or fruit that she bought at the store. My mom always wanted to give everything to us. One day, I wanted to eat an orange, so I asked my mom, “Could you buy an orange for me?” Immediately she went to the fruit store and bought an orange for me. Suddenly, when I was eating the orange, I asked her “Why don't you have one?” She said, “I already ate a lot of fruit.” Because I was a child, I believed it was true.

After, ten years of working at that company, she changed her job and went into business with the financial help of my uncle in America. She bought grain, rice, paper, and coffee in my village and sold those in Saigon. We had more things for my house. We bought a motorcycle; we had a radio and a television. Our life was better and happier. My mother ran her business for ten years and then she never worked again in Viet Nam. Do you know what happened to her? I will never forget that day in my life. It was on Wednesday, November 8, 2000. I came home after school. Everything was very strange in my house. I felt that something was wrong. Then, my niece ran to my house and she said, “This morning, your mother was climbing up a ladder to clean the ceiling. When she climbed up to the top of the ladder, it broke. Your mom fell down, and she broke her back.” When I heard that, I rode my bicycle to the hospital right away. When I saw my mom, she was lying in the hospital bed. She looked very tired, and she could not speak clearly. I still remember when she told me at that time. She said, “I'm fine, do not worry about me. I have to be in the hospital for a few days. I will come back very soon. You need to remember not to tell your sister. Let her concentrate on studying.” However, when I talked to the doctors, they told me that her spine was very bad.

Two days later, the doctor in my village moved her to another hospital in Saigon. If my mom was treated there, she would be safer. After she stayed one week over there, the doctors did a surgery on her when she was stronger. During the surgery, my sister and I were very nervous. We did not know what was going to happen to my mom. We prayed that God would make my mom's surgery successful. After 16 hours of surgery, the doctors said that it was a success, but my mom needed to stay in the recovery room. After 24 hours in the recovery room, my mom's condition got better. We were happy because the dangerous condition had passed. We moved my mom to our house two weeks later.

After she came back home, she was like a baby because she had to learn how to stand and walk again. First, she lay down on the bed for three months. My sister and I were very miserable, and we cried a lot. My sister always said that life was unfair to my mom. My sister and I always hoped that nothing else wrong would happen to our mom anymore.

After three months, she practiced sitting down, standing, and walking. Because of lying on the bed for a long time, my mom's legs had gotten smaller and weaker; therefore, when she practiced walking, my sister and I had to stand near her. We always supported her spiritually. We always made her happy by telling her some funny stories. We told her that we were mature now, so she did not have to worry about us. She just needed to relax and get healthy.

In February 2001, we got some good news. We received a call from my uncle in America. He told my mom that the papers, which he had put in for us to come to the United States eleven years ago, were being processed, and we would come to the United States soon. My family was very joyful when we heard that. In May 2001, we received a letter from the embassy of the United States in Saigon. They told us that we were accepted to come the United States. We just needed to wait to check our health and for the interview. Soon, we were ready to go to United States, and we hoped that we would come to the America together to have a better future. Nevertheless, on September 11, 2001 when the terrorism happened in New York, America wanted more security for the country, so they did not want new immigrants to come to the country at that time. The embassy of the United States in Saigon closed for three months, and they slowed down all the paper work. On January 2002, they processed my family's documents again. They told my mom that since my sister had turned 21 years old before the interview; she had to stay in Viet Nam. That also mean my mom and I would have to leave my sister alone in Viet Nam under the control of communism. She turned 21 in March 2002. Three months later, in June, the embassy interviewed us, and then we flew to the United States on June 27. When my mom said goodbye to my sister at the airport, my mom cried a lot although she knew that someday my sister would be reunited with us in the United States.

When we came to United States, our life was very different from Viet Nam. The American government always helps immigrant and poor people to create a new life. It really surprised me. When I went to school, the ESL (English as a second language) classes were free. Furthermore, my mom and I had a medical care program until I was 21 years old. We did not pay anything when we went to the doctor or bought medicine. In addition, when I went to college, the government gave me financial aid, which gave me some money while I was studying. In Viet Nam, there were no free schools or any medical care or financial aid for the poor or low-income people. I had to pay a fee every time I enrolled in school, or went to the hospital. My dad died because my family did not have money and the government did not help us.

Today, my mom is 52 years old. She has the opportunity to go to the career center school in downtown. She is studying electronic assembly, and she will finish school in four months. If she lived in Viet Nam, I think she would just stay at home and do chores. Here, she has new opportunities. She also continues to be a kind, helpful person, making friends in her ESL class and assisting other students. My mom hopes to pass the test to become an American citizen in 2007, so she can bring my sister to the United States. We will be a united family again.

I am also studying hard to reach my goals. I will finish Mesa College in two more years, and I will transfer to a university. I want to study medicine. After I finish school, I hope I will find a job earning money for me and helping poor people. This country has made my future better, so I need to do something back to assist other people in American society. There is always someone who needs help in our society.

Finally, the U.S. has given my mom and me so many chances to progress in our future. For us, America is a free land to study and pursue a career. The American government not only supports us materially, but also spiritually in our life. I am also thankful the ESL teachers in Linda Vista because they have taught me English. Therefore, I am able to write this story. In addition, I want to say I am thankful to my uncle and the American government for helping us to make a good life in San Diego.

(Editor's note: We heard from teacher Mimi Pollock that Chuong's mother got her citizenship last year. She has now applied for her daughter to be able to come to the United States.)