When Jonathan Huynh heard the haunting story of two young Syrian boys
and their mother fleeing their country and drowning when their small
rubber boat capsized on its way to Greece, he saw himself.
The 37-year-old California chiropractor was a toddler when his family
took to the seas to flee communist Vietnam. They survived and wound up
at a Malaysian refugee camp.
"I just felt like history is repeating itself," said Huynh, who along
with
other Vietnamese Americans is helping organise a walk-a-thon in
Fountain Valley, California, to send medical aid to Syrians fleeing
their country's four-and-a-half-year civil war.
Seeing their community's story in the plight of those boarding tiny,
rickety boats for Europe, some Vietnamese Americans are reaching out to
help. In addition to the four-mile walk, some in California have started
a Twitter campaign to generate compassion for those taking to the seas
and a fundraising drive to support migrant rescue efforts.
More than three decades ago, Vietnamese began fleeing in tiny boats
to try to find a better life. Some died, and others wound up in refugee
camps before heading to the United States.
Today, the Vietnamese-American population is approaching two million,
and its influence is growing, especially in Orange County, home to the
largest segment of the population.
While the politics surrounding the Syrian conflict differ from those
after South Vietnam fell to communist rule in 1975, many Vietnamese
Americans said they feel connected to the new refugees.
"I want to see what we can do to help the Syrians because that is
us," said Tom Q Nguyen, a 48-year-old escrow business owner whose mother
and sister died at sea in the 1980s.
Several hundred thousand people fleeing war-torn areas in the Middle
East, Africa and Asia have sought to reach Europe by sea this year in a
growing crisis that has raised diplomatic tensions across the continent.
The US has announced plans to take in 10,000 additional Syrian
refugees in the next fiscal year. And Secretary of State John Kerry has
said the U.S. will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next
year, and up to 100,000 in 2017.
Humanitarian groups have urged the US to do more to help, while some
U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers have raised concerns that
Islamic State group extremists may have infiltrated migrant groups.
Duc Nguyen, who was rescued by a US Navy vessel after escaping
Vietnam as a teenager, said he faced reluctance from some community
members when he started trying to raise money this summer for the
Migrant Offshore Aid Station, a rescue group based in Malta.
So the 51-year-old filmmaker and other Vietnamese Americans started a
Twitter campaign asking people to make and upload videos saying why
they care. Since then, he said, he's getting a positive response.
"I want to create a movement to get people to choose whether they care," he said.
Nam Loc Nguyen, who recently retired from refugee work at Catholic
Charities in Los Angeles, said he has been in touch with Vietnamese
groups in California and Texas that want to help resettle Syrian
refugees. In Canada, Vietnamese community members are helping raise
money to sponsor them, he said.
Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
at University of California, Berkeley, said refugees have spoken out in
the past on behalf of asylum-seekers who haven't received as warm a
welcome in the country to which they fled.
"This is truly inspiring," she said of the Vietnamese community's
efforts, "especially in light of how disgraceful much of the response to
the Syrian refugees has been."
Friday, September 25, 2015
Former refugees from Vietnam are helping Syrians
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