Survivor

By Amanda Tran

While most adolescent girls typically worry about friends, boys, and their social life, one girl gets ready to flee her home and make the biggest and longest trip of her life to a new country almost 9,000 miles away. Now recently married and moved into a new house, Thy Tran answers some questions about her journey from Vietnam to America 23 years ago.


Q: How old were you when you left?

A: I was 13.


Q: How long was the trip, and were you scared?

A: About 2 years and no.


Q: Why weren’t you scared?

A: In the eyes of a 13-year-old, there wasn’t fear, it was more like excitement. But for the parents, they were scared and uncertain for the things that lie ahead.


Q: Did you make any new friends or make enemies?

A: You know to me that’s 2 totally different questions (laughs). The people who really impacted my trip were the ones I didn’t get to meet.


Q: And what makes you say that?

A: The whole trip was in secrecy. You only meet people through connections. I didn’t get to meet the mastermind behind the whole escape plan. I stayed at her house but I’ve never actually met her. But I have met her daughter and we became best friends.


Q: Was it just our family that escaped or was it a group of people traveling together?

A: It was like a huge caravan-family and strangers of about 54 people. The longer the trip went on, the more people joined.


Q: For the people there or even our family, was the decision to leave against our/their will? Why or why not?

A: No, it was for our own good. Based on the living conditions and harsh punishment that the government forced on us, we decided that the best thing for us was to leave. We wouldn’t have had a bright future if we stayed.


Q: How bad were the living conditions there? Is there a time that sticks out of your mind when things were really bad?

A: It depends. If the parents brought home money or food at the end of the day, it was a good day. But if that didn’t happen, we had to go hunt for food.


Q: Hunt for food. Like bow and arrow hunting?

A: (laughs) No! Like going fishing. Sometimes we’d have to do an “IOU” to local vendors.


Q: Wow, so it was tough, did the trip get any easier along the way or was it non-stop fleeing?

A: It didn’t get any easier. The point where we left Vietnam was when we weren’t fleeing anymore. Once we left, things became harder, more complicated. It was more about survival than escape.


Q: Oh, wow survival? What do you mean by that?

A: Try not to die! (Chuckles). First we ran out of fresh water on the boat and then on the island that we hid on. Then we got picked up and dropped off at a refugee camp and stayed there without knowing when we were going to leave. We lived off of just rice, bread, soy sauce and pretty much anything we could find.


Q: Was it just one refugee camp or multiple camps? Where were the camps located?

A: Multiple camps but they were all in Thailand. There were (counts slowly out loud) 1, 2 camps. There was a war going on against the Thai and the Cambodians and the refugees got caught in the middle. That was what I was talking about by survival.


Q: At any point did you or our family have to fight?

A: Yeah, almost but not in a total fight. Back in the island, we had to engage in fighting against the Thai pirates. We had to prepare and get ready but we never actually fought (in the war).


Q: Is Thailand the only country you stayed at? If not, were there any other countries you went to before you got to the United States?

A: Cambodia and the Philippines.


Q: Out of all the countries you’ve been to, which was the worst one and why?

A: (Pause). Thailand. I wouldn’t say that my experience was horrifying or scary, I’d say it was exciting. I’ve never experienced war so the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia seemed almost fun, not scary or anything.


Q: You make it seem like it was more of an adventure for you, did you even worry at all?

A: Yeah well I didn’t have much to worry about. All I had to worry about was getting sick or not having enough food. I was 15 by the time we arrived at Thailand and I didn’t worry about anything- no school, no job, no nothing. I had more of an adventure in Thailand. (Pause) I had more of a “childhood” in Thailand than in Vietnam. I even feel in love with a Thai soldier!


Q: So since you were already excited in Thailand, how did you feel when you came to the U.S.? Where did you arrive first?

A: Los Angeles. I felt (pause) disappointed.


Q: Really? Why?

A: L.A. was very crowded with Asians! (Laughs) No blonde hair, blue eyed people. It wasn’t what I had in mind when I thought of the United States. It made me want to go back to Vietnam.


Q: Well since I’ve never seen L.A., we must have moved, where else did you guys go?

A: We then came here. Well, actually Schenectady, but you already knew that.


Q: So overall, what are your opinions on your trip? Were you glad you made the trip? If you didn’t, how different would you think your life would be?

A: (smiles). Of course you’d ask that question. (Pause). I think about it all the time but I can never seem to find the answer. I’d maybe be poor, have no education, no freedom to speak my mind, married at an early age with 5 kids with poor living conditions? I don’t know. I could only imagine what my life would be like if we didn’t leave (pause) just the opposite of what it is here.