Name: Duoc
Born 1967

I was born in Vung Tau in 1971, according to my birth certificate. I was actually born in 1967 and to prevent me from being enrolled into the VC army she declared I was born in 1971.

Before meeting my father, my mother had a close relationship with another American and they had a daughter. My mothers name is Tran Thi Ho and is currently living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with my AmerAsian sister. At the same time my mother was living with my father she had a relationship with a Vietnamese who was working for the US Army.

She earned a living by selling various foodstuffs and drinks to the American servicemen stationed in Vung Tau. When I was eight months old my mother gave me to my grandmother to raise. She lived in the country side of Da Nang with my aunt and my uncle. My uncle had served in an A.R.V.N. unit and was wounded with his two legs being paralyzed. He came to live with us in 1975 and life became very difficult. For 8 years I had to take care of my uncle, who was crazy and unable to feed himself. My grandmother and my aunt couldn't stand him and moved. My aunt moved to a house nearby and my grandmother moved to the city of Da Nang. Day after day, my uncle would force me to go around the neighborhood and steal anything I could; chicken, rice, vegetables and even combustibles (things that would burn to cook with). From time to time my grandmother would send some money.

At that time no one wanted to help us. Our relatives were afraid to have connections with us, because I was AmerAsian, and the VC followers hated us. Once my aunt bought me a pencil and notebook and took me to school. None of the teachers would admit me to their class, so I went home and swore I would never return to school.

After 8 years I left my uncle to join my grandmother in the city of Da Nang. She took pity on me and sent me to take care of cows of a friend. While doing this job one cow got lost. I was terrified by this I went back to live with my uncle. Shortly after returning I left for the second time and got a job as a baby sitter. Then a neighbor introduced me to a food stuff seller and I went to work for them.

My workday started at 1 AM and consisted of preparing the pork meat before processing it. Early in the morning I brought the finished products to the house of my boss's daughter at the market. There I had to bring rice soup to customers. After a break time of one hour at noon, I returned to the market to wash the bowls and spoons. My workday ended only when all of the kitchen tools were cleaned.

Several months later my grandmother asked me again to go back to my uncle's house for there was no one lese to look after him. Life at my uncle's house after 1975 was unbearable. There was no rice, no combustibles, and no way of getting them, except by stealing them. So once again I left my uncle and went back to Da Nang. This time I got the job of a porter at the railroad station. Some months later I had to go back to my uncle to take care of him. I still remember the day he threw a tool and hit me on my head.

At my uncle's death, I went on living with my aunt. I tried planting some rice but failed at that. I married my wife in 1991. Right after that I made my application to immigrate to America under the AmerAsian program. I had my pre-interview in 1991 and tree days later got my refusal letter. According to the interviewer, I had no proof showing that I was an AmerAsian.

My first son, Coug, was born in 1993, and some months after his birth I got a job as a house builder in Cau Gio, near Sai Gon. When the rainy season came I went I went back to Vung Tau, to work as a porter, but the fishing season had not started yet. I went to Da Nang to find another job.

Meanwhile my wife was raising some pigs but failed at that after a few months when there was an epidemic and they all died. So I decided to move back to Cau Gio hoping to get a job as a builder. When the construction period ended, I returned to Vung Tau to work as a fish porter. Each night I earned from 40 to 50,000 VND.

During the day I worked for a boat maker. Satisfied with my work, my boss let me live in one of his warehouses for free. From that time I began to save some money. When I got about 15,000,000 VND my boss urged me to buy a house. The price was 30,000,000 VND and my boss lent me 15 million with no interest. After I bought the house my mother sent me $3,000 US.

While my wife was selling drinks in front of the house, I kept on working for the boat builder and the fish dealer. With my savings I bought some second hand computers for video games. Thanks to these machines I can earn about 80,000 VND a day. Every month I have to pay 700,000 VND for electricity. In order to make more money I bought 5 more computers. To do this I had to borrow 20,000,000 VND with 180,000 VND of interest per month. Now I can stay at home and devote myself to this new trade.

So far I have been helped by kind hearted people, but for the VC followers, they still hate us AmerAsians. They have confiscated some of my grandmother's property. I want to immigrate to America so I can have a better life for my family. I pray that I can do it as soon as possible, and if I meet my father, I would really be happy.