I was born on October 5, 1970. My father was an American serviceman stationed at Thuan Air Base in Hue. In 1968, because of the war, my family moved to Thuan An. There my mother met my father in 1969. Thanks to my father, my mother got a job in Thuan An Base. According to my mother, my father was tall and very handsome. He was an officer of the US Navy, a Lieutenant. My father used to come to our house and would often give my mother gifts and money.

One year after meeting my father, my mother gave birth to me. In 1972 my father stopped seeing us, and my mother received no news from him. After this my mother stopped working at the military base and she started going around collecting items discarded by the military. She would then sell them to make money to take care of 6 children. Before my mother met my father, she was already married to a Vietnamese soldier and was caring for 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls.

This man was far from home most of the time. He was also an alcoholic and would loose all of his money playing cards. On his return in 1972, my stepfather was so angry that he nearly killed me. Day after day my mother pleaded with her husband to save my life. After my stepfathers return my mother gave birth to the 6th child, a daughter. In 1973 my step-father returned again to live with my mother again. We continued to live in Hue until 1975 and later that year we moved to Binh Tuy and lived there for 2 years.

I used to be mocked by my classmates and every time they teased me I would fight back. "Because of this I would get terrible beatings from my step-father. He would hang me upside down by my feet, in the middle of the room and beat me with a bamboo stick until I would pass out. My mother stood there begging him to stop, but he would not. I was 7 years old at that time.

Despite my young age I had to go into the forest to guard the family corn field. Wild monkeys, as tall as I was, would come to eat the corn. It was my job to scare them away with my cries. I didn't like this job because it was very scary. By noon I would make a fire and cook some corn to eat, and I would eat until I got full. This was the only good thing about the job, as when I was home I was always hungry. I was permitted to go home only after sunset.

At this time my mother was seriously ill with tuberculosis and she had to stay home and take care of my younger sister. My father would give all of his money to his sister. During the school year, I would go to school in the morning and in the afternoon I would go around and collect as much vegetables as possible.

My mother died in 1977 due to complications from an abortion. In 1979 my family moved to the "New economic area". I kept on going to school so we could receive 9 kg of rice every month. Many of my classmates were AmerAsians and we would play together, because the children who were Vietnamese despised us and kept at a distance from us. My teachers were from South Vietnam and North Vietnam, and those who were from the North disliked me because I was AmerAsian. My classmates would often spill ink on my shirt and I would fight back. After finishing grade 9, I quit school.

My step-father died in 1978 and from that time on I went to the coffee plantations to harvest coffee beans and cut wild grass. The Chinese plantation owners would often say "You are an AmerAsian, why are you still living here?" They forgot that I was to poor to pay for the paperwork. I would walk to the plantation early in the morning and return in the evening just before sunset. My Salary was 6,000 VND per month.

In 1989 a man invited me to move to his house, offering me shelter, food and new clothes. He also took responsibility in doing all of the paperwork for the AmerAsian Program. So in 1990 I went to live in Mr. Kien's house in Honai, Bien Hoa. I stayed there for 3 months when I heard from other AmerAsians that people like Mr. Kien tried to take profit from us AmerAsians and then they would kick us out of their house as soon as we got a rejection letter. Because of this I went back to my house.

After that I went to Dam Sen, Nguyen Du, hoping to meet an American Official who would listen to me, but I failed.

In 1993 I got married and moved to my husband's house. My mother-in-law scolded me nearly every day, but my husband kept on loving me.

In the year 2000 a friend of mine told me that the Foreign Service was open again. On November 20, 2000 I made a new application and gave it to the American Consulate at Le Duan Street. Three months later I received a letter from the Consulate asking me to be present for an interview on May 2nd. During the interview, the American Official asked me for a picture of my father.

I dared not say I had lost his picture, so I said "I don't have it". Then the American Official said, "If you know something about your father, do tell me." I was too scared to remember anything, so I said "I know nothing about my father". As a result my application was rejected. Later on after a careful search I found my father's picture. I sent it to the American Consulate along with a new application. I received no answer from the Consulate. I remember that the last time I sent my application was in 2001.

On November 20, 2000 a friend of mine introduced me to Mrs. Phuong Watts and she promised to help me in getting the visa to go to the USA, but so far I haven't received any good results.

Now I am working for a rubber plantation and I get 400,000 VND per month. I can make a little more during the collecting season.

I am proud to be an AmerAsian and I still want to go to America to have a better life, especially for my children.