Why am I in America?

When I meet people, after introducing my name, the first question they ask me is where I am from and the second question they ask me is why did I come to America? I'm lucky enough to have this opportunity to share with you my personal experience as a victim of the Vietnam War, an immigrant, a daughter, and a student.

I was born in Saigon City in 1974. My father was a captain in the South Vietnamese Army. In 1975, Saigon was overtaken by the communists and they put my dad in the re-education camp. My mother had to move back to Vinh Long, a small town in the southwest of Saigon, where she had spent her childhood. At the age of 22, my mother had to work so hard to take care of me as well as my father who was still in the camp.

When I was there, a tragic event happened in our lives. One night, two communists knocked our door and said that they were policemen. My mother opened the door and was attacked by those men. Luckily, she could escape and jumped into the river near the house. They searched and searched but could not find her. Before they left, they said that if my mom told anyone at all, they were going to kill the whole family. Of course, my mom did not tell anyone including her parents until we came to the United States. Two years after the attack, my mother started developing signs and symptoms of Multiple Personalities. I was told by my grandparents that there were different evil spirits in my mother's body. Of course, I believed it because I, not even my grandparents did not know about Multiple Personalities. My mother suffered for fifteen years of her life with that mental illness. After we came to America, my mother had symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and has been treated. She is okay but she still has the PTSD episodes now and then. Other than the illness that she is suffering, my mom is a bright and intelligent woman.

After eight years in the re-education camp, my father finally reunited with us. Four years after that I had two younger siblings. My parents had to work very hard in order to take care of us.

Unfortunately, all the money that my parents had earned was not enough to pay for our education. I had to give up school to go to sewing school when I was in the tenth grade. At the age of sixteen, I had my own shop, making money, and helping my parents to raise my younger siblings. I loved to sit in front of my shop watching friends going to school with covetous eyes wishing I was back in school.

My family immigrated to America in March, 1992 with empty hands. None of us could speak or understand English. I remember we were picked up from the airport and dropped off in an apartment around midnight with few thin blankets. It was so cold that night and we were frozen because our sponsor forgot to show us how to use the heat.

Three weeks after arriving in Boston, I found out that I would be able to continue my education and that was a dream that I had been waiting for so long. I attended Brighton High School for my junior and senior years. I was in the after school and summer school for E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) programs at A.B.C.D. and Harvard University. I went to the University of Massachusetts at Boston where I continued to learn English and took general courses. Fortunately, I was accepted to the Nursing Program at Salem State College in the Fall of 1995. As a result of studying hard, I was invited to join the Honors Program at Salem State.

Here I am, one semester away from graduation. Slowly, I see my dream coming true. My goal is to continue on to graduate school to become a nurse midwife.

-Nu Ngoc Vo-