Page 12 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2023 - Online Magazine

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Senior
Senior

Dong Thi Vo

Symbol of

Hope

by Calvin Tong

s a first-generation Asian an unstable country. Communists She was worried about what would
American, I find myself and capitalists struggled for control happen to her country when the
Astuck between two different in the nation. The communists communists were in charge. But
groups: Americans and Asians. controlled the north, and the even in the darkest of times, she
My whole life, I have had many capitalists controlled the south.” kept her faith intact. She says, “I
privileges that I take for granted. I give God the credit for giving me
was born in a country with security, Ben Tre received support from the the strength to go through the
safety, and an opportunity to United States. Despite the support war. Every day of my life, I pray
pursue a higher education. I thank from a global superpower, my to God, and I thank him for giving
my grandmother for my life in grandmother witnessed bombings, me another day. I am also grateful
America, even though her life didn’t the screams of family members, and to my family for being my support
start here. Despite the hardships bullets flying around her city. throughout all of this.”
and instability in her home country, In 1975, when my grandma was
she endured with confidence. just a teenager, the communists The Vietnam War had left the
nation in shambles, with millions
My grandmother, Dong Thi Vo, was conquered Saigon, leading to its of casualties. My grandmother’s
born in Ben Tre, Vietnam. Ben Tre is fall and the end of the war. This family was among the lucky ones
a city on the south side of Vietnam. resulted in the unification of who survived. They had to start
It is around 100 kilometers south of Vietnam, but many people were their lives all over again. The
Ho Chi Minh City, also known as killed, and others were sent to Vietnamese were faced with the
Saigon. She was born in the early prison camps. My grandmother’s task of rebuilding their country
1960s during the Vietnam War, to a family and many others faced and their homes. A year after the
poor family and had to work to earn calamity. fall of Saigon, she married my
money for the family. “During my She was devastated to hear of the grandfather. She started a family
childhood, the Vietnam War was the fall of the capital of South Vietnam but didn’t want her family to live
most difficult time of my life. It was but also relieved that it was all the hardships she lived through.
also a difficult time in Vietnamese over. The war had lasted for so
history,” she said. “After Vietnamese long, and it was hard to remember In about 1980, she embarked on
independence from France, we were a time when there wasn't fighting. a new life in the “beacon of hope
and liberty”—the United States of

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