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  • Footprints ~ Kim Vo
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Kim Vo ~ A Survivor’s Story ~ Part Two

By Marie Hughes

Hope on the Horizon

Not My Daddy

  

“We went from Guam to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. At the refugee camp I did the same thing . . . same ole thing I did. One day, I got so mad, I washed two buckets of clothes, and my hands [were] bleeding, and it just bothered me, you know, thinking about my family. I sat outside on the step and I cry. There was a lady out there who saw me and she said, ‘what’s wrong?’ I told her I just want to go back home, go back to Vietnam. She said, ‘You can’t go home, who’d you come with?’ I said, just me, I don’t have nobody. I said, did you come with somebody, she said she come with her aunt. I told her I don’t want to stay with these people and she said, ‘I help you. First thing in the morning, you meet me at the cafeteria, and I’ll be there . . . five o’clock.’ She said.”


“I couldn’t sleep that night; I couldn’t wait to meet her. I got up and ran over there and sat and waited for her. She came, and I’m happy to see her too. She said, ‘I’m going to take you to see the father, who is a Catholic.’ I’d never heard of that, I never heard of Baptist church or preachers, all I know is Buddha, that’s all I know, that’s what my family is. I told her, ‘Father, what do you mean father, I don’t have a father, my father is in Vietnam.’ She said, ‘No, the priest the Catholics call the father.‘ I said I thought you came with your aunt, now you say you have a father? She was laughing, but I wasn’t laughing, ‘cause I didn’t know. She said, ‘No, in the Catholic Church, the people, we call him father.’ I said not me, I’m not calling him daddy, not me. So, she took me to the church and the father walked out and she said, ‘Good morning father.’ I’m looking at her and I’m looking at him and I’m thinking to myself, I’m not going to call you father, I said, ‘Good morning, sir.’ That’s what I said. He said, good morning, he took me and her in his office and we were just talking. I was fourteen at the time. He said in the United States, under the age of 18, it’s hard to get her out . . . he said he would see what he could do. He said I could go back to the family and he would send somebody tomorrow to get me out of there. I was happy, boy, Hallelujah! So, I came home, I was happy and she asked me where I’d been. I told her, ‘I don’t know, some lady came and took me to see somebody she called father, but he’s not my daddy. She knew exactly who he was and said, ‘No you don’t need to go with him.’ I said, ‘I am, he’s not my daddy, but I go with him.’ She and her husband tried to scare me, they said, ‘You don’t know what the country do to you, you’re a young kid, a little kid, they’re going to rape you, they’re going to kill you, they’re going to hurt you. You better stay with us, you don’t need to be going with them.’ I said, ‘No, I go with them. If they hurt me, I accept that, cause they’re not my people. My own people hurt me.’ She said, ‘Well, I’m going to keep all your clothes, I’m not going to give you none of your clothes.’ I said, ‘You can have them, the charity people, they gave them to me.’ She gave it up, ‘cause she knew I was going to go,” said Kim. The lady tried one last tactic to dissuade Kim telling her she was her daughter, a fact Kim denied, defiantly telling her she was not her daughter, she was her slave. 


“So, the guy came and got me and took me to the building where all the nuns stay. I never seen anything in my life that wear the kind of clothes, the uniforms that those nuns wear, I got scared,” whispered Kim. I got scared, I thought, those people gonna eat me tonight, kill me and eat me. But the nuns, the sisters, were nice to me. They said they were going to get some lunch for me, they were going to have some chicken that day. Oh, I want the chicken, but I couldn’t eat it ‘cause I’m afraid they poison me,” said Kim, laughing now at her fear. “I didn’t eat it, I was hungry, but I didn’t eat it. I lied to her saying, ‘Ma’am, can I go to the bathroom?’ She said, ‘Sure, go to the bathroom, make sure and come back.’ As soon as I got out the door, I ran, I ran about a mile to the office.” Kim went into the office of the man in charge, she remembers his name was Bob. At this point, she still could speak no English, and he didn’t speak Vietnamese. He was asking her where she was going, but she could not understand him. He called a translator who had married a soldier, and she asked Kim why she was there. She told her she wanted him to help her. “The man they call father, he’s not my daddy, he came and got me out and took me to the building where there’s a bunch of people wearing something I’ve never seen and I got scared, I don’t want them to kill me. He laughed and said, they’re not going to kill you, they’re nice people. I said I’ve never seen those people, weird clothing, I never seen anything like that, I got scared and ran away from them, I don’t want to stay with them. He said, ‘Okay, I’m going to put you in a group shelter.’ I didn’t know what a group shelter was . . . the lady said it’s a building with a whole bunch of kids who don’t have any parents. I said yeah, yeah, I’ll go there, I don’t want to go back to those people, I scared. The guy laughed and took me to the group shelter. I was so happy, I got a bed to sleep, I got blankets over me, A.C., I thought, man I’m in Heaven, thank God. I sleep all night long and about two days later the father came with the nuns, I hid under the bed, I didn’t come out and they didn’t know where I was. They kept calling for me but I didn’t come out ‘cause I didn’t want to go with those people. Finally, I came out and I sat with the translator, the father, the nuns, and Bob. The father said I had two choices, he said either you go with us or you stay here. When he said that I said, oh, I stay right here,” laughed Kim tapping the table for emphasis.

Laughing Through the Learning Curve

A New Family

  

“I stayed three months in the group shelter, then a family came in and adopted me. They took me home and we lived way out in the country. There are no Asian people there, only me . . . nobody could talk to me, I couldn’t talk to them. Oh, we had a hard time, I can’t talk no English, she can’t speak Vietnamese, she talked to me in English, I talked to her in Vietnamese, so nobody understands nobody, she doesn’t understand me, I don’t understand her,” said Kim. Kim’s adoptive mother tried her best to teach Kim English by using a dictionary, not realizing Kim didn’t understand letters. Her mom found a Vietnamese woman who spoke English and invited her to the house, “She had the translator ask me what I wanted. I told her I didn’t need anything, I had everything I needed, I just can’t communicate. It frustrates me and I get mad at myself, I’m not mad at her. I told her to tell her I’m fine, I’m alright. I feel like I’m staying in Heaven, I have a home, I have pillows, I have a room to sleep, I have food to eat and I can eat with them at the table, I didn’t have none of that growing up. Tell her to just give me some time to learn English. So she sent me to school, but before she sent me she got a tablet and a pencil and taught me the A,B,C,’s and made sure I knew all of that. Then, she sent me to school in second grade, ‘cause I don’t know English. I sat behind a girl named Sheila Wood, I remember that girl’s name, and I copied her paper because I didn’t know how to do my own work, I didn’t know English. If she failed, I failed, if she passed, I passed,” said Kim, her laughter having a ripple effect around the table. “If she missed one, I missed one, if she missed two, I missed two, she let me copy her paper. The teacher, Miss Craig, she let me copy her ‘cause she knows I can’t speak no English, I can’t spell it, I can’t write it. Every six weeks we’d get a report card, if she made an A, I made an A, If she made a B, I made a B, if she failed, I failed. Then they moved me up to sixth grade after I finished the second grade. I could read a little bit, I could write a little bit, and I could spell a little bit and do a little math. Every day we go outside for a little bit and this little girl, I don’t know, I guess she didn’t like me ‘cause I’m the only Asian one. She called me an @$$#&%!, and I didn’t know what it was, I thought it was good,” chuckled Kim bringing an uproar of laughter from the ladies. I just looked at her and smiled ‘cause I didn’t know what it means. Every day she called me that word and I thought maybe she liked me, so I tried to remember the word, I’d repeat after what she said to myself, I didn’t say it out loud. We go to church every Sunday and one Sunday she (mom) invited the preacher to come over to eat and his family. She cooked steak and seafood and I helped her set up the table and everything and we prayed. I sat at the table and said out loud, @$$#&%!. Everybody was looking at me and I didn’t know what for,” laughed Kim. My preacher said, ‘Kim, you fine?’ I said @$$#&%!, I called him @$$#&%!, I didn’t know what it mean. My momma said, Kim you need to be quiet, I said @$$#&%!. My brother said the same thing, ‘Sister, be quiet.’ I say, ‘No, @$$#&%!.’ My mom is sitting over there and it embarrass her, she took me into the bathroom. She asked me where I learn that word and I said at school. She asked me who told me that and I said some girl tells me that every day. She said, you know what that means? And I said no. I thought I was doing good, I learned some English, but it was the wrong word!” Kim’s mom explained to her what the word meant and Kim was so sorry. Her mom had her apologize which she was glad to do, saying, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know what that word mean . . . I was just sharing my new word . . . I thought I was doing good.’ Everyone was laughing and the preacher said that’s alright.” noted Kim rather calmly, but it took the rest of us a minute to regain our composure. 


“We were Baptist and that week we watched the film, Jesus of Nazareth. I sat there and watched the first part and thought, why people kill Jesus, why they hurt Him, He’s the one who help us. I questioned it all the time. When I finished all of the movie . . . three days . . .  each day I go outside, she had a big yard, and I look up to Heaven. I see rainbow, trees, wind, and I say, oh, now I know who up in Heaven, now I know who you are. Then I came in and then the next day I came out and I talk to Him the same way and the last part I came in and I said thank you for bringing me over here. Now I know who died for me. Without You I’d be dead, Kim said softly. Then I asked Him one last question outside. I said, Jesus, I have one last question I want to ask, can I see you in my dreams? And I did, not right away but later.” Kim explained to us how Jesus came to her in her dreams and how real it seemed. She told her mom the next day but struggled to find the right words to tell her exactly what happened. 


Kim’s heart often drifted back to her family in Vietnam, they were never far from her thoughts.  “I think about my family, and I ask Him all the time, Jesus, I know that I’m away from my family so long, I don’t know where they at, You do know where they at, so please, help me find them. Take me over there to see them, then bring me back. He took me over there in my dream to see my family. They all there but they’re so sad, the reason I think is they all Buddhists and I don’t follow their religion,” determined Kim.  

Homecoming Heartache

  

Kim married a Vietnamese fisherman, and they moved to Oak Island, Texas in 1989. Together they had three children, Kim is no longer married. While living in Oak Island, Kim cried out to God, saying, “You need to help me find my family, I need to go see them. I don’t know where they are or if they have anything to eat or not, I don’t know how their life [is] over there.” One day a lady called Kim and asked Kim if she knew her parents’ names as she was going to have someone go to Vietnam and look for them. Kim provided her with the needed information, spelling the names as they sounded to her in English, as she had a limited ability to write in Vietnamese at that time. About a year later, she received a letter from her family. “I wasn’t sure it was them, some people pretend to be family to try to get your money,” stated Kim.  Kim asked them two questions; what she called her mom when she lived there and how did she leave there. She sent a stamp with the letter to ensure she received an answer, when she received their response, they had answered her questions correctly confirming they were her family. She wrote them back requesting their phone number. She waited anxiously for their return letter, which came a month later, and she called them immediately. “All they did was cry,” said Kim, ‘they were happy to hear from me, I guess, they thought I was dead . . . before I got off the phone, I said I [will] be there in June . . . and I will see you all . .  . I took my little boy with me." 


"They picked me up at the airport, it wasn’t what I expect, they just different. I went to their home and see my mom . . . I didn’t see my daddy . . . people were sitting around talking to me . . . I say, ‘where my daddy at?’ All I get was, ‘Your daddy went somewhere. He not home yet,’ so I believe them. I went to his in-laws and asked, do you know where my daddy at? She said, ‘Your momma didn’t tell you?’ I said they said he went somewhere and I’m waiting for him. She said, ‘You sit down and stay calm and I tell you the whole story.’ She patted my shoulder and said, ‘Your daddy’s gone, he died.’ I asked how, and I started shaking. ‘Your daddy died starving himself, he don’t eat, he don’t drink, he come to see you, to find you. Anywhere he heard your name he go there to look for you. The last time he go the lady told him that you dead, that she found your body and the dump people picked it up and dumped you. He believed her because . . . the woman know you. He went to a palm reader and a psychic, and she told him you are not dead, but you are far away.’ He told my brothers and sisters if I still alive, I won’t see her . . . so, he don’t eat, he don’t drink, he just die, he was all bones. When he die I was in Oak Island and I saw him in my dreams. I saw the family a month after. It was hurting me so bad to know how he die, to see me,” said Kim, losing her composure as she recalled the circumstances of his death. “He knew his daughter was somewhere, but he didn’t know where. He know now.” she whispered.

Suffering Sparks Compassion

  

The years Kim spent starving and destitute did not make her bitter but, on the contrary, created within her a deep-seated compassion for those who suffer, regardless of race or creed. She has made it her life mission to help others in need, doing her part to ensure they don’t go hungry or experience hardship as she did. During Hurricane Ike, she lost her home, but she didn’t let her loss define her. She rolled up her sleeves and set to work, just as she always had, not only working to overcome her own obstacles, but those of her neighbors as well, fighting to get homes and food provided for them. Kim knew there were two things she knew how to do, she knew how to work hard, and she knew how to cook. She learned a long time ago to roll with the punches, always with the confidence that God would see her through. Her way of rolling with the punches this time was rolling eggrolls. She began an eggroll ministry cooking and selling thousands of eggrolls over the years to help pay for education funds, surgeries for families in need of assistance, helping folks rebuild after disasters, and many more worthy causes. 


Although she helped many here in the United States, the people of Vietnam always remained near and dear to her heart, for she knew many were destitute living in abject poverty. Over the years she has made an annual trip to Vietnam, seeking out the poorest of the poor to help ease their hunger and burdens of life, if only for a moment in time. She not only provides them with money from her eggroll sales but goes to the market, purchases food and cooks for them in their home, many times on a campfire outside a grass hut and drawing water from a nearby muddy stream. 

 

Tiny in Size ~ Big in Heart

  

Kim continues to work, making friends wherever she goes. She currently works for a construction company, out of state, running a large roller. She is so tiny in the huge machine, she puts a pillow underneath her to enable her to see over the steering wheel. Although tiny, she is mighty, admired by her co-workers for her strong work ethic and loved for all the wonderful meals she provides for them. Her compassionate heart knows they are far from home and not getting any home-cooked meals, so her thoughtful kind nature kicks in and she serves.


Kim truly is a living example of love and kindness and a testament to the power of prayer and resilience of the human spirit.  

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