Indochina’s Refugees

This poignant collection of oral histories tells the stories of nine Laotians, four Cambodians and nine Vietnamese: what their lives were like before 1975, what happened after the Communist takeover that made them decide to flee their native countries, and how they escaped.
The storytellers (housewife, Amerasian child, schoolteacher, government clerk, military officer, security agent, Buddhist monk, artist) create a broad and moving picture of the new realities of contemporary Indochina.

A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Joanna Catherine Scott is also a novelist and a prizewinning poet. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Joanna Catherine Scott
Format: softcover (5.5 x 8.5)
Pages: 326
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, 3 maps, appendices, indexes
Copyright Date: 2011 [1989]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6740-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8764-6
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents
Preface      xi
Vietnam-Land of the Boat People
In Favor of Freedom
Nguyen van Lau       3
Saved by the Esso Company
Reverence Tam Minh      9
My Father Called Me Freddy
Freddy Nguyen      21
The Hope of Ho Chi Minh Is Fallen Now
Mr. Le      35
Finally It Was All a Lie
Name withheld      43
They Came to Rob and Kill
Thich nu grac Huong      51
Americans Missing in Action
Mr. Champamay      61
Even the Lampposts Nguyen Thi Yen Nga It Is Lost, My Country
Tran van Xinh      97
Cambodia-Land of the Killing Fields
All the People of Khmer Were Very Troubled
Ven Yem      109
My Mother, My Sister
The Story of Samol Him      115
They Liked Only the Stupid People
Him Mao      121
The Snake Who Became a Refugee
Told by Lucy      129
These Vietnamese Are No Better Than Pol Pot
Heng Houn      133
The Eyes That Watched Me
Adeach Pok      147
Weep for My Children
Told by Nina      153
Laos -Land of the Seminar Camps
Not So Wonderful Was That Time
Khamsamong Somvong      161
Their Words Hide All That Is Bad
Soukan Vignauong      175
For Ten Years He Had Me
Bounsy and Samly Khamphouy      191
Hidden to the People of the World
Khoun Phauorabouth      201
Keep Them Until They Die
Boukeo Bounnam      207
The News Collector
Name withheld      217
Nobody Can Speak Against Them
Saeng Praseuth and Sisouphanh Ravisong      229
The Jail of Keng Kanh
Vanhthong Mountry      239
The Hell of Kaisone
Name withheld      247
Maps
Indochina      263
Viengxay Area Seminar Camps      264
Sketch showing location of Keng Kanh jail      265
Location of Sepone area helicopter wreck (Laos)      266

Appendix: Viengxay Area Seminarists
Camp 03      269
Camp 04      274
Camp 05      286
Camp 06      296

Index      307

“recommended for most libraries”—Library Journal; “a perspective which is totally new…informative…original historical research”—VOYA.