Why would you decide to raise fund for a Vietnamese family
I have been helping Vietnamese families since mid-2016 when I first became aware that parents of young children were being sent to jail in Vietnam for helping to organise what are seen as “illegal” departures to Australia by boat. Until I read an article in The Australian newspaper in July 2016 about the plight of another family, Tran Thi Thanh Loan and her 4 children, I was not aware that 3 boats, carrying 113 Vietnamese asylum seekers in total, had tried to reach Australia in 2015-16 and had all been forcibly returned to Vietnam. The Australian Government said that it had received written assurance from the Vietnamese Government that these failed asylum seekers would not be punished, but that has not proven to be the case, with those regarded as organisers all receiving a jail sentence.
As an Australian, I feel morally responsible to some extent for what has happened to these families because we sent them back in the first place without giving them what I believe to be a fair hearing. These families are not people-smugglers as the term is understood in international law. They were not punished in Vietnam for unlawfully bringing people to another country for financial or material benefit. On the contrary — they were punished for leaving their own country and helping their families, relatives and friends go with them.
Mr Quyet, the father of Quyen, was among those punished. He was the skipper of the second boat to try to reach Australia in July 2015 and he received a 2-year jail sentence in Vietnam. While in jail, he lost his ability to walk but is still too traumatised to speak about what happened to him. Although he was released in January 2018, he is still unable to work and so can no longer support his family. So Quyen is now the main breadwinner — earning $4 a day in a cafe — and is also the only one who can do heavy physical work around the house, helping to carry his grandfather who also lives with the family. His mother relies on him for everything — even speaking to the doctor — a big responsibility for a 16 year old boy.
How did you know about this family?
I first became aware of Mr Quyet’s and his family’s situation in September 2016 when Vietnamese human rights lawyer Don An Vo asked me to help them. At that time, I had just completed a crowdfunding campaign for Tran Thi Thanh Loan and her 4 children, raising $11,000 in one month — enough to stop her 4 children from going to an orphanage and to enable the extended family to care for them while their parents were serving jail sentences for helping to organise the first “illegal” departure by boat to Australia in March 2015. After that campaign, Mr Vo asked me to help several other families including Mr Quyet’s. I ran another crowd fund campaign, which raised $15,000 over one year — it was much harder the second time. This money went to support 3 families, including Mr Quyet’s family: Every month I would send a few hundred dollars to each of their bank accounts. This money was used to buy medicine for Mr Quyet, whose legs were causing him a great deal of pain, as well as extra food for him while he was in jail. The rest went to support his family. Unfortunately, neither of his sons is in school. Quyen’s younger brother, Quynh, now 14, left school in Grade 3 and walks the streets selling lottery tickets. He keeps in touch with me via Facebook messenger, using Google Translate, and tells me what is happening with the family. His dream is to become a carpenter. Their mother, Mrs Thanh, works 18 hours a day washing dishes and doing other odd jobs. She and her younger son earn less than $3 a day, and some days they earn nothing at all because the Government is still harassing this family and so people are often too afraid to give her work.
Why it is a a crowdfund rather than one of donation in helping them?
This new crowdfund is my idea. I cannot keep sending a few hundred dollars each month for ever — the money from the second crowdfund has run out and I would really like this family to be able to stand on their own 2 feet and not have to live hand to mouth for the rest of their lives. My translator told me about KOTO, an amazing social enterprise in Vietnam, started by Vietnamese Australian Jimmy Pham. KOTO provides hospitality training for disadvantaged Vietnamese youth aged 16-22, who are also given English language and life skills. Now that Quyen is 16, I thought that it would be wonderful if he could undertake this training and then get a good job and be able to help his family. KOTO has an 100 % guarantee to place all graduates in their first job. The training takes 2 years and is completely free; all we have to pay for is the first trial month in Hanoi. But in order for Quyen to be able to go to Hanoi, we need to cover his wages for 2 years and we would also like to provide the family with a part-time carer to help his mother look after his father and grandfather. We also want to be able to fly Quyen back home a couple of times a year to see his family — they live in LaGi, BinhThuan on the central south coast — and we hope to put his younger brother Quynh back in school to learn carpentry.
In 2016 You have helped to raise fun for Loan’s family with four young children to help them overcome the hardship while the children’s parents were facing jail because of illegal departure to Australia, what happen to them now?
Mrs Loan and her 4 children tried to come to Australia again in early 2017 — they were part of a group of 12 children and 6 adults, also including another family I was assisting, Tran Thi Lua, her husband Nguyen Long and their 3 children — who fled Vietnam for a second time. Both Mrs Loan and Mrs Lua were facing jail sentences for helping to organise “illegal” departures by boat and both were being threatened by police that they would be beaten in jail for daring to complain to foreigners. I did not know they were planning to run away again. Their boat sank off the coast of Java, Indonesia, resulting in them losing everything, but fortunately they were rescued by the Indonesians. We used money from the crowd funds to help them stay in Indonesia for the first few days; they were subsequently interviewed by the UNHCR twice and were recognised as refugees in April 2017. After almost 10 months in 2 different detention centres - in early June 2017 I went to visit them in detention and brought them phone tablets and other supplies, together with an American Vietnamese refugee advocate, Grace Bui, who is based in Bangkok — they were released in early 2018 and now Iive in community housing on the outskirts of Jakarta. They are completely dependent on Indonesian Immigration and the IOM (International Organisation for Migration). We are working very hard to get them accepted for resettlement in a third country — I will share the good news when we know more. Meanwhile, they are all well and happy. They cannot work but the children are learning English and a teacher provided by the IOM is giving them Maths and Social Studies classes. I keep in touch with them via Facebook Messenger.
While it is stressful and suffering to witness and learn about asylum seekers’ story, involving in helping them means exposing yourself and maybe your family in a duration of suffering, why didn't you let it go especially you have done an excellent fund raising for another family before?
I am very passionate about helping asylum seekers and refugees. I visit Villawood Immigration Detention Centre each week as a member of SASS (Supporting Asylum Seekers Sydney) in order to provide support to asylum seekers detained there. I also run programs and teach students about their plight and try to create awareness by writing and publishing occasional articles, as well as volunteering as a guide at the Sydney Jewish Museum, where I combine lessons learned from Jewish history and notably the Holocaust with my passion for social justice. My Judaism plays an instrumental part in my desire to help others: As Jews and humane beings, we are taught to welcome the stranger; to help those less fortunate, and to treat everyone with respect and dignity — the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
Click here for more: https://chuffed.org/project/standing-on-their-own-2-feet
