11th March 2015 at 3am: I can still remember clearly like it happened 10 minutes ago. It was warm in Cabramatta that autumn night and I couldn't sleep. I had not had a proper night’s sleep for a couple of weeks.
So I sat at home, staring at my passport, not knowing what could happen or where I might end up after the next two weeks. And I knew that sometime within the next 24 hours, I would be in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 7,000 kilometres away from home. My life was about to dramatically change.
During my childhood, I was never told that my biological father might still be alive and well somewhere in Vietnam. I discovered this when I turned 17.
Before then, mum never spoke of dad, and I was told many different stories about my dad. Not one of the stories about dad made any sense to me back then. Why? Well because they were all different.
Joe as a baby shortly after the family's arrival in Sydney.
I remember I asked my mother once about my MIA dad in 1999. Mamma almost had a mental breakdown so I never asked her again because I don't want to hurt my mum any more than I already have, during my teenage years when I was Chasing the Dragon, aka taking heroin, in Cabramatta.
The local Vietnamese in Sydney still call Ho Chi Minh City, ‘Saigon’, even though it was changed after the end of the Vietnam War on the 30th April 1975, which was when the South Vietnamese Army was defeated by the Northern Armies Lead by Ho Chi Minh.
Every Vietnamese person in Vietnam during that era had to change their lives after that event.
My mother was just one of the people who had to escape Vietnam via any transport possible, so mum jumped on a boat, while she was pregnant with me, and sailed across the South China Sea looking for freedom, which at the time was Australia in 1983, leaving behind everything and everybody she knew including my dad.
A young Joe with his mum, Thi Thanh Phuong Le.
Growing up in Cabramatta in the 90s, I was led to believe by my mother and the South Vietnamese Community in Sydney that all Vietnamese people in Vietnam were bad people because they were communist and they destroyed our home.
Growing up I never understood this either, because Australia is my home and the only thing that gets destroyed in Sydney is the NSW Origin team, except in 2014, we won.
I decided to learn more about Vietnamese history and my heritage - why does my community hate the Vietnamese people in Vietnam? I do not think all Vietnamese citizens are bad... not any more.
After returning to Vietnam and then flying back home to Sydney again, my views of a nation now, changed.
Joe tells the story of his life to Dateline's Catherine Scott.
I use to think that my mother escaped Vietnam after the war because the Viet Cong would kill everyone they found or lock them up in death camps and when I heard someone say ‘Vietnam’ my thought was only about the Vietnam War, but now when I think back to Vietnam, I see a Dragon.
I am 32-years-old and I am yet to meet my dad. I want to meet my father before it becomes too late, I would much prefer to visit a person than visit a tombstone.
I grew up in Australia but I never experienced the ‘happy home’ family lifestyle which I saw most of my high school friends had and I didn't, and never understood it.
So I searched, and came up with this quote "Everybody’s got a life, and everybody’s got a different life, make the best of yours, today."
See Joe's story, Chasing the Dragon: Return to Vietnam, in full above and read the blog he wrote after meeting his dad, as he describes how much it means to him.
After the story was broadcast, Joe also posted this photo and update on Facebook about his mum...
"If you're wondering how my relationship with my Mum is these days. I was with Mum earlier today, and today marks 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War on 30 April 1975. Mum & I decided to share a coffee today. Mum now shares with me all her stories from the past and present. Love you Mum."
Joe and his mum in 2015.
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