The struggle of a Vietnamese family in pursuit of the American dream. How would you feel if everything you had worked for was stripped away: your job, your land, your house, and even your family? This is a story of the struggle of a Vietnamese family in pursuit of the American dream; a hope of freedom, independence, and happiness.

On May 16th of 1963, my father, Thanh Van Nguyen, was born into a poor Vietnamese family. When he was 10 years old growing up in Vietnam, he remembered the times being very difficult because of the civil war being fought between the communist controlled north and the southerners who believed in a free world for all of Vietnam. My father recalls seeing American troops patrolling his village by day but at night the soldiers retreated back to their bases while the Viet Cong would invade the area to find shelter, food supplies, and people to interrogate. On most occasions, fighting inevitably broke out among the village and the aftermath always resulted in the death of many innocent civilians. One of which, most dear to my father, was his grandfather. During an attack on his village, his grandfather was caught between the lines of fire and was killed. My father recalls having to run from village to village, from area to area with his family in order to escape the fighting that would break out to avoid anymore loss; but him and his family knew very well that even after the weapons ceased that they would have to return home to their village because that was their home, whether it was destroyed or not.

After the American troops were ordered to withdraw from Vietnam leaving South Vietnam to fend for themselves, the south eventually fell in 1975 because of lack of financial and military support from the US. It was a dangerous time for many individuals living in the southern areas. The Viet Cong would invade every single city to restore order and to regain control of each village. There was hardly a place where one could go in order to hide from the communists because they were everywhere. When the communist controlled North took over the South, they also took away many rights of those who had fought against them. Properties, businesses, bank accounts, and other profitable goods were stripped away from families, leaving them with nothing to call their own. Many family members who were suspected of fighting against the communist were imprisoned while others were executed on the spot. As a result of this purge, many Vietnamese families fled the country either by boat or by foot. Doing so was a great risk for many people as there was no tolerance for anyone trying to leave the borders. Countless were murdered, either by the communist, or by Thai pirates raiding the sea while the others who traveled by land were killed on the spot.

In 1982, my father met my mother, Le Tran. They both fell in love with each other and decided to get married that same year. By this time, my father had finished some school but was required by law to join forces with the Communist army. When I asked my father why he didn�t join the army for his own protection he told me, �They took away my families property, our land. They took away our money, we had nothing left. And they took the life of my grandfather.� This is good enough reason for anyone not to be apart of something they had come to hate so much. Later that year, my mother and father would plan to escape the country. They didn�t tell anyone of their plans because they weren�t sure who was working for the Viet Cong, and they also did not want their families to worry about them because they knew it would be a dangerous risk to leave the country. It was only days away when my father would be forced to join the communist army so he made a decision to leave with only one thing, his loving wife. With the little money they had saved up, they took a bus to the Cambodian border. On the way they would be questioned by several different communist officers about where they were going but they always gave the same answer, �We�re just going to visit family.� They weren�t able to carry any items or information because if they were caught with anything suspicious, they would have immediately been suspected of trying to escape and would have been executed. Fortunately, when they crossed the border into Cambodia, security officers on the other side took it easy on my father because he knew both Vietnamese and Cambodian.

In Cambodia my father was able to find an old professor from when he was a younger child in school. This teacher took my mother and father and gave them a place to stay in the old abandoned movie theater that had been destroyed by a bomb in the aftermath of Khmer Rouge. It was there that my mother got pregnant with Bich Chi, my older sister. During the day my mother would go out to the streets and sell different kinds of foods to the locals while my father used his bicycle to transport people from one location to another, using the money he saved to prepare himself for the next journey � out of Cambodia and into Thailand.

My parents took a train by night close to the Cambodian � Thailand border, while being very cautious because the Khmers and the Vietnamese were still fighting with each other. Before reaching the border they got off the train and started off on foot walking through the thick jungles and forest of the area to get to the other side. They went 3 days and 2 nights without any food or water before arriving at a refugee camp on the other side of the border. It was there at this camp that they received medical attention and food supplies but they were constantly on the run because the refugee camp was still under attack from both countries fighting with one another. The Red Cross offered my family help by allowing them an interview with the U.S. Embassy when they would come to visit the refugee camp to see who was qualified to be sponsored to come to America. Fortunately, because my parents were able to write back home to their family who were still in Vietnam, they were able to obtain information about the only family they had in the U.S.A. Tran Ngoc Hien. My mother�s first cousin offered to help by sponsoring my family over to America. This was the qualification needed from the U.S. Embassy to finalize their transportation overseas but they would still need to make their way into the Philippines. Unfortunately, 3 months after arriving in Thailand, Bich Chi caught a sickness and died because of lack of medical attention. My father buried her near the Cambodian � Thailand border. Later that year on July 25th, 1985 I was born, the same day that my parents received letter from Vietnam that my uncle was willing to help. Co Hai, as I would call him, sent about $50 in cash to help my mother buy enough food to open up a store at a refugee camp to help raise money for their journey to the Philippines.

When they arrived in the Philippines, they were required to do a 7-month orientation training program that would teach them the basics of English to prepare them for a life in America. In 1986 of Nov. my younger sister, Hue Nguyen was born. Because my mother had been pregnant with her, the date of their departure was postponed until they knew that my mother was stable enough to fly overseas with her newborn daughter. Nov. 27th of 1986, my family and I would arrive in San Francisco, California, where we would be greeted by a face I had never seen before but a face that my mother and father had recognized from many years before. My uncle took us back home to San Rafael, California while he would apply for housing for us since we were considered refugees. My father got a job working as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant with my uncle in San Francisco while my mother cleaned houses with my auntie in the Novato/San Rafael area for the wealthier people. My father was getting paid about $4.50 an hour while my mother was getting paid anywhere between $30-40 dollars a day for the houses she had cleaned. Because my parents spent so much time working, my mother had to leave us with a babysitter which cost her about $20 dollars a day so you can see that we didn�t have much to live on but nevertheless, we got by.

In 1989, my father enrolled in school at a local community college by the name of College of Marin and my mother did the same. There they both took classes to help them better their English proficiency skills. My father also took classes to get his auto-body & fender license to repair cars while my mother started to get involved with learning how to do nails in San Francisco with my auntie. Soon my father was able to find a job doing auto-body work but it hardly paid as much as my mother was getting paid for working at my aunties new nail shop in Tiburon, California. My father knew that he had better English speaking skills so he decided to go and get his nail license so he could help my mother open up a business of her own.

In 1994-1995, my father finally got his license and my mother decided that she wanted to move away to start this new business of hers. She chose Tuscaloosa, Alabama because there wasn�t any competition in the nail salon industry, well not as much as there was in California; also it seemed like a good environment in which to raise a family. My sister and I cried about it everyday, but my father lied to us saying that we would only move away for a couple of years and move back when we had saved up enough money.

In March of 1995, my parents would finally make the move out to the other part of the country to start a new life with another close Vietnamese family that we had become friends with over the years. It was here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that they would open up their first nail shop. My father would name it Me Le Nails. It started with one shop and prospered with much tears and sweat. In 1997, with the money they saved, they opened up another location in the mall that was very successful. In 2002 they would purchase someone else�s store and the following year purchase another salon that was much closer to home. The business idea started small but it grew into something that has become successful in the Tuscaloosa area that is known and respected by many.

It�s been 20 years for me to finally come to terms with the reality of what my parents had to endure for me and my sister. My parents started out with a simple dream that would take them through a very dangerous journey, risking being caught, being killed, and having to endure hunger and hardship. This dream that they had together started over 20 years ago and have led them to the success they have achieved today. The purpose of my speech is to encourage all of you to follow your dreams because if you want it bad enough you can achieve anything you set your mind to because of the freedom that you have here in America. Don�t let anyone hold you down from achieving your true potential, and definitely don�t take what has been given to you for granted as so many people do. Remember my story, my parents� struggle, how they had to fight so hard to get this opportunity to be in the land of the free.