UNREE DEEMD: SUSIE NGUYEN; THE WEALTHY VIETNAMESE REGUGEE

                                         

UNREE DEEMD: SUSIE NGUYEN

THE WEALTHY VIETNAMESE REFUGEE

 ““…God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV).

“... You are my God (my love); I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You (for love), my flesh yearns for You (for love)...” (Psalms 63:1 NLT).

“…God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV).

“…Love is … not self-seeking … It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, Love never fails…” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 NIV).

“…they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing…” (Psalm 34:9-10 NASB). “… [god exists as] …. the one who provides …”(2 Corinthians 9:10-13 KJV).  

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UnRee told Reginald about Susie Nguyen, whose real name was Phuong Nguyen and her journey to America.

Susie came over in a boat, along with hundreds of other refugees. By the time she left Viet Nam, over two million Vietnamese had already fled the country.

Leaving Viet Nam was one thing, but arriving to a safe destination was a whole other story.

Susie saw so many of her people die, alone and without family. She was always worried she too wouldn’t survive the passage; nor would her sisters.

The trip was dangerous even under the best circumstances. The people on Susie’s boat dealt with pirates, monstrous sea storms, and overcrowding.

Susie hoped to resettle in America, but her initial destination choices were limited to Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, or Indonesia.

Many of the neighboring countries were no longer willing to accept boat people, into their country, by the time she arrived.

Susie had finally got on a boat to Southeast Asia, and after all her troubles she or her sisters might not be admitted into the country. There were too many refugees now and it was becoming too costly to host them. Susie feared returning to Viet Nam if she could not resettle elsewhere.

Susie and her sisters ended up and was forced to remain in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia for months before they were able to resettle to the United States.

She was okay with that as long as they weren’t repatriated back to Viet Nam.

They’d already suffered danger, near starvation, unimaginable troubles, and unnecessary cruelty. However, though she was tempted, she didn’t give up and they finally made it to America.

She and her sisters managed to stay together, and after all their troubles to get to the US, their struggled continued.

They didn’t know the English language and thus struggled to gain economic opportunities.

Susie’s parents died when she was 12 years old and she was left to care for her 10 year old and 8 year old sisters. Most people were evacuating the country and resettling in other places, but Susie  could only think about surviving where she was.

People didn’t leave Viet Nam all at once, but economic hardship slowly, but surely had them fleeing the country.

Susie and her sisters struggled with extreme hardship, near starvation, and lack of medical care daily. Even if Susie wanted to leave, the price for permits were about $3,500 each and going up every day to as much as $10,000. Plus she had no gold bars. anyway

If she left Viet Nam with her sisters she would have to do it illegally, without documentation, and in an unreliable boat that would be subject to pirating and horrible sea storms.

Susie quit school and begin to work in order to take care of her siblings. It was a long and difficult 7 years. At 19 years old Susie married Thuc. He was a decent husband who greatly helped her and her sisters.

However, Thuc died of a heart attack, which is the reason Susie made the decision to leave. She and Thuc had been planning to leave since they were married, but he died before they could make the trip. So she and her sisters made the trip to the US without him.

The boat was small and overcrowded. The trip took 10 days and 9 long nights. There was not enough food to sustain the people and after 6 days everyone was hungry and thirsty.

It got so desperate people drank or gave others their urine to drank in order to keep them from fainting or dying.  Yet a few people died anyway.

The exodus of boat people was in the thousands and like everybody else, Susie wanted to resettle. Her preference was the United States.

Susie was certain that she and her sisters would have a better chance in the US. Southeast Asia was not accepting all refugees and after such a long, awful trip that would be horrible news if they were turned back. She didn’t think they would survive it.

Despite the resistance of the Southeast Asian countries to accept new arrivals, Susie and her sisters made it through. Susie plead for temporary asylum and said she wanted to resettle in the US.

They were in the refugee camp for months, but their resettlement to the states was actually accelerated.

The trip was difficult. At one time, a larger boat waved their small boat down promising safety and nourishment. They did feed them well right before robbing them of all their scant valuables. They took everything they had and then threw them off their boat.

Their small boat was in no condition to navigate the open waters and if a larger boat rescued them it was a blessing. Susie, her sisters, and a few others made it back to the small boat.

It was a miracle they were able to continue their journey, but another larger boat, came along, and actually pulled them to safety. Their boat was in horrible condition and they had no supplies. They had no choice but to trust strangers again or risk facing other grave dangers such as storms, diseases, starvation, or death.

Susie was afraid they wouldn’t be able to survive another pirate invasion, but fortunately, the second large boat showed human decency. They were given food and water and bought safely to Southeast Asia.

After a few months in the Southeast Asian refugee camp, Susie and her sisters made it to the United States.

The refugee camp almost broke Susie’s normal resilient soul. She didn’t think she could keep her hope up for herself less known her sisters.

The food and water was scarce. Housing and medical care was limited too. They stayed in the Galang Refugee Camp in Indonesia for months.

Galang was on an island and the majority were boat people like Susie and her sisters. Galang did offer some education. They also offered cultural training and English, but they were not there long enough to benefit from it.

After a few months Susie and her sisters were approved for resettlement in the United States.

Regardless of what she would face, Susie was happy to be in the US. She was concerned about the language barrier and though it would be a problem getting a job in order to make enough money to survive she was grateful for the opportunity.

Susie and her sister had no money and no place to live. They slept on the streets with the rest of the homeless, but someone helped them.

Eventually, they got assistance, shelter, and jobs. Scraping out a living was hard, but they worked together as a team and before long they had an apartment with two bedrooms and one bath. To them, that was a little piece of heaven on earth.

It was meager, in the beginning, but a dream come true at the same time. Susie started working as a dishwasher, then waitress, then cashier, and her sisters worked jobs on the weekend. She managed to get them into a public school after they all took a class to study English.

When their English improved, so did their job opportunities. Susie’s jobs got better and better. After a couple of years or so she had enough money, saved up, to start a small business.

She sold salon supplies little by little and before long Susie began making good money. She and her sisters began to have plenty of material possessions and enjoy many physical comforts as well.

For many years Susie and her sisters were preoccupied with survival and they thought it was the most important thing to seek after, but it wasn’t.

In the beginning they enjoyed every blessing big or small, such as a full meal, a new cup, a toothbrush, a new dress, a good pair of shoes, their own bathroom, their own shelter, etc.

Susie and her sisters never let the accumulation of possessions make them forget the important stuff.  They had love for one another, they were family, and together, with God's help, they had survived.

They were grateful to have their basic needs met, but it was the love, the bond they shared, and their faith and determination that sustained them.

By the time, she was 29 years old Susie married a second time and had more children.

Together the sisters and their husbands invested and built parking lots. It was Susie who allowed Stew to use the upper level of one of their high-rise parking lots.

Her sisters went on to college and majored in business and computer science. They studied hard, became productive citizens, and worked in the family business. Eventually her sisters got married and started families too.

They began acquiring houses, cars, material comforts, and gave to charitable organizations that helped the homeless.

No matter how much of their oral  history they shared with their children born in America, they didn’t get it.

If they didn’t get something they asked for, at the store, they would whine and complain. Susie and her sisters had risked their lives to come to America as a refugee.

They had struggled and nearly starved. They had worked odd and end jobs for a loaf of bread and a one-room apartment.

Susie and sisters were grateful for the little they had. They didn’t whine or complain about what they could or couldn’t afford.

But their American children had no clue of the sacrifices they’d made. It made Susie sad that their children didn’t have a grateful attitude about the privileges they so freely enjoyed.

She and her sisters hadn’t sacrificed and suffered so her children could be privileged kids who whined and complained because they couldn’t get everything they asked for.

Having a better life was not limited to material possessions. In fact, it WAS important, but it was a very small part of what really mattered.

During all their years of struggle what was consistent and plenteous was their love for one another. Even in their darkest hours they hugged each other, encouraged one another, the cried together, they infused hope into one another, and somehow, they found reasons to laugh together.

They were WEALTHY already and didn’t know it. Material possessions bought balance, and a certain amount of physical comfort. But, the love they shared was the bond, the goodness, and the power that bought consistency and unity to their lives, in the past and the present.

It was God’s love and the love he’d empowered them to have for one another that was MOST valuable. It was God’s love that made them content no matter whether they were dirt poor or their cup was running over with material wealth.

“…There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life…” (John 15:13 NLT). “… [Nothing]…will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord…” (Romans 8:31-39 NASB). He has “….loved [you]...with an everlasting love….” (Jeremiah 31:3 KJV).

There is NO love, in all the world or universe, greater than God’s love. “…There is no greater love …” (John 15:13 NLT). “…there is  none like unto thee…” (Jeremiah 10:6 KJV).

“…I have learned to be CONTENT whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want…” Philippians 4:11-12 NIV). “… I can do (be CONTENT) all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13 KJV). “… The Lord is my shepherd; I SHALL not want. … …” (Psalms 23 KJV). “…All things work together for GOOD (God’s kind of good) to them that LOVE GOD, to them who are THE CALLED to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 KJV). “….all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come…” (Job 14:14 KJV).

“…God is the one who provides …” (2 Corinthians 9:10-13 KJV). “… God will supply all [your need]…” (Philippians 4:19 NASB). “[God] …Holy Spirit …is the SOURCE [of it ALL]…” (2 Corinthians 12 NLT).

Susie and her sisters wanted the next generation of their family to be decent people too, who stood upon the right values.

Susie became the elder of her family at 12 years old. She experienced years without family support system from an elder. She’d occasionally whined and complained about it, in her heart, until she met UnRee who had no one and no family support system.

It saddened her. Her sisters always welcomed her into their lives. They called her, checked on her, visited her, helped her when she needed them, and spent time with her just because they wanted to. On the streets, everybody didn’t have that support from family members and maybe never would.

When Susie met UnRee at the shelter she volunteered at, she knew she would never have the family support she’d had.

 When UnRee told Susie about Jesus looking for her, Susie agreed he was, indeed looking for her, because he always looked for the lost. Susie told her when he found her he would give her a family who loved and supported her.

Susie never forgot what UnRee told her. So she changed her prayer requests and asked Jesus to find her children too, as well as her nieces and nephews so they wouldn’t lose the important values such as God’s kind of love, family, and unity or things that really mattered. “…The Son of man came to seek and to save THAT WHICH WAS LOST…” (Luke 19:10 KJV).

“…God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). “…Love [is[ … the perfect BOND of UNITY...” (Colossians 3:14 NASB).

 “...Jesus saith…I am THE WAY, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6 KJV).