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Description
Scope/Content: An oral history with Mr. Ken To, born in 1962 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. He was a student learning Chinese and English from 1966 to 1975. After the collapse of South Vietnam, he failed his first attempt at escaping in 1975 but then managed to successfully escape in 1978 by boat to a refugee camp in Pulau Bidong. He left Pulau Bidong in September 1979 via family sponsorship through his cousins who had settled in California after escaping a year prior by flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to California, USA. He discussed his memories of where he was born and how he grew up in Saigon before 1975. He also discussed memories of leaving Vietnam and the struggles he had to overcome during the journey from escaping Vietnam to Pulau Bidong by boat and finally to America via family sponsorship. After coming to the United States, he eventually became a naturalized citizen and took a job as a cashier for most of his life and then became an account executive working at a mortgage company. He lives in Orange, California with his wife and two children. Scope/Content: This recording is from the Vietnamese American Experience Class Oral Histories, 2015 Spring subcollection. Scope/Content: Ken To at his work as an Accountant Executive at Bank of California, Orange, CA, Photographer Thuy Phan, June 2015
Type
sound
Format
2 mp3 audio files; 1 pdf transcription English; 1 pdf time log English; 1 pdf life map English; 8 jpg image files
Boat People | Citizenship | College or university | English as a second language (ESL) | Language barrier | Lawyer | Legal issues | Real estate agent or broker | Refugee camp | Sponsors or sponsorship | Student | Tan Son Nhut Airport | Welfare
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