When’s there’s War, there’s Always Immigration
Marie-France Lê (Montréal, QC, Canada)
My name is Marie-France Lê. My Vietnamese name is Hoa. I’m the mother of three children and my family is very important to me.
There was a lot of political unrest when Northern communist Vietnam defeated the South in 1975. There was no hope for the younger generation at the time, so my parents sent my brother and me away by boat.
We were boat people. It was a well-known movement in South Vietnam, where people would flee the country by boat to find a better life elsewhere. For me, it was hell. There was no oxygen, there was a lot of noise, a lot of stress, and we had no idea where we were headed. We were lucky to avoid being caught by the border guards. We escaped. This was one of the successful journeys of the boat people, because if ever you got caught crossing the maritime border, they would take you and kill you. I told myself death is near, because if the boat sank, it would be over. I cried a lot and asked myself why my parents decided to send us away like this.
The UN has a program for minors, where Canada takes in 100 children during a specific period. I had no idea who my adoptive parents were. This couple came to pick my brother and me up. I remember my adoptive father had blue eyes and when I saw my mother, I saw a very tall lady wearing heels and looking very professional, and I thought, wow, she’s so beautiful. But then I wondered what they would do with me, and how I could give back to them. It’s always fear, fear at having to survive that takes hold. My adoptive parents are very kind. We spoke using the dictionary, as my English wasn’t very good and my French was non existent. They took a lot of time taking care of us, it was unbelievable. The whole experience was the opposite of what I had imagined it would be.
Closed borders are difficult for me to understand on a human level. I’ve asked my adoptive father why there are so many immigrants. We are all immigrants! His answer was: “When’s there’s war, there’s always immigration.” When I left my country and was in a refugee camp, I learned so much. All the stories shared between people fascinated me. We all have unique lives and stories worth sharing. It took me 15 years before I was able to sponsor my birth parents. Through them, I’ve discovered so much about my culture and have learned to live within two distinct cultures, taking the best from both.
L’immigration fait-elle partie de notre identité « Terrienne » ? Regardons tous les moyens possibles d’immigration des années 70 jusqu’à maintenant : « boat people », « walk people », « wall people », « trolley suitcase people »… Quoi encore dans l’imagination humaine ?
Aussi longtemps que les lois d’immigration agissent sévèrement, il y aura encore et encore ces drames d’hommes — alors pourquoi fuyons-nous notre pays, nos racines, nos valeurs? Tout simplement pour une meilleure vie : la liberté, dans le respect.
Est-ce que toutes les inventions ingénieuses des hommes, dans toutes les sphères, nous trahissent en traçant des lignes sur la terre, les frontières, en nous séparant afin de protéger nos propres intérêts sans limites ? Et deviendrons-nous les meilleurs ou bien les égoïstes ?
Excerpt from #FrontièresWalls — Volume 1 Issue 1 of STORIES. Full text available in the print publication.
