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JULY 16, 2014
SHE’S a familiar face on Australian TV, but what you may not realise is that behind that newsreader cool, Tracy Vo has quite the story to tell.
“Well, my parents escaped Vietnam on a boat in 1978,” she tells news.com.au from her car, where she’s bunkered down chasing a story on the streets of Perth for Channel Nine. “But their story isn’t unique. It was a period when everyone wanted to leave, and that was just how they did it.”
Life was dangerous in Vietnam in the years following the war. Buildings and infrastructure had been wiped out throughout the country. Soldiers occupied homes so they could control family affairs, and people were left in a state of limbo as they waited for the new Communist government to take control.
“My father’s family had all been involved in the war in some capacity, in the air force or the army,” Tracy explains. “Dad is one of 24 kids, and he was training for the air force. They had a lot of tough times during that period, but even after the war ended it was pretty hard for them — they were living quite sparsely, the government kept changing over the currency, and they just had no money.
“Dad worked on the black market for a few years, as did my mother. Before the war mum used to work in a pharmacy, so she was sent out to sell medication to people who needed it, things like Panadol and the pill. And that’s where mum and dad met — on the streets of Saigon. Dad needed to buy some medication for one of his sisters.
“Every day there was someone planning a way to escape. It was always by boat at that time as well. Dad had one or two attempts at getting out, but they fell through. One time, my father and his younger brother had two spots on a boat, they waited all night and it just didn’t come. My uncle, uncle number five, finally decided to take matters into his own hands, and he sought out a boat himself.
“It was a long process but he ended up taking my parents and some aunties and uncles in 1978, three years after the war ended. They left in the middle of the night to travel to Malaysia, who were one of four countries to have set up an immigration desk.”
As a child, Tracy says she couldn’t quite grasp the enormity of her parents having escaped Vietnam. “Growing up, I knew parts of this story and that they had come by boat, but I didn’t know the details,” she says.
“My parents were quite blasé about it — for them it was normal, but for us it’s not. It was quite interesting when I finally got to hear what kind of boat, if they had food and water … they didn’t, and the boat they bought was pretty much destroyed. It had almost sunk by the time they made it to the second one.”
But because her parents got on that boat, Tracy, now 30, and her brother Trevor, 34, were given “the freedom to enjoy the life they could never have experienced in Vietnam.”
“We grew up as the only Asians on the street in Perth’s northern suburbs,” Tracy laughs. “My parents integrated quite quickly, and that was a reflection on my brother and I.
“My brother befriended the neighbourhood kids, and we had so much fun growing up together. It wasn’t until primary school that I was told I was different to look at, and you know it did change my perspective on who I was. But my experience overall hasn’t been negative in the slightest, and most of my life I haven’t been confronted by it. So on a personal note, every time I hear about someone fleeing to come to Australia, I know why they want to. My parents say every day, Australia is such a wonderful country. And, it is. ”
Tracy and her family’s story is told in more detail in Small Bamboo , a book she wrote so that “people can understand the situation on both ends — people who live here and people who come here.”
When I ask her if she thinks Australians understand the lengths people go to come to here and why, she answers without hesitation: “I think most people do understand, it’s just the minority who can be quite ignorant about what people go through in other countries,” she says.
“I’ve travelled the world and I’ve seen different highs and lows because of my job, and I also have the knowledge of my parent’s experience. So I completely understand why people want to come here. My family always say if they could open their doors to refugees they would, because they’ve experienced it, and they’d love to continue that generosity.
“Obviously the situation now is different to when my parents came, and I can understand why there is now a different process as to who can and can’t come here. But in my experience, we are a lucky country, and if we can be generous, gosh, why not.”
Why not indeed.
Small Bamboo
How my family's journey on a leaky boat led to our wonderful life in Australia
Tracy Vo
An extraordinary story of escaping Vietnam to create a happier life in Australia.
Description:
In 1978, following a dramatic escape from war torn Vietnam, Tracy Vo's parents boarded a leaky boat not knowing what their future held or whether they would live. The couple had fled Vietnam under the cover of darkness, exchanged wedding rings en route to Malaysia, then sold them and their scant possessions to feed themselves and their 10 relatives on the journey. They were declared refugees.
Now, almost 40 years later, their decision to flee Vietnam has been rewarded by a happy and successful life for their family in Australia, the country they are now proud to call home. Here, their daughter Tracy reflects on that life changing journey and the amazing life it created for them in Australia. Today, Tracy is a successful Channel 9 journalist who has chosen to return to her family home to care for her family as they enter old age. Her story shows the extraordinary bravery of her parents and the many refugees like them who now call Australia home.
Tracy Vo is a Channel 9 journalist. Having worked for many years in Sydney, she has now returned to Perth to continue her broadcast career while she takes care of her ageing parents.
Small Bamboo: http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781743316153
http://www.lyhuong.net/uc/index.php/thuyennhan/3707-3707
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781743316153
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