The Vietnamese Boat People

In virtually every city, state and strip mall across the U.S., people get their nails done in salons likely owned by Vietnamese entrepreneurs. How did our community come to dominate the $8 billion dollar nail salon industry? Director Adele Free Pham set out to explore the history of Vietnamese nail salons and discovered it all began with 20 Vietnamese refugee women and a chance encounter with famed Alfred Hitchcock actress and humanitarian Tippi Hedren. The "first 20" Vietnamese manicurists sought a way to support their children and families, unknowingly sparking a cultural phenomenon.  https://www.naileditdoc.com Featured Song: “Had to Hustle” by Chuck Free Pham and Track Producer DJ Ananse

Leo was only 26 years old, one of the youngest crewmen on the US Navy chartered military vessel, the SS Trans Colorado. On August 11, 1980 in the midst of a storm, Leo was on watch to steer the ship, when he spotted a small fishing boat far away with two men holding up a red flag in distress. Little did he know that his crew was about to change the fate of 67 refugee lives on that boat.

In 1980, Nesta arrived at the Singapore Refugee camp for the first time, looking to do something meaningful with her time and skills. At first, she was overwhelmed by the chaos and traumatic experiences that the refugees had just gone through. Using a combination of her training, pure instincts and cultural understanding, Nesta became instrumental in helping the refugees transition into new lives and resettlement countries. The experiences at the camp also had a profound effect on her professional and personal life. 

Meredith couldn’t bare to sit back and watch the boat people crisis unfold in the news. In 1979, she was among one of the first to volunteer at a makeshift refugee camp at 25 Hawkins Road, Sembawang, Singapore; the site of a former British barrack. She started the language program at the camp, and touched the lives of over 30,000 refugees. Including one young man, with Meredith’s help, was able to hear the sound of freedom for the first time.

VBP Student Spotlight: Tuan Pham, a graduate student from Yale School of Art, talks about living in a liminal space as an immigrant in America. As a child transitioning and navigating the ‘unknown’ he was constantly trying to bridge the ‘what was’ and ‘what next’. An introspective journey over the years from rediscovering Vietnam and himself, to studying Vietnamese artists, has enabled him to appreciate that ambiguity can give you the freedom to explore and create. And how that inspired his winning logo design for the Vietnamese Boat People which portrays the arduous journeys and the stories of the human spirit.  

VBP Student Spotlight: Beatrice Bui, a student from University of California Berkley, shares how her family came to America and how the stories of the Vietnamese diaspora has influenced her as a designer. She won the VBP design People’s choice award for her original design that portrays the struggles of the Vietnamese boat people refugees and the inner-generations that connect to form the community and the resiliency.  

Chris is the third child out of seven kids. He remembers vivdily the drastic change overnight of going from riches to rags, from pampered baby to slumdog in a war-torn country. He did whatever it took to survive and make money to care for his younger siblings. He was 13 when he made his first attempt to flee the country with his brothers. This is a story about brotherhood and the sacrifices a mother makes, so her children could have a better life.

Steve, born in 1961 in Vietnam, was only 14 years old when the South had lost the war to North Vietnam. The eldest son of a socialite family, Steve’s childhood was filled with whatever he wanted. All of that disappeared overnight. A wealthy boy who had never had to do anything for himself but enjoy life, was suddenly forced to become a man. As the oldest child of seven, he quickly felt the burden of having to provide for the family. 

Episode 3 continues the story of JoAnh who was just three days old when her family had to flee the city of Da Nang Vietnam, just 30 days before the Fall of Saigon. After the war ended, families were stripped of any wealth and personal possessions and many were separated and sent to reeducation camps under the Communist regime. JoAnh’s family escaped Vietnam in phases, eventually reuniting in America in 1981. She shares her earliest memory of what life was like as a refugee child and the importance of having family during the challenges and transitions.

On March 30, 1975, a Saigon government spokesman said that radio contact with South Vietnamese port of Da Nang had been lost, indicating that the city had fallen to the North Vietnamese. Just days before, a mother wrapped her three-day old baby in a hand-knit sweater as she prepared to evacuate the city of Da Nang. The family, with five other children and a newborn, fought their way through the flooded streets of rampant panic would later get separated, including losing their newborn baby.