I was born in Haiphong, Vietnam. I went to school there and was growing up there. Later I became a teacher in a primary school. In the late1970s, The Vietnamese Government drove the ethnic Chinese there out of the country. In 1979 I was in Hong Kong. In 1980 I arrived in the UK under the then refugee settlement programme.

Since I didn’t speak any English, I could not find employment and it remained so all these years. However I have taken part in a bit of volunteering activities in community centres in east London. I tried my best to help others who needed support. I did what I could do to help. I have been a refugee myself. I know what the experience of being a refugee is like, this is because I have gone through similar hardships in life. It’s a horrible experience. When you are on a boat travelling in the rough sea, you never know where you may end up. You may end up in the stomach of a big shack. You’d be lucky to have survived such a journey unhurt.

My neighbours where I am now living are friendly. The streets are tranquil and peaceful. In the morning you’d see mums on their ways to drop off their kids, and then in the afternoon picking them up from the school. I often go out for a walk in the park or go for some shopping in the morning. People around here treat me very well. Many of them are from Eastern Europe. We’d say “Hello” to each other whenever we meet and say “Good Morning” in the morning. There is an English lady who has been living in this neighbourhood for decades. She is nice too.

Had we were still in Vietnam, our children would not have been able to see the Western world, the life style, the scientific advancement and so on in the West. In the West there are new things that our children are able to experience and see. Now I have brought my children here, they are able to see the advanced civilization in the West, the society, the welfare, the culture, politics, and so on and so forth. There are lots of things that they are seeing but would not have been able to see and learn, had we stayed in Vietnam.