Immigrants has had a big impact on America, it’s what makes America so unique from other countries. My family is part of that, we’re originally from Vietnam but then my parents came to America to have a new and better life then they did back in a third world country. Throughout the years they have spent in America and when they first came to America, they had a lot of struggles they had to face.
First it’s all started with the Vietnam War that started in 1975. My dad was in the air force for Vietnam, he had to move all along the country to avoid the northern Viet, known as the communist. With doing this he had to leave the family behind, my mom and he were newlyweds and they had my brother that was two at the time, soon after my mom had my sister. With leaving that all behind because of the war, it took a toll on my dad. It was hard being able to stay in touch with the family and being away from them.
After a year of moving around my dad and his group had to escape Vietnam, the communist were getting to crazy and it was the only thing they can do in order to save their lives. With them leaving right away they weren’t able to tell their families where they were heading and when they were. With that, my dad had to leave my mom and the family behind. He wanted to do something to bring them but there was no way of doing so. They first traveled to Guam and then soon to America. My dad’s sponsor lived in Camas Washington, as he got to America he looked for a job and learned the language, he became a carpenter.

While my mom was still in Vietnam with my sister and brother, living with my dad’s side of the family was very hard on her. Something to know about Asian families is that reputation is everything to them always presents yourself with manners and show that you were properly raised by your parents. That was something that was really important to my dad’s side of the family. They kept my mom on a short leash needing to know everything that she did and how she was presenting herself the town. With having to deal with all that and how crazy the communist was acting she had to get out of the county. There was a risky way of escaping the country, it was getting on a little boat and riding it all the way to China. If you got caught you would be beaten to death and tortured. My mom didn’t want to involve my siblings in this plan because if she did get caught she wanted it to be only her. Therefore she left my siblings with my grandma. She didn’t tell them where she was going, her exact words were... ”Mom could you watch them, I have something that I have to do today...” That night they sneaked out onto the pier dressed in all black getting on the boat. After reaching far enough from Vietnam they spotted a much bigger boat. They picked my mom and her friends up and brought them to Hong Kong that is where my mom got in touch with my uncle.
After a few days my uncle told my mom that he got in touch with my dad and that he made it to America safely and is starting a life there. When my mom heard this she was over filled with joy, after she got in touch with my dad he sponsored her over to America. When she first came here, she was overwhelmed. Everything was so different than what she was used to, such as how everything worked and the way everyone did things. My dad and my mom tried figuring out a way to get my siblings over as soon as possible. But there was nothing they could do at the moment. The only thing they could do was wait and see wish for the best.

After a year the communist allowed the Chinese people that were living in Vietnam to leave on a boat. My dad’s side of the family was the “wealthy family” so my grandma bought the whole family tickets to get on because we’re part Chinese. My aunt pretended that she was that way she could take of my siblings for my mom. After their long trip, they arrived to Hong Kong. They lived there for a year, while my parents back home were getting ready for everyone to come over to America. They just had my brother; he was a newborn at the time. A few months later, the whole family came over to America. My family lived in poverty at the time. My dad didn’t make that much money and my mom stayed home and took care of my siblings and the whole family. They lived in a two bedroom apartment with a total of five people living together. My parents had their own room and everyone else shared the other. The living conditions weren’t great but from all the stories that I’ve heard it wasn’t bad. They had the time of their life when they lived in Camas. There was this old lady her name was Christine and she helped my family out a lot with everything, her whole church group helped my family get through so much. After my dad saved enough money, he looked for a house for our family.
Finally after looking everywhere, he found a house in Vancouver where I still live in the house till this day. My family was so happy when we first bought the house, where they finally had room and had everything they wanted. We owe everything to the old lady named Christine, my parents wanted to do something special to show her, that’s how I got my name. My parents named her after me. Cause of her we are where we are today. My parents started with nothing and now they are both successful and loving people. My family started with nothing and now we are well off and my siblings all have a wonderful life, while I finish my last year of high school and planning on attending a University, hopefully The University of Washington. If it wasn’t for my parents leaving Vietnam, my siblings wouldn’t be where we are today. We wouldn’t get the chances and the opportunities that we have.