陳白菊 《 Camp D 》 美國

        In 1979,  there  was  a  government  program that allowed all Chinese expatriates to leave  Vietnam.  Seizing  the  opportunity for a new life,  we sold everything we had and left  Vietnam  on a fishing boat along  with  other  Chinese  families.  After  nine days of sailing on turbulent  waters,  we  finally  landed  in  Bangka,  an island of Indonesia.  We were brought to a refugee camp.  As  we  rode  into camp in the back of  a  truck,  people from the camp rushed out.  We  were  surrounded by men with bare chests and long hair. Their skin was so dark in that if you used  your  fingernail  to scribble  words on it,  they would show up clearly.  We  were  very scared as we didn’t know who these people were or what country were they from.  Were  they  trying  to  rob  us?  To our relief,  we heard Vietnamese amongst the dark men’s voices.  It  turned out this was a Vietnamese refugee camp.  As we were waiting to see if someone would accept our family into their camp,  a few  of the  long-haired  fishermen  approached  us.  They  were  loud,  intimidating,  yet playful and intriguing at the same time.  One of them asked  "Welcome to Camp Airraja. Did you find a campsite?"  We shook our heads and sheepishly said "not yet".  My father looked at them warily;  moving in with a bunch of rowdy single men spelled trouble.  At the same time, no one seemed to be willing to take a big family like  ours.  "We can take you in.“ One of the guys shouted. "You'll be happy at Trại Dê.” (Trại Dê means Camp D, but “Dê” is also a Vietnamese slang term for “pervert”) They all burst into an obnoxious laughter at their creative pun.

        The Vietnamese refugee camp consisted of many small hastily-built sites.  Each site housed about  50-80  people.  Camp  D  was situated on high  ground.  Rows  of wooden platforms were built from one end to the other  end  of  camp.  There  were  no  walls  so people hung sheets to partition their spaces for privacy.  The  camp was full of bed bugs, eagerly feeding on the blood of new residents.  I remember many rough nights of tossing and turning. It took us months to get used to their bites.

        Many  of  the  men  in  Camp  D  were fishermen from the same village in Vietnam. Many of them were either part of young families or single men.  They  were a  tight-knit group.  Life at camp was carefree and slow.  Besides cooking three meals,  people  spent their days loitering or  lounging  around.  Some  Catholic  worshipers  congregated  at  a small  church  built  by  some  refugee  families.  Some  men  played  volleyball.  Others formed singing groups.  People passed the days while waiting for a country kind enough to sponsor them.  There  was barely enough food to feed our family of 10.  Every month, each family received a ration of  rice,  oil,  eggs,  and cabbages.  When we were running out of rice,  we  would  eat  porridge.  People  who  had  money  could  afford  meat  and supplement their meals. Others who had friends or relatives from abroad would conserve their food ration until that money arrived. We did not have that luxury.

        My  Sister  Five,  Chị  Năm  was  very  resourceful.  She  crocheted colorful dusters made out  of  plastic  fiber  string.  We  hung  our  dusters  along  the road and sold them to city tourists.  We  didn't  make  much but it kept us from being  hungry.  The  Camp D men  suggested  that  we  make  hammocks from the same fiber  string.  They  taught  us how  to  make  hammocks  using the same technique they used to darn their fishing nets. And so, a new product line was added.

        My  Dad  handled the front-end sales while we  managed the  back-end  production. The men pitched in to help us.  They found a new purpose and we found new friendship. Together,  we  made  a  great  team.  Who  would  have  thought  that  a  bunch  of young  fishermen  and  young  girls  could  work  together  and  make  the  use  of  our   limited resources?   After   our  work  was  done,  we  watched  the  men  play  volleyball  in  the afternoon and cheered  them  on.  I  appreciated  the  kindness  and  the  humility that the Camp D men had given  us.  It  was  a  wonderful  experience  that I will not forget and I really wouldn’t have changed a thing.

陳白菊 (Laura Tran)