“Vietnamese Migrant Reveals Shocking Truth: UK Public Less Welcoming Today Than Post-War Era”
A Vietnamese migrant who fled her home country just after the Vietnam War before reaching the UK has said the public is “not so welcoming” of migrants today.
Yen Hoang Lam, 52, a GP from Wallington, near Croydon, left Vietnam in the late 1970s by boat aged five with her mother, father, and younger twin brothers.
Ms Lam, who spent five years in Scotland before moving to England, told the PA news agency: “Five of us got on a rickety boat and I remember the petrol fumes, the smell of vomit.
“One of my earliest memories is seeing my father cry because he had to… sell everything to get the money to go to Macau.
Ms Lam’s father, Manh Hoang, is of Chinese descent and part of the Vietnamese ethnic minority known as the Hoa, a community that was expelled from Vietnam between 1978 and 1979.
She said her parents’ friends “all turned against them and people were spying on them”, prompting her family to flee by boat to Macau before settling in Hong Kong for a year.
At the time, the UK was on a list of countries receiving Vietnamese migrants, which Ms. Lam’s father chose because he “felt the weather was the mildest”.
The family were flown to Livingston in Scotland and Ms. Lam described their stay there as positive, saying they had been “very well received in the community”.
“The neighbors were nice and helpful and helped my parents a lot. They helped them learn to drive and supported them to settle into the community,” she said.
She recalls a time when some older pupils racially abused her at her school but said it was “the only time I’ve ever experienced anything like that” after her principal punished the students.
She believes that the current perception of migrants by the British public is not the same as its experience more than 40 years ago.
“The public is not as accepted or welcomed now,” she said.
“The feeling towards migrants is very bad. In my time people were very kind to us because it was new.
“I don’t think it felt that bad.
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A new exhibition curated by Voice ESEA, a not-for-profit organization that aims to dispel discrimination against the East and South East Asian (ESEA) community in the UK, will showcase the history of the ESEA community in Britain, including another story about a Vietnamese family. who fled their home country to the UK by boat.
Choon Young Tan, 35, head of events at Voice ESEA, said the exhibition is designed to highlight the “hidden” history of the British ESEA community.
He told the PA: “It reveals and shows the history of British East and South East Asia from the 16th century to the present, detailing our journeys from South East Asia and our struggles with, for example, racism and assimilation.
“But it also highlights our triumphs and shows how embedded we are in British history.”
“I think uncovering these stories completely transforms your sense of belonging and self-confidence to exist fully and proudly.
“We want (the ESEA community) to be seen and we want their stories to be told, so a lot of these stories have been told from the perspective of people from those communities.”
Ms Lam said the new exhibition was a good way to “document” the stories of the Vietnamese community after the war.
Choon Young Tan, 35, head of events at Voice ESEA, said the exhibition is designed to highlight the “hidden” history of the British ESEA community.
He told the PA: “It reveals and shows the history of British East and South East Asia from the 16th century to the present, detailing our journeys from South East Asia and our struggles with, for example, racism and assimilation.
“But it also highlights our triumphs and shows how embedded we are in British history.”
“I think uncovering these stories completely transforms your sense of belonging and self-confidence to exist fully and proudly.
“We want (the ESEA community) to be seen and we want their stories to be told, so a lot of these stories have been told from the perspective of people from those communities.”
Ms Lam said the new exhibition was a good way to “document” the stories of the Vietnamese community after the war.
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