The Gratitude and “Giving Back” Continues

By Bill Applegate

Nhan Vo, Chairman, International Central Committee of Vietnamese Scouting (ICCVS), in Tacloban on January 4, 2014.
He is one of many who mobilized the Vietnamese-American Community to help Philippine typhoon victims.

The Vietnamese-American community was one of the first to immediately mobilize and respond to aid the Filipino people affected by Typhoon Haiyan. Contributions sent to the US-Philippines Society from Vietnamese-Americans all over the United States have reached nearly $300,000. Donations have been sent to partner organizations to assist in relief and recovery efforts.

Why this generosity? Bill Applegate talks about the inherent trait of Philippine hospitality and Vietnamese gratitude for assistance rendered by Filipinos during their time of need a generation ago.

Two Cultures, One Heart. December 2013
Bill Applegate, Friends of the Philippines Council , San Francisco, CA

Genuine hospitality is a natural and instinctive trait of the Philippine people. Genuine gratitude is a gracious and timeless virtue amongst the Vietnamese, especially those who have come to the U.S. The recent generous donation of $400,000 by the Vietnamese community in southern California for the Philippine victims of typhoon Haiyan is very much in character. Other Vietnamese communities in the U.S. are raising funds as this is written. In addition to donations from California, the US-Philippines Society has received contributions and pledges from Vietnamese-American groups in the Washington, D.C. area, New England, and Louisiana totaling nearly $300,000, funds that are flowing to typhoon victims and their families.

The two cultures are of one heart, born out of hospitality shown to refugees fleeing persecution years ago, and reflected in their immediate donation response to their first host country in time of need. Vietnamese are not the only people “giving back.” A Korean-American foundation formed to aid children raised $40,000 for typhoon relief. In presenting their contribution, the group recalled Philippine support during the Korean War.

The Philippines and Indochinese refugees

In the final days before the fall of Saigon in April 1975, some 140,000 Vietnamese who were closely associated with the former South Vietnamese government were evacuated by air and sea from the country and eventually resettled in the United States. Some of these first evacuees arrived by plane in transit to the U.S. via Clark Airbase, a major U.S airbase in the Philippines. Some 30,000 arrived in Subic Bay on a number of Vietnamese Navy vessels that managed to escape.

Shortly after the fall of Vietnam to communism in 1975, the Philippines graciously welcomed and accommodated over 300,000 Indochinese refugees over a 20 year period.

Many of the refugees were Vietnamese “boat people” who attempted a treacherous South China Sea escape in search of freedom after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Once past the dragnet of communist guards and patrols, the fleeing refugees risked drowning or dying from thirst, hunger, and harsh elements. Terrifying pirate attacks were also a danger for those desperate and courageous enough to make the perilous sea journey. Some 200,000 Vietnamese “boat people” were presumed to have been lost at sea, while over 796,000 made landfall in South East Asia and several other countries. The 51,000 boat people who made it to the Philippines were lucky indeed. Most nations were initially less friendly, sometimes hostile.

By 1979 the UNHCR and the US Department of State negotiated and organized a unique network of first asylum cooperation with ASEAN countries, plus Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, for a more humanitarian response to the Indochinese refugee crisis. Bolstered by incentives encouraging rescue-at-sea, orderly departure, and limiting the push factor from Vietnam, this unprecedented initiative saved many lives and enabled the eventual resettlement of over 2 million Indochinese land and boat refugees to the U.S. and other countries.

Part of this agreement also included the establishment of major refugee processing centers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Philippine Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo lead the way with an initial generous offer of safe-haven for Indochinese refugees in his country.

The Philippines and WW II / post WW II refugees

The Philippines has a history, almost a tradition, of being a refugee safe-haven for people fleeing tyranny, having welcomed grateful refugee groups from Germany and Russia years before the Indochinese refugee influx:

During WWII the Philippine government under President Manuel Quezon literally came to the rescue of some 1200 Jews who fled Nazi Germany and gave them asylum and a new home in the Philippines. A recently released movie “Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge From the Holocaust” is a major tribute and testament of gratitude to the Philippines for its heroic and generous action.

After WWII, in 1949 the Philippines gave refuge on Tubabao Island near Guiuan town, Eastern Samar to some 6000 White Russians fleeing the communist revolution in China. Unfortunately, Guiuan was totally devastated by typhoon Haiyan last November. In October of 2011 a 72-year old Russian folk singer living in the United States, Nikolai Massenkoff returned to Guiuan, to show gratitude for allowing him and the other Russians to stay there. He flew in from San Francisco to give a “Thank You, Philippines” concert.

Philippine hospitality – first asylum – two stories

An especially poignant story of genuine Philippine hospitality comes to memory. After a several harrowing weeks at sea, a badly battered boat with a couple dozen nearly lifeless Vietnamese refugees on board had drifted into Philippine waters near a coastal resort area in Batangas a few hours’ drive from Manila. The unseaworthy craft’s occupants were suffering badly from thirst, hunger, and exposure to the harsh tropical sun. They were rescued by local fishermen and were subsequently brought by authorities to a refugee transit center in Manila… all except for one very young infant who was so dehydrated, malnourished and weak that even the half day trip to Manila was not advised.

During the later part of the sea crossing the child’s mother had kept her child barley alive by mixing her own meager supply of breast milk with sea water. A local Filipino fishing family took the child in, and one of the women lovingly wet nursed the listless child back to full health. After a few months a fully recovered and healthy child was returned to its grateful parents. This touching incident is reminiscent of “gota de leche” (a drop of milk), a natural community response during WWII when Philippine wet nurses lovingly kept many orphaned infants alive.

Compassion was also evident on a Philippine beach farther South when even battle tested Philippine Marines assisting with the beaching of a refugee boat were moved to tears as a frail old man stumbled ashore and kissed the sand crying” tu do”! Freedom!

Philippine hospitality – The Philippine Refugee Processing Center, Morong, Bataan (1980-1995)

With major contributions from the United Nations and the U.S. Refugee Program, the Philippines built a well planned and well administered center, a small city almost, on the Bataan peninsula, large enough to hold 18,000 refugees. From its opening in January 1980 until the early 1990′s, some 292,000 Indochinese refugees benefited from language instruction, cultural orientation and other skills programs in preparation for resettlement primarily in the U.S., plus Canada, Norway, Denmark, Australia, and France. The large Filipino presence at the center included administrators, social workers, and close to a thousand teachers. The teachers were well known and appreciated for their disciplined, yet friendly and caring manner. Countless letters from resettled refugees to teachers and social workers in the Philippines, and even long term friendships, attest to their immense gratitude for the for the compassion and concern shown them by Filipinos and others.

The Bataan PRPC included many NGO administered programs, such as: English as a Second Language and Cultural Orientation (ESL-CO) run by The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC); other ICMC run programs included The Joint Voluntary Agency pre-resettlement and family reunification program ; and the coordination of critical dental care provided by 70 dentist volunteers from numerous countries under the auspices of Rotary International , with fully equipped dental facilities provided through the Brother’s Brother Foundation out of Philadelphia. World relief Services ran a similar ESL program for children. Day care/ child care was provided by Caritas.

Planning for the PRPC involved representatives from the U.S. government, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Philippine government, religious groups, and NGO’s. The Philippine planners were especially sensitive in their efforts to make sure the Bataan center design and operation was as hospitable and culturally appropriate as possible for the 6 months average stay of refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Bataan and freedom – a bonding experience

The Bataan PRPC was located not far from the infamous WW II Bataan Death March route where thousands of Philippine POW’s and hundreds of American POW’s perished on a brutal forced march by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942. The annual commemorative retracing of the Bataan Death March route organized by Philippine, American and Australian Boy Scouts also included Boy Scouts from the Bataan refugee center in the late 1980′s. One particular year, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian Boy Scouts joined in on the hot and tiring 70 mile trek which took place in increments over a number of weeks leading up to April 9, Bataan Day.

The refugee Boy Scouts had no hiking boots or special gear, but were in great spirits all the way wearing simple flip-flop sandals and carrying plastic water bottles, proudly wearing their Bataan Day commemorative t-shirts. At the conclusion of the trek, beneath the towering 300 foot Mount Samat Cross at the Bataan Memorial, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Nicholas Platt awarded each of the 100 Boy Scouts with a special Bataan freedom medal. Philippine WW II Death March survivors were also there. The Bataan freedom medal had a unique meaning for each group of recipients, perhaps most especially for the young refugees who had recently made arduous and dangerous escapes from war-torn homelands. It was great and meaningful bonding experience for Boy Scouts from six countries.

San Francisco Bay Area – 2013 – the gratitude and “giving back”continues

Fast forward, 30 plus years later to the SF Bay Area which has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the U.S. Here I regularly encounter resettled refugees who passed through the Bataan center, some as teenagers and young children, who are now business owners and professionals. We often develop an immediate bond, and many willingly share special memories, thankful for their time in the Philippines.

Vietnamese run restaurants and small businesses abound, plus community centers, and Vietnamese Catholic churches and Buddhist temples. At St Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, Filipino and Vietnamese seminarians have a large presence. Last year the Vietnamese Community of Northern California organized an impressive “Thank You America” event, and is now planning a Vietnam memorial to honor both U.S. and Vietnamese veterans.

The gratitude and “giving back”continues.

About the Author

Bill Applegate is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a three tour Vietnam veteran. He also spent twelve years managing refugee programs with the International Catholic Migration Commission in the Philippines. Related op-ed pieces he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, include “Manila’s Refuge Makes It Pearl of the Orient.” (July 13, 1988).

He is a founding director of the Friends of the Philippines Council, a San Francisco based organization set up earlier this year that promotes awareness, appreciation, and support of the Philippines among business, academia, diplomatic, and civic groups in the Bay Area. He can be reached at wgapple@aol.com.

MAKE A DONATION

The US-Philippines Society continues to accept donations for typhoon relief and recovery.  To make a donation, write a check to US-Philippines Society and send to:   1712 N Street NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20036   Alternatively, you may donate online through the website: www.usphilippinessociety.org