With the Vietnam War on your doorstep you already had to face the danger of fleeing once, only to have your mother send you back into Laos alone. How long was the crossing back across the Mekong River from the safety of the refugee camp where your mom, brothers and sister were to your house that was soon to be searched? Would communist soldiers really expect a ten-year-old girl to be burring and hauling her father’s military weapons into a river in the middle of the night in order to save her family? Were you scared that if you got caught you could be killed and your family’s chances at escaping would dwindle? Did you know that once you left that day you would never go back again and that your success saved the house that now provides a home for your brother and his family?Song Imitation Poem
Back across the Mekong
With the Vietnam War on your doorstep
you already had to face the danger of fleeing once,
only to have your mother send you back into Laos alone.
How long was the crossing back across the Mekong River
from the safety of the refugee camp
where your mom, brothers and sister were
to your house that was soon to be searched?
Would communist soldiers really expect a ten-year-old girl to be
burring and hauling
her father’s military weapons
into a river
in the middle of the night
in order to save her family?
Were you scared that if you got caught you could be killed
and your family’s chances at escaping would dwindle?
Did you know that once you left that day you would never go back again
and that your success saved the house that now provides a home
for your brother and his family?Song Imitation Poem