compiled by Stella Dalsto
Donna Mae Goldade
This is a story written and illustrated by a special student
Escaping From Laos
by Amy Hing
Permission to publish this story on our web page
was given by Amy's mother.
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Page 1
This is the story told by my mother in her language. I am writing it in English.
It was a hot summer day in Laos in 1978. It was a horrible day in my mother’s life. She came home from work and found two men waiting in front of her house.
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Page 2
They explained that they came from the refugee camp in Thailand. They had been told by my mother’s brother to bring my mother and her mother across to Thailand. She trusted them because they showed her brother’s picture to them. They told her that she had to find her mother quickly. The two men had to wait for them at the bus stop. They couldn’t go together or at the same time because if they did their neighbours would suspect that they were going to Thailand and the neighbor would tell the police. The two men went before them but they had to meet at the bus stop at two o’clock.
Page 3
They had to go in the same bus. The two men had to pretend that they did not know my mother and her mother. If they got off, they would all have to get off at the same bus stop
Page 4
After they had to walk for six and a half hours. They soon arrived at a riverside. They were all hungry and tired because they could not bring anything with them. They only brought money and the clothes they were wearing. They had to hide in a bush because there were guards around the riverside. If they saw a person they would shoot the person and throw them in the river.
Page 5
They had no boat. Only rich people had boats. My mother and her mother and the two men had large floaters. They had to help each other swim in the large river. It was very windy. It was hard to swim that day.
Page 6
Their floater got stuck in a small island that was in the middle of the river. They had to walk across the island. Then they found an old boat that was stuck. They used the boat to go through the other side of the river.
Page 7
Finally they were in Thailand. But, they had to hide in a banana garden. They had to stay wet because there were no other clothes to change into. They didn’t want a Thai motorcycle gang to see them because if they did they would rob them and kill them. They stayed till the sun came up.
Page 9
Then, the police moved them to the refugee camp in Nong Khai. In the refugee camp it was very dirty.
Page 8
In the morning they walked to the police station and told them the truth. The told the police that they had escaped from Laos. The police had to put them in jail for a week because it was the Thai law.
Page 10
Then they were reunited with my mother’s brother and father in the refugee camp. They were poor for a year. Thanks to the Canadian Government who sponsored for them to come from Thailand in 1979
Page 11
They were very lucky because they only stayed in the refugee camp for one year. Some people had to stay in refugee camps for more than three years.
