Xuan Lan Tran
| First name | Xuan Lan |
|---|---|
| Last name | Tran |
| Country of Origin | Vietnam |
| Date of Birth | 27/11/58 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1978 |
| Submitted by | Xuan Lan Tran |
Story
I was born into a wealthy merchant’s family with eight other brothers and sisters. Earlier in my life I had not ever had to work a moment in my life as I had servants doing all the work for me. Life was simple until the rise of the communist party. Everything had changed in a matter of months, my usually busy town was bombarded with air missiles and gunfire every day which meant that we would have to retreat to our makeshift bomb shelter every couple of hours. This continued for months on end until my father decided for the best that I would be the one who would try and escape the country.
It cost me two gold bars to reserve a place on the boat and as I ran through the jungle in the thick of the night I realised it would be a long time till I would see my family again. It was not all smooth sailing from there though, my name was not written down on the list of people boarding the boat and it was only through chance that I managed to get my spot on the small boat crammed full of people. It was many days till I reached dry land again and many people had died on my boat. I was so scared and sick during the trip looking at all the people dying aboard my little boat. I arrived in Malaysia days later hungry and dirty and had to live in a refugee camp for months. The camp was primitive and full of disease. We were given very little to eat and forced to live in tiny tents. It would be months till I was finally accepted into a country. After months living in the camp, having to sell my gold rings my mother gave me to buy some more food from the city nearby, I was finally accepted into Australia.
I was made to learn English when I got to australia and after only one term I quit to begin working. Being Asian in Australia was difficult as many people were prejudiced against me but I continued to work hard doing labour work for Arnotts and EMI. Many people resented me because I would work so hard everyday which meant that I would recieve weekly bonuses that other people would not get. I married in 1986 and had my first child in 1987. I started a small shoe store in the same year. In 1991 I had my second child and built my dream house.