Replies

When I worked on the Social Service front lines, a number of my clients were former officers in the S Vietnamese army, now refugees here. My interpreter was also a a former officer, held as a POW and abused horribly for years by the North. Coincidentally, he was also Christian, though I don't know when that conversion happened. Their stories are indeed tragic, and quite beyond my comprehension, even though I have heard them. They are just so far removed from the world I know.

Part of my work with them was to help them with their citizenship requirements, and I helped several achieve citizenship while I was there. I convinced the agency to chip in for an American flag to present to them upon passing their test, a tradition I hope they continue today. They always accepted it with tears and pride.

When I worked on the Social Service front lines...

Hey! I was a social worker right out of college (a long, long time ago...). This was the early 80s. I didn't work with any men refuges, but I did work with a woman whose husband was still in prison in Vietnam. She was here with the children and was (briefly) on AFDC. I can't remember her background exactly, (my brain gets fuzzy). But I think she was in the medical profession. Maybe even a doctor but she couldn't practice here. I forget the details, but I do remember she was a lot smarter and a lot more educated than this humble dwarf.

She seemed embarrassed to be on assistance.

One of the things our speaker mentioned this morning was that his witch doctor "friends" put a "curse" on him that he would never have a son. Well, the "curse" was broken some years ago (after four daughters). But what struck me about that story was not so much that the curse was broken as it was the cultural reference. The way he put it "we don't have social security or welfare, etc. so you depend on your son to take care of you..."

And we Americans think we're the advanced culture...