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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1979)
Eugene harbors new hope for boat people By DAVID STEINMAN Of the Emerald One day last year, Kim Bun, a Chinese man living in Cam bodia. watched as soldiers killed his brother and sister with clubs The days of dying con tinued Kim watched five more members of his family starve to death The soldiers returned to stab two more, and though the stabbed ones were not yet dead, the soldiers partially buried them in a ditch, with their feet pointing to the sky Bun escaped overland on rain-forest trails of Cambodia and Thailand As did many other ethnic Chinese facing persecu tion from Vietnamese commun ists, Bun ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand He eventually received permission to enter the United States, and he now lives with a Eugene family A month ago, Bun was in troduced to other Southeast Asian families and Americans who came to the Central Pres byterian Church’s cultural party for post-1975 refugees While Bun’s sponsors recounted his tale of horror, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, showing no emotion. He doesn't speak English very well, and even when Kim has something important to say to his American family, it's difficult Fifty-five Southeast Asian families now live in Lane Coun ty In the last three months, seven Southeast Asian families have resettled here The recently arrived live with their sponsoring family. Others have been assimilated into life in Oregon, living in apartments scattered throughout Eugene and Springfield Virtually all the Southeast Asian families in the county have been sponsored by a church or a synagogue One of the few families to take in a refugee family without church sponsorship is that of Ernie and Marietta O'Byrne, who live on a farm near Veneta Chi and Hoy Luong, two young ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, have lived with the O'Byrnes for less than two weeks. The brothers help with farm chores and, more importantly, help the O'Byrnes learn to communicate with people when language and cultural barriers exist "Chi and Hoy are so polite it makes it difficult sometimes to be aware of their needs," Ma rietta O'Byrne says "At first, if they were hungry they wouldn't tell us; they wouldn't take their own food, and we wouldn't know that Chi and Hoy were really very hungry And when it came to sleeping, they slept on top of the bedspreads instead of under them To be aware of their needs really takes a great deal of sensitivity. " For Chi, who came to America with nothing but a satchel shared with his brother, the im pact of America was akin to an explosion Chi and Hoy speak no English Communicating with them is possible only with the help of an interpreter, a University student from Hong Kong "The material things amaze me most," Chi says. "There are so many material things. Then I wish I can study and learn Eng lish so I can share my exper ience " Cookies and soft drinks at a church gathering taste sweet to anyone They’re even sweeter IF YOU MISSED THE RECRUITERS. . . THAT’S OK! Contact: Julie Granger 686-3235 Career Planning & Placement WPe-K < Cc/tx, ^VISTA ■ (volumes 1,2, & 3) regularly $5.95 each Charlie Biown’s Third Super Book of Questions and Answers jsafaasss ■»a dir r «wnn> ax mow r-, NOW $4.75 each Celebrate Children’s Week with Us All books, posters and calendars in the Children's Section are 20% off this week only Sale prices apply to cash register sales only. Upstairs in THE TRADEBOOK DEPARTMENT UO BOOKSTORE 13th & Kincaid 686-4331 Open Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 Sat 10:00-2 00 * V Lisa Kirchner demonstrates American coo kie etiquette to Thinh. a Cambodian, who had tried to eat the cookie with a fork The two met at a biweekly church party which gives South J V PtK*o try K*«1 Allan easf As/an families a chance to talk with others who speak their native language They also meet English-speaking Eugenians through the help of interpreters for refugees who come to Southeast Asian cultural parties held biweekly at Eugene churches The parties offer one of the few chances Southeast Asian families have to meet and talk with other families in their native language But if English speaking people want to talk with the Southeast Asian families, interpreters speaking Chinese, Cambodian, Viet namese, Laotian and Thailan ese dialects are there to help The parties are for acquaint ing people and church groups with procedures for sponsoring a Southeast Asian family These include having the family ex amined by a doctor for any dis eases, obtaining for each work ing member a social security number and job, enrolling chil dren at appropriate public schools and enrolling the adults in English language classes at Lane Community College "Four years ago, 80 percent of the refugees were on public relief,” says Dave Morse, pub licity chairer for Oregonians to Save the Boat People “This figure ;s now 45 percent.” Work for the refugees often means a step down Before the £2UBfi£JBEStfi& LSAT Dec 5 8 GMAT Dec 10 GRE Dec 17 MCAT To be set OCAT To be set The Galleria Room 402 600 SW 10th Portland, Oregon 97205 222-5556 communist takeover in 1975, Can Du owned two of the largest auto parts stores in Vietnam He was a rich man Now he works as a janitor for the Citizen's Bank His two daughters are on the work-study program at LCC and his 14-year-old son picked strawberries and beans this summer "I think the refugee families are making a pretty good ad justment in Lane County.” Morse says "They re eager to learn English and other aspects but as the monthly quota for refugees entering the United States is increased — from 7,000 to 20,000 since May — the function of OSBP will become even more important "Right now we d like to bring 10 refugee families in a month." Morse says ' We re falling a little short of that goal, but we've started to work with civic groups, instead of only churches, to sponsor families In addition to sponsoring more families, the Lane County “The ones who face the greatest problems are the women with children. They aren’t exposed as much to the outside culture . . “ of living in America The ones who face the greatest problems are the women with children They’re stuck at home during the day and get out only for one or two hours to go to language classes They aren't exposed as much to the outside culture and don’t make as many acquain tances The women get de pressed with only household duties." The Lane County Chapter of OSBP is only four months old, chapter of OSBP is working toward establishing a Southeast Asian cultural center that would be run by Southeast Asians yet would be for everyone, Morse says "I really feel good about working with the refugee families," Morse says "Any human life is of inestimable value in the eyes of God I see a real dignity in these people and very little bitterness Sometimes a little sadness.” WINTER TERM SEARCH PROPOSALS DEADLINE IS NOV. 21. Beyond this date course proposals will be accepted, but there will be some publicity restrictions. Call 686-4377, or stop by Suite 1 EMU for more details.
