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.