56 episodes

The Vietnamese Boat People podcast is stories of hope, survival and resilience. Between 1975 to 1992, almost two million Vietnamese risked their lives to flee oppression and hardship after the Vietnam War, in one of the largest mass exoduses in modern history. Escaping by boat, many found freedom in foreign land, many were captured and brutally punished, and many did not survive the journey. This population of people are known as the ‘Vietnamese Boat People‘ and these are their stories.
Support the show and the mission to elevate our stories at www.vietnameseboatpeople.org/donate
We are a 501(c)3 tax-deductible organization. Thank you for your support!

The Vietnamese Boat People VietnameseBoatPeople.org

    • Society & Culture
    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

The Vietnamese Boat People podcast is stories of hope, survival and resilience. Between 1975 to 1992, almost two million Vietnamese risked their lives to flee oppression and hardship after the Vietnam War, in one of the largest mass exoduses in modern history. Escaping by boat, many found freedom in foreign land, many were captured and brutally punished, and many did not survive the journey. This population of people are known as the ‘Vietnamese Boat People‘ and these are their stories.
Support the show and the mission to elevate our stories at www.vietnameseboatpeople.org/donate
We are a 501(c)3 tax-deductible organization. Thank you for your support!

    #54 The Sampan

    #54 The Sampan

    Phillip, the oldest of three siblings, joined the military at age 18 and was deployed to Afghanistan. The Fall of Kabul and the resulting turmoil that led to a mass exodus of refugees, changed his perspective of his parents and gave him context for what they lived through after the war in Vietnam. His father was one of nine Vietnamese refugees who fled the country in 1984 in a small sampan fishing boat with no motor and just two oars. After seven days at sea, they were picked up by a French merchant ship and eventually resettled in the U.S. Their boat was tugged to France by the merchant ship and Phillip’s father always dreamed about finding that boat again. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Phillip joined his father on a mission: find the sampan. They embarked on a quest for answers that would lead them to France, then California, and would eventually reunite the group of survivors nearly three decades later. 
    Episode Credits:
    Executive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn Mang
    Associate Producer: Saoli Nguyễn
    VBP theme music: Clarity, Paulina Vo
    Other music: The Quiet Hours, TREVOR KOWALSKI; Shifting Waters; HELMUT SCHENKER; I Will Remember, GAVIN LUKE; Image of You, JOHANNES BORNLÖF; Golden Thought; MEGAN WOLFFORD; Dismantle, PETER SANDBERG 

    • 24 min
    #53 Live Episode! Mother, Métis, Memory

    #53 Live Episode! Mother, Métis, Memory

    Mother, Métis, Memory is a documentary film by Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, whose practice is fueled by research and a commitment to communities that have faced traumas caused by colonialism, war, and displacement. Through his continuous attempts to engage with vanishing or vanquished historical memory, Tuấn investigates the erasures that the colonial project has brought to bear on certain parts of the world.
    Mother, Métis, Memory is a documentary that captures interviews conducted in 2018 with the Senegalese-Vietnamese communities in Dakar and Malika Senegal. Throughout the First Indochina War, between 1945-1954, France had mobilized an estimated 60,000 tirailleurs in Vietnam. Tirailleurs, or Senegalese soldiers, were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army and among the forces deployed to Indochina to combat the Vietnamese uprising against French rule. After the beginning of the end of the French Empire, hundreds of Vietnamese women and their children migrated to West Africa with Senegalese husbands, some voluntarily but others against their will. Some soldiers left their wives and took only their children, while others took children not their own and raised them in Senegal without connection to their Vietnamese origins. 
    This interview was part of a film screening event hosted by Vietnamese Boat People and Co-sponsored by Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University during Tuấn's first USA solo exhibition Radiant Remembrance opened on June 29, 2023 at the New Museum 235 Bowery in New York City. 
    Photo: Taken from Mother, Métis, MemoryEpisode Credits: Executive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn MangAssociate Producer: Saoli NguyenVBP Theme Music: Clarity, Paulina VoOther Music: Na, SILLABA; Lysithea, CANDELION

    • 28 min
    #52 A Love Story

    #52 A Love Story

    Kim Thái, shares the story of how her parents Chánh and Phượng Thái met, fell in love, and began their journey as husband and wife, only to get separated by the aftermath of the war in Việt Nam. During the height of the war, her father was stationed abroad, and made the decision to return to Việt Nam to be with his wife and baby, even though many had advised him not to. Upon his return, her father was imprisoned in a re-education camp, everything was taken from them and her mother had to find a way to raise their child alone. Their story is one that proves above all else, love prevails through war, separation, and hardship, even when all odds are stacked against you. This episode celebrates 50 years of their love and marriage. 
     
    This episode is directed and produced by VBP 2023 Mỹ Việt Story Slam storyteller Kim Thái, a writer and Emmy-award winning producer whose work can be seen on MTV, TED,  New York Magazine’s The Cut, Newsweek, and Buzzfeed. 
     
    Show Credits:VBP Executive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn MangVBP theme music: Clarity, Paulina VoInterview conducted by Kim Thái and Khuê Thái FarmerEpisode directed and produced by Kim TháiSound design and editing by Jess Kaufman
    Music CreditsOf Virtue, Pensive Gaze, Her own device, Hybrid rhythmics, Once in a life, Until Now, A Quiet Storm, Inspiration

    • 36 min
    #51 Ngày Về Của Bố

    #51 Ngày Về Của Bố

    Siblings Hương, Karin Hạnh, Hedda Hiếu, and Benjamin Hoàng Nguyễn grew up together in the San Francisco Bay Area in a boisterous Vietnamese American family. In 2019, their father, Nguyễn Khánh Hưng, a first-generation immigrant from Việt Nam, passed away. To pay tribute to their father, the siblings participated in our 3rd Annual Mỹ Việt Story Slam in 2022 with their spoken word piece, “Ngày Về Của Bố” (roughly, “The Day of Dad’s Return”), a reflection on grief and Vietnamese mourning rituals. In this special episode of Vietnamese Boat People, the Nguyễn siblings are at the helm as our first-ever guest hosts. They’ve brought their group dynamic and conversational style to Vietnamese Boat People’s format, in order to delve into their father’s life, legacy, who he was, and his unique and multifaceted experiences.
    The siblings also host a podcast called Growing Up Nguyễn, a story of 4 siblings holding onto our identity while fulfilling our parents’ dreams: the blessings and challenges of being Nguyễn in America.
    Episode Credits:Executive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn MangAssociate Producer: Saoli NguyễnVBP theme music: Clarity, Paulina VoOther music: Broken Bowl, POLLYANNA MAXIM; Joy in the Little Things, SAYURI HAYASHI EGNELL“Ngày Về Của Bố”: courtesy of Hương, Karin Hạnh, Hedda Hiếu, and Benjamin Hoàng Nguyễn

    • 33 min
    #50 2023 Mỹ Việt Story Slam

    #50 2023 Mỹ Việt Story Slam

    The Vietnamese Boat People’s fourth annual Mỹ Việt Story Slam celebrates stories from the Vietnamese diaspora, and explores the theme of Ba, Mẹ ơi. Five storytellers were selected from an open call for submissions, to share stories about their mom, dad, or someone they consider to be a parent-figure. This live, virtual event features Cindy Truong (Connecticut), Vanessa Nguyễn (New York), Kim Thai (New York), Geoff Vu (Liverpool), and Nicole Ngo (Sydney) with guest appearances from Jackie Nguyễn, entrepreneur and owner of CafeCaphe and filmmaker Bao Nguyễn. The event replay and featured stories can be viewed online at www.vietnameseboatpeople.org
    Thank you to this year's Story Supporters: Qeep Up, VietFive Coffee, Key to Teas, Red Boat Fish Sauce, Hello to Chao, Quill Hawk Publishing, Media Vines, Traveling Calligrapher, Kahana Press, Contemporary Arts Network. 
     
    Episode CreditsExecutive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn MangStory Slam Production Team: Megan Do, Saoli Nguyễn, Bella Nguyễn, Tricia Vuong, Matt Young VBP Theme Song: Clarity, Paulina VoOther Music: Solidarity On; John T Graham, Featuring Michael Stenmark

    • 37 min
    #49 Mai American

    #49 Mai American

    Kevin Truong was born in a refugee camp. His mom fled Việt Nam with his two older sisters, while two months pregnant with him. Kevin grew up in Oregon ashamed of his immigrant mother and how un-American their lives felt. For the past ten years Kevin has been working on a documentary called Mai American. The film is about a 70-year-old Vietnamese American refugee living in Oregon who writes down her life story, indelibly shaped by the War in Việt Nam. As she shares what she has written with Kevin, they begin separate but parallel journeys confronting the traumas of their past and the emotional divide in their present.The film is more than just a story about a Vietnamese refugee, or the immigrant experience, it is an American story and at the heart of it, a story about the relationship between a mother and a son. 
    Mai American is one of five film projects participating in the 2023 DocPitch, a film pitching competition presented by the California Film Institute. https://www.doclands.com/docpitch-mai-american/ Episode Credits:Executive Producer: Tracey Nguyễn MangAssociate Producer: Saoli NguyễnVBP theme music: Clarity, Paulina VoOther music: Fugetsu, SAYURI HAYASHI EGNELL; Somewhere Ahead, DANIEL KAEDEMai American trailer: courtesy of Kevin Truong

    • 28 min

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