Daniel Beekman writes in the Seattle Times:
“The United Nations defines a refugee as someone forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence.
He or she has a well-founded fear of being targeted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
A refugee can be an adult or a child.
Julie Wong was 10.
“It couldn’t have been longer than a football field from where we were hiding to that ship, but I remember what I saw along the way,” Wong said of the night she left the Vietnamese city Danang in 1975.
“We had to step over dead bodies. Bicycles. Suitcases. People’s lives strewn all around.”
Wong is 52 and lives with her husband in Sammamish. Their sons play football. She works for a pharmaceutical company as an oncology diagnostic consultant.
She cried when she talked about Danang being shelled and the refugee camp near San Diego where she took English classes.
She doesn’t usually talk about those things. Most people never ask, and she doesn’t feel the need to tell. She leads a busy life as a proud American.
But when Wong sees Syrian refugees on the news, running for their lives, she’s reminded of her own story.”
****************************************************
Read about Wong and five other Americans from refugee backgrounds at the link’
PWS
05-19-17