Dark Dreams by Sonja Dechian

Author:Sonja Dechian [Sonja Dechian, Heather Millar and Eva Sallis (eds)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: book, BG, BIO000000
ISBN: 9781743051559
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Published: 2012-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

SPIRIT REMAINED

‘They did what they could to stay alive, and then they played soccer.’

Kim’s Story

by Helen Huynh, aged 15

‘This isn’t something you’d just forget,’ he replied when I asked how vivid his recollections were. I remember how I leaned forward, pen in hand, not wanting to miss even a word. At that point I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I knew one thing. There was a history of struggle behind that boyish grin and that youthful temperament. I was attempting to conceive a reality so unlike my own that it seemed surreal.

On the night of 23rd April 1977, my uncle’s journey began. He was standing on the dock, absorbing a scene of agitated people rushing back and forth around him. In his possession was a small bundle of his basic necessities, which he had strapped around his back. The only thing on him that was of any value was his mother’s ring, which he wore cautiously on his finger. It was the only link he had to the family he left behind. My uncle was eighteen at the time.

On board the boat, about fifty other men and women sat wedged together, all sharing a look of quiet apprehension. They were aged from fifty to as young as fifteen, but each was there for different reasons. The atmosphere was dense with anxiety. It wasn’t so much the fear of being caught, as their bribes had been wholeheartedly accepted, and the local government was turning a blind eye to their escape. Their fear was of the ocean; of dealing with the fact that something so alien had become their home.

But below the uneasiness was a lingering sense of relief. My uncle was conscripted to a war against the Chinese. Vietnam was now a Communist country. He was to fight for a cause which he had no loyalty to; and then he was to die a pointless, brutal death. But he was leaving it all behind. As the boat crawled deeper out to sea, my uncle made a vow to live. He knew that in order to survive mentally, he was going to have to block out all his excess emotions. He trained his mind into a state of detachment. From now on it was to only function systematically. But even in this, fate spared no mercy.

They were amateurs, prodding around in the dark with no plan, no expertise and no experience. On day one, the tired old engine stopped and they were stranded. Their compass busted, so they were lost as well. Then on further inspection, they found out that their Captain, a young man named Duc, was bogus. Duc had never driven a boat but was recklessly placed into that position. The bitter unfairness of this situation is laughable and my uncle recounts this incident with light humour.

Luckily though, they were able to work as a team. With bits of scrap they restored the engine to a semi-functioning standard. To keep track of direction, they followed the movement of the sun, and at night, the constellations of the stars.

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