The World Looked Away by Dave Bushy

Author:Dave Bushy [Bushy, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480852389
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Published: 2018-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

26

A SECOND CAMP IN BU GIA MAP

“Joy came back to us as we sat around the campfire and sang.”

Quoc Pham

EARLY 1978

After the release of some prisoners to Saigon and the New Economic Zone, the remaining group of men was transferred to another camp. The move came as quickly as all the other moves preceding it. One day they were told to pack their belongings and were then marched further into the forest of Bu Gia Map.

Although they were still confined, there were also some positive changes for the prisoners. Life became even more relaxed. The men received real food rations from their captors. A terrible smelling dried fish was routinely given to the men. Although they hated the smell, they appreciated the nourishment. Most of the men did not gain weight – the ration was simply not sufficient to provide that benefit – but including protein in their diet helped improve their health, and was a welcome relief from consuming insects.

The fish also gave the prisoners something with which to bargain. The villagers considered the fish a delicacy and gladly bartered portions of it for ample amounts of rice, potatoes, and other foodstuff.

Something else was markedly different at the new camp in Bu Gia Map. The camp was located in an isolated forest far away from the nearest city, but there were local people living nearby. A tribe of highland people – the Tien – had lived in the area for centuries. They showed no signs of ceding ownership of their land, or the trails they walked each day, to the Communists.

Each morning, Tien natives traveled through the camp where Quoc and the others were working. They walked with purpose on the well-worn path to begin their daily chores of farming and hunting. Their route was worn into a footpath that was now nearly three-feet wide. Every morning and early evening, the villagers guided carts pulled by donkeys or water buffalo.

The villagers were not unfriendly, but they seemed indifferent to the camp’s existence. The prisoners were startled to see the young women of the village walk along the path topless, as was the Tien custom. They were not going to change just because a prison camp had been constructed on their land.

For the prisoners, the presence of women alone provided enjoyment and quasi-normalcy to their daily lives. The fact that the women were topless undoubtedly raised other interests in the prisoners as well. The women’s first appearance shocked the men. On subsequent days, the men calibrated their stares to be less intrusive yet still provide some viewing pleasure.

When the villagers walked through the camp, the prisoners remained respectfully quiet and avoided direct eye contact with the men and their wives and daughters. After the villagers passed, there was always a measure of quiet sexual innuendo. None of the prisoners was ribald or graphic, but their comments expressed their renewed feelings of being alive.

Within days of their arrival, imaginary fantasy banquets ceased, replaced by real food. Pots of rice and beans or fried potatoes and vegetables were realities.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.