Wier & Glen
(As told to and written down by Virginia Hinson)
Wier H Siu speaks
I was born on February 12, 1974, in a Jarai village named Plei Blang One, near the city of Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. I was named Wier H Siu, and I would be the first of four children born to my parents. We were very poor and lived in a small one-room house built out of bamboo and thatched with palm straw. The six of us cooked, ate, and slept in that same tiny room. My father, Siu Wing, had been a believer in Jesus for a long time and as a young man he had lived with C
One of my earliest memories is the rain in the Central Highlands. We children loved to go outside during a rain storm to catch frogs of all sizes. After removing the intestines, we would boil the little frogs in a big pot and fry the larger ones for a delicious mealhristian and Missionary Alliance missionaries Charlie Long and his wife, E.G., to help them translate the four Gospels into the Jarai language. These portions of the Bible were the only book we had in the Jarai language. He had met my mom when they were students in high school. Later my father attended Bible School for a time before the war in Vietnam came to our village. Because my father was considered to be an educated man, after Vietnam fell to the Communists, he was jailed two times in order to be “re-educated.” It was very hard for us Christians to worship during that time. The Communists said that Christians were worshiping America and American ways, not God. For safety, we had to have our church services at 4 o’clock in the morning.
Since I was the oldest child, my responsibility was to take care of my younger siblings, one girl and two boys, while our parents worked in their fields. I liked going to the village school, but I had to take my two younger brothers with me when I went. They would stay outside the schoolhouse and play with the rocks in the dirt school yard. I would sit near a window and watch over them as I studied my lessons and did my schoolwork. The other students would help me keep an eye on them.
After school I would have to go to the rice fields to help cultivate or harvest the rice, which was our main food. We would eat rice with vegetables every day. Sometimes we could not grow enough rice so we would have to buy it. I remember going to the jungle to collect bamboo shoots to sell for money to buy rice. I would also sell sweet potato leaves to earn money. We rarely ate meat. When we raised cows or pigs, we would sell them so that we could buy the things we needed. Life became very difficult for us Montagnards as the Vietnamese government began taking over our fields and converting them into rubber plantations.
Y Nglen Ksor (Glen) speaks
I was born into a Jarai village named Plei Thung Dor near Pleiku on December 11, 1972. I was the only son and had three sisters. My family was what one might consider middle-class because our house was made of concrete blocks, and our kitchen was in a separate building. We also had lots of livestock, such as cows, horses, water buffaloes, and goats. I remember that I especially loved the cows and the dogs. As a child my job was to take the cows to the jungle so that they could forage for leaves from the trees and bushes. I had my favorite cow that I would ride, and I would be very upset if I thought she had not eaten enough each day.
After the fall of Vietnam to the Communists, my father was captured because he had been a soldier in the South Vietnamese army; and after he was jailed, his land and livestock were confiscated. My oldest sister was so angry at the treatment he received from the Communists that she left home and joined a Resistance group in the jungle. Unfortunately, she died while she was with the group in the jungle.
I met Wier in 1995 when we were both at Tay Nguyen University in the Dak Lak Province. She was studying medicine to become a doctor, and I was studying agricultural engineering. We were married on August 10, 2000. While Wier continued her studies, I got a job as a supervisor on a large rubber plantation. Rubber trees grow very tall and straight. To manufacture rubber, we would first make slashes on the trunks of the trees so that a white sap starts to flow out. Twice a day, the workers on the plantation go around with buckets to the trees and collect the sap that has seeped into little cups attached to the trunks. This raw rubber is then smoked over a slow-burning fire and shaped into crude balls, which we would send to China for processing into tires and other rubber products. As I worked at this plantation, I noticed that the Montagnard people were not being treated as well as the Vietnamese workers. It was very clear that discrimination against the Montagnards was being encouraged by the management. Not only were our working conditions and salaries not equal, the government was increasingly isolating the Montagnards by not providing basic services to our villages, like roads, electricity, and phone service. I decided to help organize a protest movement to draw attention to the inequalities. My job was to recruit others to join in the protests marches, which were held in Pleiku and Buon Me Thuot on February 2-3, 2001. Some 20,000 Montagnards from all over the Dak Lak District participated in the marches to ask the government for equal rights, land rights, and freedom of religion. Because of my part in helping to organize the protests, I was considered an enemy of the Communist government and black-listed. Wier’s father was told that I was in danger of being taken by the authorities for questioning, and he came to me with his concern.
Y Nglen speaks
I knew that it was just a matter of time before I was arrested so Wier and I made plans for my escape. There was to be a big wedding in another village closer to the border with Cambodia, and a group of musicians from my village had been invited to participate. If I traveled with this group, then I would have a chance of leaving my village undetected. Wearing three shirts and three pairs of pants, I joined the musicians, but as we reachedthe site of the wedding on December 29th, 2001, I and five others slipped into the jungle and headed for the Cambodian border. We were in the jungle for three days before we reached the Ratanari Refugee camp in Cambodia, where I would stay for four months before being moved to a camp in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Wier speaks
We had been married only a short time, and it was hard to be left behind. I moved back home with my parents and continued with my medical studies. But I had just found out that I was pregnant, and Glen did not know yet. My parents were very concerned that if Glen found out, he would risk his life to come back to be with me. My parents made everyone promise to keep my pregnancy a secret so that Glen would not hear about it. People from the refugee camps would occasionally sneak back across the border with news of what was happening with the refugees, but I never heard a word about Glen. I did not know if he was dead or alive.
I finished my studies and began volunteering in a hospital in order to gain the experience necessary to get a permanent job. God took care of me in amazing ways. When you are in that situation, God takes care of you. He always finds a way for you. Though I could not earn a salary yet at the hospital, people started coming to me after hours at home, and I began a small private medical practice. After a year, I was able to get a salaried job at the hospital. I had always loved helping people so I enjoyed my work.
Finally in June I got a message that Glen had called his parents. He was in the United States! After staying a couple of months in the United Nations refugee camp in Phnom Penh, the UN in conjunction with Lutheran Family Services had re-located him to Greensboro, North Carolina in June 2002. Two weeks later he was able to make arrangements to call me. He told me that he had already started working on the necessary documents for me to join him. I told him then that I wouldn’t be coming alone; he would also be greeting a new son or daughter. Then I got a letter from him asking me to name the soon-arrival either John, if a boy, or Elizabeth, if a girl. These were the names of the UN workers who had been so kind and helpful to him during the months he was in the refugee camps.
Elizabeth was born in a cold hospital in Vietnam on August 20, 2002. I was so poor that I only had one diaper for her and very little else. She was not an easy baby. She cried a lot and was scared of the dark. She always had to have someone with her. My mom took care of her for me while I worked at the hospital. Elizabeth would be 2 ½ years old before she first saw her father.
In August of 2004 I received a letter from Saigon giving me permission to apply for a passport and begin working on my documents for immigration under a “Family Reunion” clause. I wasn’t sure that I would be allowed to leave Vietnam, but I began to pray for the Lord to open the way for me. In December 2004 I received my passport, and on March 31st, 2005, Elizabeth and I arrived in Greensboro. Elizabeth at first was afraid of the strange man who wanted to hold her and talk to her, but she soon warmed up to her Daddy. H’Lan Sui, Glen’s cousin, paid for me to study to become a nail technician, and I now work at Salon Delight and also as an interpreter with Americorps. Elizabeth is in the fifth grade at Alderman Elementary and will be going to a magnet middle school next fall.
Y Nglen speaks
My first impression of the United States was “Freedom! I’m free! I’m free! Thank you, God!” Even now, ten years later, I still have nightmares in which I am being captured by the Communists in Vietnam. I am so happy that I am here in America. When I first arrived, I worked for Lutheran Family Services for six months and studied English. I lived with my uncle for two years while I waited for Wier and Elizabeth to come. When they arrived, we first lived in a small apartment, but now we live in a house near the Water Park. For the past 9 ½ years I have been employed by Marriott Hotel where I work in the housekeeping department. Weir and I became American citizens in 2011. Currently we are working on the paperwork so that my sister can come to the United States. We ask for your prayers for her.
Wier speaks
My first impressions of the United States were mixed emotions. I was so happy to be with my husband again, but I was sad that I had to leave my job at the hospital. I love to help people and would love to be able to practice medicine again, but I cannot afford the additional education I would need to be able to qualify as a doctor in the U.S. Maybe Elizabeth will become a doctor! In the meantime, I have been able to help people from the Montagnard community with their healthcare needs through my work with Americorps. The job pays very little, barely enough to cover the cost of gas, but at least I have been able to use my medical training. My parents are still in Vietnam. They would like to come here for a visit, and we would love for them to see our new country, but that is still in the future.
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Wier H Siu speaks
I was born on February 12, 1974, in a Jarai village named Plei Blang One, near the city of Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. I was named Wier H Siu, and I would be the first of four children born to my parents. We were very poor and lived in a small one-room house built out of bamboo and thatched with palm straw. The six of us cooked, ate, and slept in that same tiny room. My father, Siu Wing, had been a believer in Jesus for a long time and as a young man he had lived with C
One of my earliest memories is the rain in the Central Highlands. We children loved to go outside during a rain storm to catch frogs of all sizes. After removing the intestines, we would boil the little frogs in a big pot and fry the larger ones for a delicious mealhristian and Missionary Alliance missionaries Charlie Long and his wife, E.G., to help them translate the four Gospels into the Jarai language. These portions of the Bible were the only book we had in the Jarai language. He had met my mom when they were students in high school. Later my father attended Bible School for a time before the war in Vietnam came to our village. Because my father was considered to be an educated man, after Vietnam fell to the Communists, he was jailed two times in order to be “re-educated.” It was very hard for us Christians to worship during that time. The Communists said that Christians were worshiping America and American ways, not God. For safety, we had to have our church services at 4 o’clock in the morning.
Since I was the oldest child, my responsibility was to take care of my younger siblings, one girl and two boys, while our parents worked in their fields. I liked going to the village school, but I had to take my two younger brothers with me when I went. They would stay outside the schoolhouse and play with the rocks in the dirt school yard. I would sit near a window and watch over them as I studied my lessons and did my schoolwork. The other students would help me keep an eye on them.
After school I would have to go to the rice fields to help cultivate or harvest the rice, which was our main food. We would eat rice with vegetables every day. Sometimes we could not grow enough rice so we would have to buy it. I remember going to the jungle to collect bamboo shoots to sell for money to buy rice. I would also sell sweet potato leaves to earn money. We rarely ate meat. When we raised cows or pigs, we would sell them so that we could buy the things we needed. Life became very difficult for us Montagnards as the Vietnamese government began taking over our fields and converting them into rubber plantations.
Y Nglen Ksor (Glen) speaks
I was born into a Jarai village named Plei Thung Dor near Pleiku on December 11, 1972. I was the only son and had three sisters. My family was what one might consider middle-class because our house was made of concrete blocks, and our kitchen was in a separate building. We also had lots of livestock, such as cows, horses, water buffaloes, and goats. I remember that I especially loved the cows and the dogs. As a child my job was to take the cows to the jungle so that they could forage for leaves from the trees and bushes. I had my favorite cow that I would ride, and I would be very upset if I thought she had not eaten enough each day.
After the fall of Vietnam to the Communists, my father was captured because he had been a soldier in the South Vietnamese army; and after he was jailed, his land and livestock were confiscated. My oldest sister was so angry at the treatment he received from the Communists that she left home and joined a Resistance group in the jungle. Unfortunately, she died while she was with the group in the jungle.
I met Wier in 1995 when we were both at Tay Nguyen University in the Dak Lak Province. She was studying medicine to become a doctor, and I was studying agricultural engineering. We were married on August 10, 2000. While Wier continued her studies, I got a job as a supervisor on a large rubber plantation. Rubber trees grow very tall and straight. To manufacture rubber, we would first make slashes on the trunks of the trees so that a white sap starts to flow out. Twice a day, the workers on the plantation go around with buckets to the trees and collect the sap that has seeped into little cups attached to the trunks. This raw rubber is then smoked over a slow-burning fire and shaped into crude balls, which we would send to China for processing into tires and other rubber products. As I worked at this plantation, I noticed that the Montagnard people were not being treated as well as the Vietnamese workers. It was very clear that discrimination against the Montagnards was being encouraged by the management. Not only were our working conditions and salaries not equal, the government was increasingly isolating the Montagnards by not providing basic services to our villages, like roads, electricity, and phone service. I decided to help organize a protest movement to draw attention to the inequalities. My job was to recruit others to join in the protests marches, which were held in Pleiku and Buon Me Thuot on February 2-3, 2001. Some 20,000 Montagnards from all over the Dak Lak District participated in the marches to ask the government for equal rights, land rights, and freedom of religion. Because of my part in helping to organize the protests, I was considered an enemy of the Communist government and black-listed. Wier’s father was told that I was in danger of being taken by the authorities for questioning, and he came to me with his concern.
Y Nglen speaks
I knew that it was just a matter of time before I was arrested so Wier and I made plans for my escape. There was to be a big wedding in another village closer to the border with Cambodia, and a group of musicians from my village had been invited to participate. If I traveled with this group, then I would have a chance of leaving my village undetected. Wearing three shirts and three pairs of pants, I joined the musicians, but as we reachedthe site of the wedding on December 29th, 2001, I and five others slipped into the jungle and headed for the Cambodian border. We were in the jungle for three days before we reached the Ratanari Refugee camp in Cambodia, where I would stay for four months before being moved to a camp in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Wier speaks
We had been married only a short time, and it was hard to be left behind. I moved back home with my parents and continued with my medical studies. But I had just found out that I was pregnant, and Glen did not know yet. My parents were very concerned that if Glen found out, he would risk his life to come back to be with me. My parents made everyone promise to keep my pregnancy a secret so that Glen would not hear about it. People from the refugee camps would occasionally sneak back across the border with news of what was happening with the refugees, but I never heard a word about Glen. I did not know if he was dead or alive.
I finished my studies and began volunteering in a hospital in order to gain the experience necessary to get a permanent job. God took care of me in amazing ways. When you are in that situation, God takes care of you. He always finds a way for you. Though I could not earn a salary yet at the hospital, people started coming to me after hours at home, and I began a small private medical practice. After a year, I was able to get a salaried job at the hospital. I had always loved helping people so I enjoyed my work.
Finally in June I got a message that Glen had called his parents. He was in the United States! After staying a couple of months in the United Nations refugee camp in Phnom Penh, the UN in conjunction with Lutheran Family Services had re-located him to Greensboro, North Carolina in June 2002. Two weeks later he was able to make arrangements to call me. He told me that he had already started working on the necessary documents for me to join him. I told him then that I wouldn’t be coming alone; he would also be greeting a new son or daughter. Then I got a letter from him asking me to name the soon-arrival either John, if a boy, or Elizabeth, if a girl. These were the names of the UN workers who had been so kind and helpful to him during the months he was in the refugee camps.
Elizabeth was born in a cold hospital in Vietnam on August 20, 2002. I was so poor that I only had one diaper for her and very little else. She was not an easy baby. She cried a lot and was scared of the dark. She always had to have someone with her. My mom took care of her for me while I worked at the hospital. Elizabeth would be 2 ½ years old before she first saw her father.
In August of 2004 I received a letter from Saigon giving me permission to apply for a passport and begin working on my documents for immigration under a “Family Reunion” clause. I wasn’t sure that I would be allowed to leave Vietnam, but I began to pray for the Lord to open the way for me. In December 2004 I received my passport, and on March 31st, 2005, Elizabeth and I arrived in Greensboro. Elizabeth at first was afraid of the strange man who wanted to hold her and talk to her, but she soon warmed up to her Daddy. H’Lan Sui, Glen’s cousin, paid for me to study to become a nail technician, and I now work at Salon Delight and also as an interpreter with Americorps. Elizabeth is in the fifth grade at Alderman Elementary and will be going to a magnet middle school next fall.
Y Nglen speaks
My first impression of the United States was “Freedom! I’m free! I’m free! Thank you, God!” Even now, ten years later, I still have nightmares in which I am being captured by the Communists in Vietnam. I am so happy that I am here in America. When I first arrived, I worked for Lutheran Family Services for six months and studied English. I lived with my uncle for two years while I waited for Wier and Elizabeth to come. When they arrived, we first lived in a small apartment, but now we live in a house near the Water Park. For the past 9 ½ years I have been employed by Marriott Hotel where I work in the housekeeping department. Weir and I became American citizens in 2011. Currently we are working on the paperwork so that my sister can come to the United States. We ask for your prayers for her.
Wier speaks
My first impressions of the United States were mixed emotions. I was so happy to be with my husband again, but I was sad that I had to leave my job at the hospital. I love to help people and would love to be able to practice medicine again, but I cannot afford the additional education I would need to be able to qualify as a doctor in the U.S. Maybe Elizabeth will become a doctor! In the meantime, I have been able to help people from the Montagnard community with their healthcare needs through my work with Americorps. The job pays very little, barely enough to cover the cost of gas, but at least I have been able to use my medical training. My parents are still in Vietnam. They would like to come here for a visit, and we would love for them to see our new country, but that is still in the future.
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