Immigrating Into the United States

Camp Chaffee, one of the refugee camps

Back in the 1970s immigrating to the United States was a hard process. People coming over from Vietnam who were on U.S. planes or ships were taken to refugee camps. Once at the refugee camps they had to wait until a family would sponsor them. Life in the camps consisted of standing in meal lines, playing cards, hoping for sponsors, and sitting around the tents and barracks wondering what their new lives would be like. There were things to do at the camp though other than playing cards, though that would be fun. At Fort Chaffee Westark Community College (now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith) set up different classes, including one teaching English. Different forms of entertainment were also provided, such as a rodeo and a 4th of July celebration. The point of the 4th of July celebration was to teach the refugees to have some American ideals.

Children playing at a refugee camp

The roles of sponsor families were to help refugees find homes, jobs and to also help understand American culture. Bich's sponsor family's dad was described as a person who wore wide sport coats and had yellow hair. He set them up with a rental house, some groceries, and some hand me down clothes for Bich and her sister Anh. Bich and her family didn't really see much of their sponsor. In my opinion they should have seen more of their sponsor family. The family could have taught and showed them how to fit in to the American life style more than they did. This being said the family didn't have to sponsor refugees. West Michigan has been known to show kindness and compassion to people in crisis. Reaching out in our Christian beliefs to help those in need. Being Jesus' hands we have helped many people around the world; this includes the Vietnamese refugees and some of the lost boys of Darfur. While we need to learn to help them more I'm still proud that at least we help those in need.

For more info on life in refugee camps or more about the CRC willingness to help those in need visit: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5562
http://www.crcna.org/pages/foundation_projects.cfm