Anh Nguyen Austen

So no matter how despairing or how scared they are of the future, I think they see that it's worth a go.

My mother did talk about a moment of regret, you know, that she feared they'd made a mistake.

Probably two days into being at sea, she'd really thought maybe I've just made a big mistake.

So there are these kind of ambivalent moments.

But I think going forward, they were pretty much counting on that future that they'd created for their children.

Yeah, there are very strong moments like that.

Like even when we were in the camp, you know, when we arrived at the refugee camp, there's like a family running at us and they're like family friends and they had been in the camp and they'd heard that, you know, another ship was coming that we possibly could be on it.

So they had already set up tent and everything for us.

And those moments are a very huge celebratory relief for my parents to be recognized by others that were also fellow villagers and friends and families.

Oh, this is Palawan and Bataan.

And in those 70s, those camps were quite open.

So you could go into town.

You could buy little treats.

You would go hang out at the beach.

And my father really fell in love with the ocean.

And you could see the fish through the water.

It's a beautiful, ideal location for scuba diving now.

But before, when it was a refugee camp, it had been intended for scuba.

like an open-air prison, actually.

So it would be like the Taronga Zoo of refugee camps.