Letter Home from a Bolinao 52 Survivor (1)

A written letter from a Bolinao 52 survivor to her mother in 1988 after she was rescued to the Philippines. (Translated from Vietnamese to English)

8/16/1988

Dear Mom,

This afternoon, I received the letters that you and my sisters wrote on 8/5/1988. I cried a lot when reading the lovely words you wrote. And tonight when the electricity was out in the refugee camp, I lit a kerosene lamp to write to you and my sisters. I’m describing my journey in detail for you and my sisters.

I left on 5/23/1988 (4/8 in the lunar calendar), the boat ran for 2 days and 1 night. Then on the second day we encountered a big storm with high wind. That night we anchored in the middle of the sea. According to the skipper, we were only near Côn Sơn. The boat engine had problems and there was no mechanic onboard. Therefore, on the third day the skipper announced that we would return to Bến Tre. (At that time, I prepared my mental state for imprisonment). I didn’t understand how the skipper miscalculated. Instead of heading back, we headed out to the international waters. I suspected it was international waters because the first ship we encountered was flying a Korean flag. We tried to flag them down but they did not rescue us. The next afternoon, the engine died. We couldn’t fix it. So we just drifted aimlessly on the…