A Reunion of a
Separated Family
by Matthew Harris
When one thinks of reunion,
the thought of a family
having a picnic on a sunny
day with all of the rela
tives present in one place
for the first time in ages
usually comes to mind. Yet
on September 20, 1985, a
reunion of_ different 'cir
cumstances took place at
Philadelphia Intenational
Airport. For the first time
in six years, Quan Phan, a
student of the Penn State
Hazleton Campus, saw his
mother, three of his sis
ters, and one of his bro
thers; all of whom were
given Visas to leave Viet
nam.
In 1979, Quan escaped from
Vietnam and since then has
worked in getting the rest
of his family out of there
as well. Leaving the coun
try is very difficult and
dangerous, since it is
under Communistic rule;
anyone who is caught trying
to flee the country or
planning an escape is auto
matically shot by the Com
munistic government with no
questions asked.
A year before his depar
ture, his family had been
forced to separate. His
mother had been taken out
into the farm country so
she could do farm work. By
doing this, it broke off
communication between Quan
and his mother, since it
was extremely difficult
getting transportation out
to that region. The
Vietnamese government was,
and still is, only con
cerned with * labor and
making sure that all of the
people are productive.
While his mother was being
taken out to the country,
the rest. of his family,
consisting of three sisters
and one brother, were taken
twenty-five miles north of
Saigon, which is now called
Ho Chi Minh City.
In order to understand how
frustrating it is for a
person to leave Vietnam,
ponder this thought for a
moment. Quan's mother re
ceived her Visa to leave
the country a long time
ago. However, the political
system in Vietnam is
extremely corrupt, and in
order for her to get her
papers processed, she
needed a lot of money to
bribe the officials' into
completing her documents.
The "red tape" was over
whelming and was a major
factor in the delay of her
departure. According to
Quan, "it is truly a
miracle to get out of Viet
nam."
Quan's father, one of the
many people who was
fighting for political re
form, was also forced to
escape. By opposing the
Standards set by the
government, he was
imprisoned, and brainwashed
into changing his beliefs
and ideals, and to make his
children show their loyalty
to the government. Sometime
later he was released, but
remained under the watchful
eyes of the police and
government officials.
Realizing that permanent
imprisonment was probable
and almost inevitable, he
fled the country.
For Quan, his ordeal was
truly horrendous. By being
captured while trying to
escape three times, he had
put himself between a rock
and a hard place. The army
decided that they wanted
him, and the government
felt that it,would prevent
him from escaping. During
this time, the war between
Vietnam and Cambodia was
escalating. Quan thought of
many ways to escape, yet he
was unable to carry out any
of them.
Then his luck changed for
the better. He was intro
duced to a man who knew a
lot about smuggling and who
had a lot of connections.
By getting Quan a fake
identification card, he
then proceeded to smuggle
him to the vicinity of'the
Vietnam-Cambodia border.
Since ,smaggling took place
on a regular basis due to
the shortage of goods, it
wasn't very difficult in
transferring him
The
the
dropoff point. The only
factor that concerned them
was .if they were to be
stopped by the army, who
constantly patrolled the
roads, especially those
leading to the borders.
After he was dropped off,
he had to walk for_ three
days and two nights until
he reached the Cambodian
border, where he proceeded
to cross into Cambodia un
touched. He then paid three
men to get him to the Thai
land border. By reaching
this point, he was free of
the treacherous rule of
Communistic Vietnam.
One of Quan's sisters, who
came to the United States
in 1972, sponsored the rest
of the family. Under immi
gration laws set by the
government of this country,
people entering the United
States must be sponsored by
someone who is living in
this country and is legally
a United States citizen.
Currently residing in
Souderton, Pennsylvania,
the entire family is once
again together and very
happy. It will be five
years until his mother, his
brother, and his sisters
receive United States citi
zenship. But that is irrel
evant to them now. The only
thing that concerns them is
the fact that they are all
together and that they are
happy. The ordeal is
finally over.
On behalf of the staff of
the Highacres Collegian, I
would like to welcome the
Phans to America and may
all their dreams come true!
EARTHSET
by Monica Shah
The sun descends
over the misty-valley
a giant orb hung in the
sky.
Soft muted colors
of pink, orange, violet
and gold,
blend into lavender blue.
The giant red sphere
hides in the clouds,
surrounded by an aura of
mystic yellow.
The horizon brightens
as clouds drift away,
but the gold ball of fire
has disappeared.
Bright pink ribbons
Swirling amongst blue
clouds,
streaked by gold and red,
are all that can be seen
of the awesome lifeforce.
Twilight approaches,
lights twinkle in the
valley
as clouds envelop
the mountain with fog.
The stars have yet to
shine,
and the moon to glow,
before the sun
brightens the dawn of
tomorrow.
Health Services
by Daniel Kane
as told by Mrs. Gaffney
Just a friendly reminder:
if you're sick, or you just
don't feel as good as you
used to, Mrs. Gaffney would
like to see you. She knows
what she's doing! Don't put
your health in jeopardy;
get some advice from a pro
fessional. Home remedies
don't • cut it. She is in
P-105 from 8:00 a.m. until
4:00 p.m. Monday through
Friday. If you can't walk,
wheelchairs are available
for a-small fee.
If you have a burning
desire to know about some
health-related issue, such
as drug addiction, alcohol
ism, or sexually trans
mitted disease, or even the
stress of everyday living,
contact Mrs. Gaffney (R.N.,
B.S.N.)about arranging
health programs for the
students and faculty. Any
ideas are welcome and will
be helpful when she plans
these pcogratffit