Teresa Tran Thi Kim

Our mother's name is Tran Thi Kim, but everyone in the family refers to her as “Hoa”. Mom was born on October 16, 1937, in the district of Ben Tre, My Tho City, in a family of five sisters; her mother died when she was six years old leaving her to care for her siblings. To put it into perspective, her youngest brother was four months old at the time. They lived with their grandma.

As an adult, she contributed to the war efforts with her involvement in the “Psychological Warfare” and “Political Warfare” branches. She also did social work with artists such as Kim Vui, Kieu Chinh,...

In 1957, our parents married and had six daughters: Nguỹên Xuân Hồng Mai, NXH Trâm, NXH Anh, NXH Thúy, NXH Vân and NXH Nga.

In 1975, Saigon fell, and Vietnam was taken over by the Communists. My father Nguỹên Xuân Viên spent 13 years in a re-education camp, because he was a Republic of Vietnam officer with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the special Parachute Force "Lôi Hổ" under Tổng Tham Mưu and former Chief of the Vũng Liêm district in Vĩnh Long province.

When our father went to the re-education camp, our youngest sister was only one month old. Despite just giving birth, our mother was forced to work tirelessly to support the family, waking up early and returning home late at night, sometimes on a fishing boat, sometimes selling bus tickets. Obviously, this took a toll on her health, our mother became thin and tired from working those long hours just to be able to provide for her 6 daughters. Eventually, our mother realized that there was no future for her daughters here in Vietnam.

On a particularly rainy day in 1978, our mother organized an attempt to escape the country via a small fishing boat. The plan was to take the family across the ocean to freedom. However, the attempt did not play out according to plan. My sister, Hồng Vân, who was only 5 years old at the time, was kidnapped that night. Our mom instructed my oldest sister Hồng Mai to continue with the escape with me and my remaining sisters on that fishing boat. My Mom, she chose to stay back in Vietnam, willing to sacrifice herself to save my kidnapped sister. My 4 sisters and I managed to land in Paula Tanga, Malaysia from that first attempt at escape. A month later, Mom organized a second escape from Vietnam with Hồng Vân. By the grace of God, they managed to land in the Manila, Philippines. It wasn’t until May 1979 that we were all reunited in the United States, in a random small Texas town known as College Station. We are forever grateful for this courageous act by our mom. Because of her decisions that day, our mom had given us a life with freedom and provided us the chance to live in a whole new world of opportunities.

My mom always had a great love for her children and grandchildren. One of her favorite things to do was to go to the supermarket to pick out the best groceries and bring them home to cook for us. She was always a great cook. All her children and grandchildren loved and will always remember and cherish her delicious cooking.

Mom was a strong-willed woman. Even spiteful sometimes, but that strong nature and fearlessness is the same strength that led her to organize not one, but two escapes from Vietnam.

In 2018, Mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor and underwent surgery to have it removed. She spent the next 4 years under the care of her daughters, spending the most time at home with Hồng Vân. Unfortunately, the tumor returned and continued to grow. She passed away on April 8, 2022, at age of 84.

Despite the challenges of life, our mother has always by our side. We are eternally grateful for the upbringing and life she gave us.