European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 08, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Phan Quoc dung spends his time hoping to get to the United states and Ting jewelry at the amerasian transit Center in  the unwanted spoils of the Vietnam War amerasian from the Vietnam War like Lethi loan 26, now have babies of their own. I want a by George Esper the associated press hey were the lonely outcasts children _ considered no better than dirt the spoils of the Vietnam War. Born of american fathers and vietnamese mothers these amerasian have now grown into Young men and women survivors older than the War that bred them. Many were exploited sold from one vietnamese family to another trapped by bureaucratic red tape victims of the political and economic wars Between Vietnam and the United states that followed the end of the fighting in 1975. And indifference. The majority were in their teens or older when they finally realized their dream of going to the United states to get an education or perhaps meet their biological fathers. Most have not done Well in America never Able to quite escape the discrimination that dogs them wherever they go. I do thin they have trouble fitting into either vietnamese society or american society says Tim. Mccully of interaction . Croup for almost All refugee resettlement agencies in the United states. They see themselves As straddling that line and i m sure that elements of racism come in from both  to -. When i lived in my country people said i m not _ vietnamese said Ann Marie Pham,19, who arrived in America three years ago. So when 1 came to America the american people Don t think i m amerasian so 1 have question who am i i m really upset about that. No one is sure How Many amerasian the War spawned. According to the latest figures from the . State. Department about 20,000 amerasian have gone to the United states since the War ended. Of that number about three fourths of them made it out of Vietnam in the past five years after passage of the amerasian Homecoming act and during Vietnam s emergence from isolation and its improved relations with the United states. Noodle is sure either How Many remain in Vietnam. Estimates Range from 1,000 to 5,000. While most agree that the vast majority have already left some will never leave. / it s 3 pity they were left there in the first place to languish says Dewey Pendergass an official in the . State department s Bureau for refugee programs. We can t do anything about that now but we re trying to make things As right As we can.". _ _ _ _ the state department has begun a new program to have the amerasian apply directly to . Officials either in to Chi Minh City Vietnam or in Bangkok Thailand for passage to the United states instead of going through the vietnamese authorities. -. About 300 of the remaining amerasian and their families live at the amerasian transit Center in to Chi Minh City which plans to close in about a year. Others Are thought to be scattered across Vietnam. Some of the american fathers accepted their children even years after the War ended and they finally caught up to each other. Some knew they had children in Vietnam but abandoned them for the american families they returned to Back Home when some of the amerasian children finally did make it to America on their own they were rejected again. Some of the fathers were married and wanted to keep the secret from their wives. Others never knew for sure they had a child because they left before the child was .7 born or the Mother never told them. So their offspring just sit at the Center in to Chi Minh City waiting for something to happen. One of them is f ran Viet True who appears v Shell shocked a pathetic Young Man. He says his father was an american and his features seem to Bear this out. A woman who says she is his grandmother is pleading his Case.  Nhat 69, says she has to sell vegetables and potatoes in the Market to support him. Tran Viet True was stricken with High fever when he was 19 and for a time it was thought he might never recover. It left him Tongue tied. But he has slowly recovered even enough to help his grandmother in the Fields. Since Early childhood i raised him says the grandmother. I cried Days and nights. Now i am very old. I m too old to feed him now and i just wish there was some Way for him to go  my father left for the United states already Tran Viet True says through a translator. Like All of the amerasian. He Speaks Little or no English. I know nothing about my father. I am not angry with my father. I want to go to the United states to meet with my father so i can get an  the stories told at the amerasian transit Center Are much the same their mothers abandoned them or Are Stead. Father unknown. Raised by a grandmother or Otner relatives or friends. Some Are impostors seeking a better life in America. It is often hard to sort out the truth. The amerasian have Learned to lie to survive. While they All say they want to be reunited with their fathers officials believe that May have been the Cas Ewhen they were children but now As Young adults it is a secondary reason. The truth of the matter is the amerasian Here Don t have a stable life and they want to seek some opportunities in the United states says Leba Tung assistant director of the transit Center. And the seeking of their father is just the final  " Lythi Huon is one of the amerasian born of vietnamese mothers and Black american servicemen a double curse in Vietnam. I have no More information about him she says. My father left before i was born. M Lythi Huong a holding her child i someday Toher father. She does not know the Day or month she was born Only that her father left Vietnam for America in 1970. Her Mother worked in a laundry at a . Base to raise her. At 24, Lythi Huong works As a Farmer to help support her own 1-year-old daughter. Her husband who is vietnamese is a teacher. I want to meet with my father because i spent my childhood without a father Lythi Huong says. I a to have a family  Phan Quoc dung 22, has been a Silversmith student at the transit Center since november 1991. I Don t know my father s name but i have one of his pictures he says. My Mother died when i was 6.1 was raised by my grandmother. I find my situation Here very difficult. I m amerasian and i can t find any Job. Once i get to the a rioted states i will try to find my father. The Only thing i have is the picture and i Don t know How i can find him yet. I Don t know anything about my father because when i was born he had left. My Mother lived in Saigon and worked in a . Office. After my Mother died my grandmother took me in for five or six years. Then i had to work. I feel very bad. Since i was a child i was always teased by my classmates. They never wanted me to play with  getting to the United states is no Assurance of a better life. Many vietnamese in America also exploit the amerasian taking them into their Homes then taking All the Money they receive in benefits from the  have not done Well says Juliette Hanh Nguyen vietnamese american with the Massachusetts department of welfare who deals with vietnamese refugees and amerasian. The reason is that when they lived in Vietnam the vietnamese did t treat them Well says Nguyen. They. Treated them like foreigners. The United states said come Home your father is american. So when they came to the United states no father and the american government did not take Good care of  the amerasian arrive in the United states on their own or they Are accompanied by their Mother or other relatives or by Foster parents. Non government resettlement agencies help them find a place to live and provide other services. Marta Brenden of the . Department of health and human services says amerasian Are eligible for initial assistance for up to eight months including Cash medical support English language classes and employment counselling. Some May qualify for assistance beyond that Brenden says. Nguyen says that s not enough time. They cannot Cope within eight months within the country she says. They cannot learn English within eight months. When dealing  you have to understand they Are very Low in education and they have a Low self esteem. It s very difficult to survive. Many of the girls get pregnant go on welfare. Most of the boys do All kinds of Odd work. Some of them go on social Security disability a lot of them who Are -7 unemployed Are bad. They steal. They sell drugs. I Don t see american families helping these children at All the reason is they came to the United states with no English no program to help them speak the language so they cannot communicate  american people. And the american people will not make an Effort to help them because they Are not   i i Ann Marie Pham relaxes with her american family at their Springfield of mass., Home. New Hope Ina new world life has not been easy for Nga Tuyet Pham an _ _ amerasian who never knew her father. I have his picture but i never saw him says the 19 year old teen who now lives in the United states and goes by the name Ann Marie Pham. I could t find him because a lot of people have the same last name. I Don t know what to do. I think some of the fathers Don t know they have children. I d love to see him. I Don t want anything from him. I just want to see him. I never saw my Mother. I remember people telling me my mom threw me in the garbage can. Another lady brought me Home. I had a terrible life when i was Little. I lived with a family on a farm. I watched the cows. I had to work the whole Day. The vietnamese people did t like me. They said _ _ your father s bad. Your father s american. Co Back to America " u so she did. After bouncing around from Home to Home in Vietnam she arrived in the United states at age 16, accompanied by a vietnamese woman who used her to get to America by claiming she was her Mother. Instead of Feving with the woman Ann Marie chose to live with another vietnamese family and later with a Vietnam Veteran and his family in Springfield mass. Ann Marie was taken in by a Vietnam Veteran Robert " Duffney sr., and his wife and their daughter in Springfield mass they met through a big brother big " sister program to bring Vietnam veterans and the amerasian together he and his wife invited Ann mane to move into their Home when they found out she was living in the cellar of a vietnamese Home but they have _ not legally adopted her. We be had some difficulties getting along because she s very defensive and sensitive Duffney says. Amerasian learn to be very Good liars. I guess that s the Way they survived. We finally taught her we could t help her if she did t Tell us the Truu about  still things Are looking up for Ann Marie. Her life has Cotter better with the simple things americans take for granted. She just finished her Junior year of High school with High Marks. L i can go to school she says i can do everything i want i have a Good life now it May not be what most consider the american dream but it is better than what she had in Vietnam. The associated press a the stars and stripes 21 au9ust8,1994 20 the stars and stripes