Spending time away from home I experienced a different life a different world. I, imagine being bused for hours to an isolated green Valley Plains, and the property is miles deep in.
Nothing there just camp, an official dining hall, and sleeping quarters with bunk beds. And bathrooms designed for outdoor summertime! Showers consisted of no more than 3 minutes!! Again, imagine a 3-minute shower at 9 years old.
Yup, I walked out with wet soapy hair every morning...
The activities during the day made up for the short stay in the shower. We got to sing and together sung camp songs out loud and participated in skits... got to know and visit with eachother during breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, and every night, for what appeared to have been perhaps a two-week stay?
Maybe more maybe less, maybe I can't seem to remember exactly. However, no names to remember other than my own and the experience with the most memorable one to share... The real reason I am reminding myself to share and speak of the account, and that is a result of last night's account with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Veterans Day Ceremony...
VP Harris brought to light the return and end of the Vietnam War.
You see, I met a young girl, who was my side bunk buddy, she was of Vietnamese descent and hardly spoke English and I hardly dared to speak English, I mainly spoke Spanish at home with my parents.
However, my bunk buddy shared her story to me at face value of how and why she was missing her arm, and thank God, there was an English interpreter present to assist us both as we exchanged words with empathy and compassion.
She expressed being a casualty of the war as result of the Vietnam War... I didn't know much then, a war in my time seemed impossible, I lived in America where life is good but life evolved and I came to find out a great grand uncle of mine, whom my dad took me to meet in person in San Diego, California in his home, served in the Vietnam war and he earned his purple heart, and that was shared to me many years later after meeting my bunk buddy and her story. So the theme and connection kept their authentic consistency.
Obviously, I triangulated and made the connection there even as a child. Then I also remember in school we sat and studied American History where it was shared an image of an American famous photographer who took a picture of a nude child, during the war... I will attach the illustration to my blog... became very famous and remembered my bunk buddy in those moments as it was presented to me in class...
Later as I watched action war movies interpreting Wars, the Vietnam War, and how women became raped by American soldiers and so on... and the casualties of war...
In essence, the cold war broke out... but it has been there since the Space Race. However, we do have unsung heroes the real survivors that became silenced by the selling tabloids and I think that is the reason we need a change in America.
My bunk buddy is a survivor and she was and continues to be acknowledged by me in heart, mind, and spirit, she's been with me all this time... I've always considered the blessing it is to be complete, and I have God to thank, and I have her to appreciate her own good will and testimony.
In understanding the beginning and the end of the Vietnam War along with the Cold War, there is a Brazilian movie that I watched not too long ago for an art course I took at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for my Bachelor's Degree, and in it, another distinct famous photographer shares the War on Poverty with its minority group of citizens and global community, although the location is no longer Vietnam, instead, it is Brazil.
I hope we can truly all live up to one's own word in real life.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Rosa
phan thi kim phuc
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