Mr Ly's Speech

Chapter 2

I sit at my small, yet tidy desk space and stare at the creamy white wall. How should I start? How can I write about something I don’t believe in? How can I tell these people they can’t come to our country anymore when I was an asylum seeker once myself. The memory is painful for me to think about, it haunts me in my dreams and nightmares whenever I’m  asleep. I try to stop my memory from capturing me and taking me in, but it’s too late and it all flashes before my eyes...

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I was born in South Vietnam in the city of Ho Chi Minh formerly known as Saigon, 1970 amid  a large war. For the first five years of my life I was used to gun shots and fires, some a rapid sound, others more slow. I even saw people blown apart. The sound of the explosions would make you deaf for a while, although I didn’t mind. I didn’t mind because the screams, shouts, moans, foreign languages and gun fire would all stop for a while and it was for a change peaceful.

When I was almost five years old North Vietnam took over South Vietnam. The event is called ‘The fall of Saigon’. My mother was screaming loudly as war broke out all around us, I could hear the agonizing screams of innocent civilians and enemies. I felt scared, I thought I was going to die. This war was like no other war, it was a bloodbath. You could smell the thick scent of blood in the air, it held a coppery sort of smell. The smell of blood in the air was so thick that you could taste it too. We were heading for a boat, my mother told me. Although I had no idea what that was I still ran after her, dodging limp bodies that lay on the ground every now and then. I remember stopping at a body which lay lifeless, frozen. I remember falling to my knees and lifting the body onto my lap and cradling it. His eyes were wide open still, his arms limp by his side, blood was seeping through his thin shirt. “My best friend!” I had screamed, “What have they done to you?” I started to sob, clawing at my chest. I felt empty, almost numb. How could they have killed my innocent friend who had done nothing to them? My mum had then picked me up, dragging me away as I screamed and kicked for her to let me go. “No we must leave now!” she had said harshly. I kept struggling trying to get back to him but it was no use, I was only young and she was much stronger than I was. So I let her take me, watching my friend fade into the distance, as he faded so did the hope of my survival.

The rest of the journey towards the sea is a blur which has been lost in time. I remember getting to the ocean. The wind felt so cool against my skin and I could taste the salt in the air. When I saw the boat for the first time, I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t believe that this thing could float atop the water. Many people were crowding aboard. Some looked sick, some injured some crying over their losses. We had got there quite late and the ship was packed. My mum shoved me up the ramp through the crowd. I was so happy and filled with joy yet scared at the same time.  I continued walking the way she directed me and boarded the ship. I turned to look for her but she was gone! People were shutting the door leaving people locked out, begging to let them aboard. But where was mum? I couldn’t see her. Panic rushed over me like a wave. I was trapped by the crowd, too small to see anything. I screamed trying to find her, calling out her name. I saw a barrel in the distance and ran over to it, pushing through the crowd. I climbed on top for a better look over the crowd. I looked over all the people on the ship but I couldn’t  see her slight figure anywhere. The ship started to move! I felt scared. What if we drown? Sink? All these feelings rushed through my head but at that moment I was more worried about finding my mum. I heard my name being called and looked to find where it was coming from. I turned around still on the barrel and saw my mum, she was not on the ship. She had been left behind with about fifty other people. The boat was still moving though only slowly. I screamed out to her “MUM!!”

She screamed back,” I love you Ly Duong, I will find you, I promise!” At that moment troops from the army had come, not from my side but from the enemy’s. They were shooting all those left behind, I watched in horror. I remember watching one lady who was holding a baby wrapped in a green sheet. She was praying to Buddha, praying for her life and her baby’s . A soldier shot her in the head, and she gasped for breathe, she fell to the ground where blood began to pool around her. He  also shot the little baby. What kind of monster could do that? I was helpless. Then I saw my mum.