The Journey

Profile Article

Anna Lam Phong is an immigrant from Haiphong, Vietnam who left at sixteen years of age because of the Vietnam War in 1978. "My ma die when I was four so I don't remember much." After her mom died, she went to live with her grandparents, and had only two meals a day living there. Unlike most people now, she has never really had formal education, the school she went to had grades, first to fifth. "After 5th grade I help family and start working." She said that she was scared of working in the fields, because of snakes and bloodsuckers. Growing up she didn't have socks or closed toe shoes, so in the winter her feet would crack from being so dry and uncared for. And in 1978 she also met her husband through a friend that he's related to.

Anna began her long journey to America in 1978, because of poverty, after the Vietnam War, where she took a train to the border of China. From there she walked to the mountains to settle in a refugee camp. After she went to the refugee camp she temporarily settled in a very poor village. At that village they waited for the boat to come for them. The boat contained about 90 people and at the time she was also pregnant with her first child. She said "The journey real scary in the ocean...the waves like cover up the boat." She was scared of the waves. A few days after sailing off into the ocean they arrived in Macau to buy a bigger ship, but she ended up staying there for about 10 months. When they went to the U.S., they accepted them so they went to the Philippines for 6 months, where they got their papers and documents to live in America. When she finally came to America, they started in Alabama. Anna and her husband were looking for work because they were very poor, so she got a job at a plastic company. "We come here and we had no money" After they made almost enough money, they left Alabama in 1982 to move to California.

Living in the US, and being an immigrant, she didn't have that much money. "Had some but I was too scared to spend." She said that she had around $2000, so she had to live with a friend, in a rented room. One of the other challenges that she had to face in the US was learning to speak English. She moved to Pomona in 1983, where she learned how to sew for money." '87 I started going to beauty college and from there I started beauty salon in '89 with my sister..until now." Once she had enough money, she bought a house in 1991. She rated what her life was like now compared to before she left. And her answers were a 2/10 for her life before because she was starving and very poor. And for her life now she said 10/10 because she is happy, not starving, and not poor anymore. "Now I have everything..."

About Us:Thomas Sun

My name is Thomas Sun, I was born on March 20, 2005, in Southern California. I am in the 8th grade, and currently going to Alvarado Intermediate School. I am planning to go to Rowland High School next year. As for extracurricular activities, I am interested in trying out for the Tennis Team. Finally, my academic goal is to obviously do good in school. I want to go to a good college, some examples include this. (Click on the "this" word)

The essential question was "How has immigration shaped America?" This project helped me answer the essential question because, by interviewing immigrants from around the world, I got a deeper understanding of what immigration truly is. I learned that immigration has impacted America in multiple ways. I learned how to write a Profile Article about an immigrant. A social skill that I utilized was partner work. I learned that some immigrants had a hard time coming to the US, and that their stories have shaped who they are. Their stories are a part of them now. Overall, I really enjoyed doing this project.

About Us:Priscilla Phong 

My name is Priscilla Phong I was born on June 21, 2005 and raised in Southern California. I am in the 8th grade at Alvarado Intermediate School. I have 2 siblings, a brother and a sister both younger than me. Photography is one of my hobbies that I really enjoy. My partner (Thomas Sun) and I wrote an article about my grandmother, Anna Phong, and her immigration journey to America. My academic goals for the future would be to have a good college, have a good job, and enjoy life. For my career I would want to be in the medical field, specifically a pharmacist.

This project helps answer the essential question "How has immigration shaped America?" because without the immigrants coming to America most of us wouldn't be where we are today. Immigrants coming to America bring us new things to learn about and new lifestyles to show other people that don't know about it. In this project I learned how to write a profile article and write about the historical context. During interviews I remembered to be respectful and understand that what she was talking about was very difficult. My interviewee showed the "N" in HONOR because she went through a lot of difficulties traveling and settling in America but she never gave up. This project was a lot of fun and hard work but it was worth it in the end.