Nghia Do is David Do's grandpa, an immigrant from South Vietnam. He used to live in Vietnam and everyone was pretty happy with their lives, but unfortunately, due to the Vietnam War, they had to move to the United States. Before he moved to the United States, he lived near Saigon, and lived a pretty normal life, going to school and work, doing chores around the house. Then, communists began invading the South, and restricted everything. "The communists would knock on our doors at night to make sure that we were sleeping, not outside," he says, and stated that you weren't able to go to college, and that school ended immediately after high school. Luckily, Nghia had already went to college, and has enough information to become an English teacher in Vietnam.

Nghia had decided to leave with his family, as he liked the United States more for it didn't have communism, and it was generally more free compared to where he was living now. He tried to leave, however, the communists of the north captured him, and sent him to a nazi-like camp, except it was with communism, instead. The North tried to brainwash him, educate him on the greatness of communism. Luckily, Nghia still supported the United States, despite all the things that the communists would try to do to convince him that communism was great. The communists would force him to do their labor, for free, such as carrying weapons, ammunition, etc. "The communists would point their guns at you while you were doing labor, if you did anything wrong, you would be shot." He did something wrong, one day, and got shot in the appendix. He was denied treatment for his wound, until the United States came to take him out of the camp, and to the United States with his family. At least the United States arrived on time to perform surgery on him, so that he was saved from almost dying.

Finally, he'd arrive with his family in the United States, as a refugee. "When I first arrived in the United States, my first priority was to have my family be safe." Alongside that, he would ask for welfare as he was a refugee. Nghia would live with family that was already in the United States for a while, before moving out to rent a few homes. He'd then move into the current house, that he still lives in, today. Now, that his family is safe, it was time to become a teacher once more. Nghia would go back to school, and become a teacher, with a PhD. He's also become a social worker, to help out other victims of the Vietnam War, and such. Thanks to this, he would be making money, enough money that he was able to pay off his house in full, and now only has to pay taxes. He'd fulfilled his childhood dream in the United States, and was able to seek safety.

David Do

Hey, I'm David Do, I'm the interviewee's grandson. I'm from Alvarado Intermediate School, and as of writing this, I'm 13 years old. I enjoy tinkering with computers and game consoles, modifying them, etc. Nghia is still dedicated to learning, even after reaching all of his goals, so I'd say he's really successful. I hope that you enjoyed reading what I wrote.

Reflection

This project helped me answer the essential question by clarifying stereotypes and other such things that people say about immigrants. It's important to hear the stories of immigrants, so that you'd have a new look, a new attitude on the topic of immigration, alongside so that you'd just be a better person in general if you're just simply following a stereotype and such. The skills that I use included web design, research, writing, and audio recording. The social skills I used included partner work, and interviewing my grandpa. The personal lesson I learned was that no matter what, I should try my best and persevere throughout even the worst situations. I don't have anything else to really add, and this is really all I wanted to say.

Jason Li

My name is Jason Li, I'm 14 years old and my school is Alvarado. I have a mom, dad, brother, sister, and a cat. No one care about the bird, I like DOGE!

Reflection

This project helped me learn about immigration. I learned that David has writing skills, and you won't die just because you got shot by a gun. I also learned that three people from David's family came here because of war.