By CASEY NEILL
BON Nguyen got the opportunities to build a new life when he fled Vietnam for Australia.
He’s determined to open the same doors for the country’s newest arrivals, and is urging others to follow suit to make Australia richer.
“I left Vietnam in 1987 at 12 years old, without my parents,” he said.
“After three days on a boat I was rescued by one of the French ships. They were patrolling in the South East Asia sea, specifically rescuing escapees from the communist regime.”
Mr Nguyen was among 75 passengers, and they’d run out of food and water.
“In the middle of the night we saw spotlights on the surface of the water,” he said.
“They came closer, the light was larger and larger.
“All of a sudden, all of the light was turned off.
“We were crying out ‘we want some food, we want some water’. We were devastated.”
Then the boat’s captain saw another light in the distance, and the vessel approached.
“We heard a Vietnamese voice from that big ship,” Mr Nguyen said.
“They told us we were rescued. We were told the two other lights were pirates.”
The ship transported Mr Nguyen to the Philippines where he lived for three years.
His parents and three younger siblings eventually escaped to Malaysia – and beat him to Australia.
“They sponsored me to come over,” he laughed.
Mr Nguyen and his family now all call Melbourne home and he regularly works in Springvale through his role as Vietnamese Committee in Australia Victoria Chapter president.
“We are very fortunate that Australian people have accepted us into this society,” he said.
His dad couldn’t speak English but was offered a job at Cadbury just two weeks after arriving in Australia, where he still works today.
“My mum has no English but she worked on a farm picking strawberries,” he said.
“After work, she would do sewing.
“When you come to a new country you would anticipate that it would be difficult, but there are opportunities if you are lucky to run into a generous person.
“That has allowed us to adapt into a new country.
“I think newcomers in Australia, that if the opportunity was extended to them they would be as successful as we are or even more successful.”
Mr Nguyen successful refugees made Australia richer.
“We are richer today, so are we not rich at heart?” he said.
“They have run away from a dictatorship regime or from a war zone.
“We need to allow them a certain amount of time so they can adjust.
“We eventually grow out of challenges. We learn, we know how the way of life in Australia is.
“Of course, there will be challenges. We’re not saying it will be easy.
“But if we know how to accommodate that, we will turn it into a richer culture in Australia.”
