Finding community far from home

Anh Nguyễn remembers little about the desperate boat journey his family took to flee Vietnam in late 2013.

The 18-year-old UQ Engineering student was just ten when he and his family climbed aboard a boat with a group of strangers, desperate to flee a country that had become too dangerous.

“It was scary, we were hungry and constantly worried the boat would capsize,” Anh said.

It’s been more than 40 years since Vietnamese people began arriving in Australia to escape revolution and persecution.

The Nguyễns, a Catholic family, had lived in Nghe An province in north-central Vietnam.

Parents Tiep Tran and Giao ran a printing business and Anh has fond memories of happy days playing with younger brother Duong and the neighbourhood children.

But in 2013, the human rights situation in Vietnam deteriorated with crackdowns on people critical of the government.

Some Catholic activists were jailed.

“One day Dad went to church and people started abusing him and the other parishioners and damaged the church property,” Anh said.

“Dad was afraid if we stayed any longer the abuse would get worse.

“We left in a hurry and I was really sad to leave my friends and grandparents and cousins.”

Mr Nguyễn says fleeing by boat was harrowing, with scant food onboard and the constant fear the vessel would flip.

They spent a month at sea before the boat was intercepted and the family was taken to detention camps in the Northern Territory.

“The quality of life in the camps in Darwin was good compared to Vietnam - we were fed, had somewhere to sleep and we were allowed to leave the camp to go to school,” he said.

Eighteen months later, the family was then sent to Woodridge, south of Brisbane.

“Mum and Dad couldn’t work at first, but we could go to school,” Anh said.

“It was hard, we didn’t speak English but there were other kids like us who’d migrated so there were common struggles,” he said.

Later the family moved to Inala in Brisbane’s west, and life became easier.

“There were lots of Vietnamese students at Glenala State School - it was a very multicultural, I was comfortable there,” Anh said.

“Sometimes it felt like being at school in back Vietnam with my friends – there were even families we’d met in detention.

“We could speak our language there, and Mum could shop easily.”

Anh has just completed his first exams as a Bachelor of Engineering student after being named one of the UQ Refugee and Humanitarian Scholarship recipients for 2022.

“I knew I’d need a scholarship to go to University because I can’t access HECS,” Anh said. 

“Luckily, I had help from a teacher at school who told me about the refugee scholarship.

“It’s been life changing, without it I wouldn’t be at UQ.”

He says the scholarship has allowed him to chase his passion for engineering that will make a difference.  

“Studying maths and physics in high school got me interested in engineering and I want to see how ideas in those areas lead to innovation that can help people.

“I definitely want to work with planes or rockets - and hopefully one day design my own.”

Image above left: Anh in the Great Court at St Lucia.

 UQ Media and Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)429 056 139.