Dear followers, thanks to a young but good doctor I could avoid a surgery and at this moment I am sitting in the Business Lounge at Nha Trang Airport. Waiting for the flight to Saigon. From there I will take a flight to Frankfurt and a train to my hometown. I should arrive there Thursday mid day local time.
Mittwoch, 15. August 2012
Donnerstag, 9. August 2012
An unexpected change
Dear follower, caused by a medical problem that I actually have, I can not go to my next planned town in Da Nang. I have to stay in Nha Trang for medical treatment. I am happy that it looks like that there is no surgery necassery. But I can not fly to Da Nang and that is really sad. I have to stay in Nha Trang for five days, then I have to fly back to Germany.
I keep you informed as soon as I feel a bit better.
I keep you informed as soon as I feel a bit better.
Mittwoch, 8. August 2012
On the farm
Today we went to the area of Cam Tan.
From Nha Trang it is less then an half an hour to drive
First we visited the home for disabled children in Cam Lam. It is one of Ursula's newer projects in this region.
About 30 - 40 children go here every day, some are even living here. There are four nuns looking after them. The chrildren were so happy to see us and embraced us all the time.
Most of the disabilities are long time effects of the chemical weapons used by the US army during the Vietnam war. Most of us might know "Agent Orange", a chemical used widely by the US army to defoliate the trees in the jungle (10th of August is "Orange Day" in Vietnam - that day the remember the victioms of Agent Orange).
Ursula today brought mainly things to play with for the children. A punch or clown theatre for the children.
Ursula is always trying to help were the need is the biggest. Since this is a new project there are many thing that need to be solved: Water supply and a new pump systen, a surgery for one of the boys who only has one ear, support for a single mother with a heavily disabled 17 year old boy, a wheelchair for another boy and many other things.
From the orphanage we drove to the church auf Hoa Tan. There was a young priest. I found him not very helpful but he agreed to show the poster after the sunday service and ask elder member of the parish about the wife and child. I really hope he will do that.
Then we drove to the farm my father worked on. It was not easy to find, again it is in the middle of nowhere. We passed the station of Cam Tan (still named Hoa Tan - like in the old days) but got lost on a sand road. We phoned the grandson of Marcel van den Berg and they found us on the motorbikes, guiding us to the farm savely.
The two brothers told us that there is another church nearby which belongs to another parish but is closer to the farm. So we went there. The priest didn't open the doors although we asumed that he was at home. But right next to the Church we found a congregation of cistercian monks. We rang the bell and a young man came out and we told him also my story. He promised to speak with the priest from the church and he will also discuss it with some elder monks from the congregation. I saw some old pictures on a wall and he told me that they were made in this area around 1960 (when my father lived here).
When I came back this afternoon to my hotel room I was really tired. It is again a hot day here in Nha Trang and I hadn't have a breakfast this morning, so I was hungry too. I wenn to a small restaurant right around the corner for some fried noodles with chicken and water spinach with garlic.
I have tried now nearly everything possible to find a hint or a trace of my father's first family.
Many people told me here that they might have emigrated to the US or France after the victory of the revolution in 1975 to avoid persecution as a child with a german father, a former soldier for the French.
I think this is highly possible but if I would try to find there in old files from the French or US Emigration offices or Embassies I need their ful names.
I hope the some of the elder people might remember them and also their names.
To me it was also very emotional to walk a bit in the footsteps of my father, to stand on the farm where he worked 50 years ago as a machinist. To see how the people live there, the near mountains, the rice fields and all the other things.
On the way back we planned to got back soon, talk to the priest and try to find out more. Maybe I will rent a mototbike and go on my own to feel really the situation. I also like to videotape some things for my family at home.
I am not sure today that I can come any further with the search for my sister, but I am proud to have found the place where my father lived in Vietnam.
Thanks again to all the people who helped me.
From Nha Trang it is less then an half an hour to drive
First we visited the home for disabled children in Cam Lam. It is one of Ursula's newer projects in this region.
About 30 - 40 children go here every day, some are even living here. There are four nuns looking after them. The chrildren were so happy to see us and embraced us all the time.
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| They really liked to be photogrraphed |
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| Me too! |
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| A German student helping Ursula in the project with many children and a mother |
Ursula today brought mainly things to play with for the children. A punch or clown theatre for the children.
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| A warm welcome to Ursula. The nun is a studied teacher for disabled children |
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| Little puppets for the small children |
The children showed us at the end of our visit a little show they have prepared for us. It was really amazing to see this children beeing so happy with us.
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| A dance for us |
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| Breakdancer! |
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| Ursula with a mentally retarded boy |
The nuns were friendly to me an promised to help me to find my sister. They will ask elder nuns in the congregation.
Finally we made a group picture and again many hands waved us goodbye.
From the orphanage we drove to the church auf Hoa Tan. There was a young priest. I found him not very helpful but he agreed to show the poster after the sunday service and ask elder member of the parish about the wife and child. I really hope he will do that.
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| The Church in Cam Tan (named Hoa Tan) |
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| The house were the priest lives |
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| Lost |
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| Dogs barking at us |
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| Behind this trees is the farm |
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| Impressions from the farm |
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| Madame Doan Thi Duc in her late days |
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| The rebuild old farm house - Did my father live her also? |
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| A very old truck, but still in use |
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| The grandsons who will try their best to find my sister |
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| Some monks in 1959 |
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| On a farm in 1968 |
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| The friendly monk |
I have tried now nearly everything possible to find a hint or a trace of my father's first family.
Many people told me here that they might have emigrated to the US or France after the victory of the revolution in 1975 to avoid persecution as a child with a german father, a former soldier for the French.
I think this is highly possible but if I would try to find there in old files from the French or US Emigration offices or Embassies I need their ful names.
I hope the some of the elder people might remember them and also their names.
To me it was also very emotional to walk a bit in the footsteps of my father, to stand on the farm where he worked 50 years ago as a machinist. To see how the people live there, the near mountains, the rice fields and all the other things.
On the way back we planned to got back soon, talk to the priest and try to find out more. Maybe I will rent a mototbike and go on my own to feel really the situation. I also like to videotape some things for my family at home.
I am not sure today that I can come any further with the search for my sister, but I am proud to have found the place where my father lived in Vietnam.
Thanks again to all the people who helped me.
Dienstag, 7. August 2012
The next steps are ahead
A long journey is always done step by step. This is also with my family research.
On Monday we visited the house of Madame Doan Thi Duc and Marcel van den Berg.
In the house lived their son, he died one month ago. I spoke with the widow and her daughter, she came from the US for the mourning celebrations.
First I explained my condolence to the family. They were very friendly and they will try to help me.
They think that my father was a friend of Marcel van den Berg, because he was also a soldier in the Legion Etrangere and was of my father's age. They showed me exactly were the farm is on a map. There also live some members of the family.
They even will try to find out the adress of Alain van den Berg in Bordeaux (France). He is the other son of Madame Doan Thi Duc. I tried to find him two years ago, when Fr. Tien from the Bishop's office here in Nha Trang mailed me that he got married in the Church of Pessac. Maybe this time he will help me.
When Mr. Hue and I returned to his house we met Ursula. A nice German woman who is married to a Vietnamese man. They live half the time in Germany and in Vietnam. She is doing charity work for hospitals and disabled people. We discussed about my search and another lucky situation came up to me:
She will go to Cam Lam (where the farm is) within the next days and she knows a student who is catholic and speaks English and German. We all will drive together to Cam Lam and visit the farm and also speak to the priest in the local parish.
In the afternoon I went to see Fr. Tien from the Bishop's office in Nha Trang himself. He helped me many times in the last two years.
Unfortunately he is absent for two weeks. His collegue helped me by giving me the adress of the local parish and the name of the priest. So we can easily find him.
Since we can not go to Cam Lam before Thursday, I have two days to rest and relax a bit.
This morning I went to the beach
and later I made 30 copies of the poster which we want to hang up in the shops, restaurants, churches in Cam Lam area. (I know I already broke my two days rest by doing that).
But the rest of the day and tomorrow I will be lazy. So, don't worry if I may not write another entry before I come back from Cam Lam on Thursday.
On Monday we visited the house of Madame Doan Thi Duc and Marcel van den Berg.
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| Madame Doan Thi Duc and Marcel van den Berg (around 1973) |
First I explained my condolence to the family. They were very friendly and they will try to help me.
They think that my father was a friend of Marcel van den Berg, because he was also a soldier in the Legion Etrangere and was of my father's age. They showed me exactly were the farm is on a map. There also live some members of the family.
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| My visit to the family in Nha Trang |
When Mr. Hue and I returned to his house we met Ursula. A nice German woman who is married to a Vietnamese man. They live half the time in Germany and in Vietnam. She is doing charity work for hospitals and disabled people. We discussed about my search and another lucky situation came up to me:
She will go to Cam Lam (where the farm is) within the next days and she knows a student who is catholic and speaks English and German. We all will drive together to Cam Lam and visit the farm and also speak to the priest in the local parish.
In the afternoon I went to see Fr. Tien from the Bishop's office in Nha Trang himself. He helped me many times in the last two years.
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| Fr. Tien from the Bishop's office in Nha Trang |
Since we can not go to Cam Lam before Thursday, I have two days to rest and relax a bit.
This morning I went to the beach
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| Fishing at the beach on Nha Trang |
But the rest of the day and tomorrow I will be lazy. So, don't worry if I may not write another entry before I come back from Cam Lam on Thursday.
Sonntag, 5. August 2012
Disappointment and hope ...
....sometimes lie close together.
I am just back from a visit to Mr. Dang Vinh Hue. He is the president of the German-Vietnamese-Friendship-Comitee here in Nha Trang.
He studied in Moritzburg, so he speaks a good German. After I explained the situation to him and he has read the files and information he understood the situation perfectly well. He even phoned the house of Madame Doan Di Duc's son here in Nha Trang and spoke to a woman there.
Later he told me: The son of Madame Doan Di Duc just died a month ago. He was born in 1946, so he might have had remembered my father and his family.
This was disappointing - I have had so much confidence to be able to speak with him.
But the hope is: We will go to the families house tomorrow and the grand daughter of Madame Doan Di Duc will see us. There are still five children of this man living in the area of the farm, which is only some 10 to 15 km away from Nha Trang.
There were some informations in that phonecall that they even be a chance that they remember the wife and child. But this has to be clarified during the visit tomorrow.
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| Mr. Dang Vinh Hue |
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