April 15, 2006

Vietnamese Orphans Find Another Family

Saigon, 1975. As the Americans fled and the Viet Cong surrounded the city, chaos and confusion were everywhere. Amidst the smoke and the screaming, a Canadian pilot surveyed his tiny cargo - 57 orphans, some just weeks old, laid side by side in cardboard boxes. With Saigon collapsing around them, the pilot flew the children to safety and a new life in North America.

They didn't see each other again until last Saturday April 15, when 34 of the orphans filled the Oakville Conference Centre with tears, hugs and expressions of amazement.

"There was an instant bond," said Ayesha Bharmal of Welland, a member of the reunion committee who was about 18 months old when she came to Canada. "We were already family, because whether or not we were from the same city or orphanage, we came on the same plane."

Meeting the special guests was just as emotional. Clifford Zacharias, the pilot, along with nurses Helen Allen and Victoria Leach, filled in the details of that fateful day. Workers from Toronto care facility Surrey Place, the orphans' first home in Canada, also attended.

[Above: The orphans at Surrey Place shortly after their arrival]

"(Zacharias) told us what kind of day it was when he picked us up, how hot it was, and the struggle to keep the kids alive while getting them out of the war," said Bharmal.

Many of the children were sick with fever and parasites, including two who had to be left behind when the plane stopped over in Hong Kong. Victoria Leach (right), who accepted awards at the reunion for herself and Helen Allen, told the gathering that leaving those children made her feel terrible.

When she finished speaking, the two children, now adults, stood up in the audience. Tears streamed down Leach's face as she realized who they were. "They're alive!" she said in disbelief.

Emotional encounters and a journey into the past made for a powerful evening. But it was also a time to show thanks - not only to the people involved in the airlift, but also to the adoptive parents who opened their homes in Canada.

Standing on stage with his fellow orphans at the end of the evening, reunion organizer Thanh Campbell personally thanked each of the parents: "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here together 31 years later," he said.

[Left: The reunion committee at Surrey Place - Ayesha Bharmal is far left]

Bharmal, who was the only adopted child of three siblings, thanked her parents for giving her a second chance in life. "They were the ones who worked the hardest."

She added that she feels no need to look for her natural parents or relatives, because she grew up in such a content home. Not all the orphans were so lucky, though.

"We've heard so many stories of people in our group who have had bad lives," she said. "A lot of the older kids had mental or physical disabilities - we learned from the pilot that was from exposure to napalm - and their adoptive parents rejected them because of that. One just bounced between foster homes for the whole of her childhood."

For people like this, the reunion held special significance. Many of the orphans now see themselves as part of a larger family, with plenty of get-togethers planned for the future - including a group visit to Vietnam.

[Right: Reunion committee member Thi-Mai Murphy with an orphan she thinks may be her sister - they will be undergoing DNA tests]

"We're going to be meeting with each other constantly," said Bharmal. ""This is the beginning of a new era."