(ANS - Sydney) – “When I was about eight years old, my father took me to my uncle’s house in the countryside, when he knew that my uncle was about to escape from Vietnam in his fishing boat. My uncle told me that I was too young to go by myself. So I came back home and after two or three weeks, we received terrible news: my uncle’s boat sank. The accident, in which I would have died, confirmed to me that God had protected me and I thank God for letting me live till today”.

By Bro. Thuy Nguyen, SDB

When I was about eleven, my dad took me to a religious house in Saigon for me to join them. I was really scared at the thought of leaving my family. Fortunately, after a talk with the priests, my father took me home.

When I was fifteen my father asked me if I wanted to escape on a boat belonging to one of my uncles. I tried and escaped successfully from Vietnam after three attempts. In November 1987 I escaped with my uncle’s family - 54 people altogether, crowded on a small wooden fishing boat (12 by 3 metres).  After one week in the Malaysia based refugee camp, I was overwhelmed by the saddest feelings in my heart. I cried and the tears swelled in my eyes when I wrote my first letter back to Vietnam.

There was a Catholic church in the camp as well as a Buddhist temple and other churches of different religions. My uncle’s family and I went to the church in the camp. One day after the Eucharist my uncle asked all of us to join the Vietnamese Youth Group and we reluctantly agreed. After almost three years in the camp, with many friends, the youth group turned out to be a wonderful environment full of joy even in our life as refugees. My life was filled with joy and laughter, hope and strength. In this way I overcame all the hardships of a refugee life.

I really liked those volunteer leaders who helped us running camps and activities. To me, they were heroes and they remain forever in my heart. You can see that being a leader or a youth worker is not just for anyone. If you become a leader; you actually become one of the models for young people and can change their life, just as those leaders in my refugee camp helped me to change my life.

Three years later, in 1990, I arrived in Australia after an excellent experience in the youth camp youth group experience. At the same time I wanted to do something in order to give back what I had received from that youth group. So I joined the local Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Association (Toma Thien) in Keysborough (Victoria) for another 10 years.

Around the year of 1998, I thought about my life and constantly asked God to show what I should be. The result was that I joined the Salesians of Don Bosco, who work with and for the young, especially the poor and the abandoned youth. I was already over 30 and I was sure that God was always beside me on my journey.

I want to share all this with you with all my heart and I want to let you know one thing - if you do anything to help young people, even a small thing, you are already a leader, someone who has the power to change someone’s life. And as a leader you and I have Jesus as our great leader.

Published 18/12/2015