 |
The Granville Historical Society Oral History Project 2001 - 2002
|
|
|
|
25) Refugees . . . and How Granville Embraced Them
The Story of the Hong Family, Cambodian Refugees(Carol Apacki) I think one of Granville’s proudest moments in its history is how our community embraced the Hong family from Cambodia. Back during the Cambodian genocide in the 1970’s, Bob Alrutz and Pilgrim Lutheran church decided to sponsor a family. They had no idea how they were going to do it, but they brought the Hong family in -- a family of, mother, father and two small children who just had the shirts on their back. They were sick; they spoke no English. Mr. Hong had been a taxicab driver in Cambodia so he wasn’t well prepared for a life in a new society. Well, a whole group of Granville people tutored them. We went in as volunteers every day and we took turns so somebody went in each day from the community and taught them English, got them a job, helped them get themselves and their children clothed and on their feet. And the children went to Granville schools, they got tutored -- and this is a case where I think their classmates rallied behind these kids. The teachers prepared the classmates to help teach them English and the whole community in some way, I think, was involved in some aspect of helping the Hongs get on their feet. The Hongs even named their son (who was born here) David Granville Hong. Their children have been through the Granville schools. The daughter [ Vour Hong Penn ] went to Denison. The Hongs have bought a lovely house. They’re well established and respected in the community. And to me it’s small town at its best really. That’s a whole story in itself about the Hongs and what they went through and how they really created a whole new life here in this country. And Mr. Hong still works up at Denison. It’s so cute, he’s such a hard worker and one of our friends who’s a professor at Denison said, he can always tell when Mr. Hong has been cleaning the blackboards because the blackboard is so clean that it just sucks the chalk off it. Dick says it can hardly write on the board because the blackboard is so clean. The Hongs have become contributors now to the community. They were recipients for a very short period of time and now are active contributors. Then a few years later a Vietnamese family came and they had a big family, and the community really helped them. Then another family came from southern Russian to the Presbyterian Church, and I mean these are refugees, families coming from terrible conditions. And the community really helped these families establish themselves.
Escaping From Cambodia and Coming to Granville(Vour Hong Penn) My family escaped from Cambodia and stayed in a refugee camp in Thailand until we got our name on a list to come to the U.S. My parents picked the U.S., no other country but the U.S., because it’s the safest place to be. So we had our name on the list, a very long list. Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Granville wanted to sponsor a Vietnamese family but the Thailand people told them that they can give them a Cambodian family if that would be OK. The Lutheran Church said that would be fine. So that was basically luck. We had gotten on the list just at the deadline. So the Lutheran Church sponsored us here. I consider Bob and Wilma Alrutz of the Lutheran Church my grandparents, because we kind of adopted them. The whole town of Granville donated furniture, food and clothing and such so our house was ready when we came. My parents still live there -- 233 Mulberry Street. It’s the best place to be. They refuse to move anywhere else. The funny part was they gave us two TVs. One of them had the sound but no picture, and other had the picture but no sound. We had them on different stations and it didn’t make sense. But we didn’t know any English anyways, so we just made do. Then we finally figured out which channels went with which channels. But we didn’t have much and a TV was a luxury for us. It was great.
Keeping Cambodian Heritage Alive(Vour Hong Penn) My parents made it a rule that when we’re in the house we speak Cambodian. And when we’re out the house we can speak English, to keep our language alive and the culture alive. My dad’s Chinese, my mom’s Cambodian. So we know the Chinese New Years and the Cambodian New Years. We go to the Cambodian community for the New Years and such. I still dance in Cambodian culture outfits. My wedding was part American, part Cambodian. My husband is Caucasian but he wants our kids to learn Cambodian, so I speak Cambodian in the home to make sure they are fluent with that and my husband is in the process of learning it too, through our kids. We have the Cambodian community that we visit often in Columbus and Cincinnati. My daughter Roberta is eighteen months and she speaks fluent Cambodian and she can understand English. She can speak very clear the Cambodian and English. A child mind is like a computer chip. So whatever you decided to throw out, they can take in. |
|
%20Refugees_files/image001.gif){kind=small}
