Michael Pham came farther than many people to become a Highline vice president. 

Pham, now vice president of administrative services, was originally a refugee from Vietnam. He shared his story during Highline Welcomes the World week, which is dedicated to learning about the diversity of the campus, on Feb. 17. 

Pham spoke about the journey he had to make as a young boy, leaving behind most of his family and his home.

Pham said that there were three waves of the Vietnamese refugee exodus. 

Wave one took place during the fall of Saigon in 1975, where people involved with and working for U.S. companies were airlifted out. 

Wave two was nicknamed the Vietnamese boat people era, because people escaped that way. 

“The reason I used the word escaped rather than leaving is because at the time, Communist Vietnam, like all other communist countries, prohibited their citizens from leaving the country,” he said.

Pham said he was lucky to be among the 830,000 people able to escape and make it to the refugee camps. However his father was among the 200-400,000 who died at sea.

People of the third wave are not considered refugees by some because they were allowed to leave the country rather than having to flee. The Orderly Departure Program was an agreement between the Vietnamese and U.S. Governments in 1990-1994 that allowed approximately 900,000 to be resettled into countries like the US.

Pham said his mom and his younger siblings were able to leave Vietnam through this program.

Pham’s departure from Vietnam was not so orderly. 

“I was awoken from an afternoon nap by my cousin. …  She just told me to follow her to the local market,” he said, beginning to tell his story. “I really didn’t think too much of anything but to just put on a pair of jeans.”

Pham said it was odd she also asked his younger brother to come with them, but they all went to the market together and later in the night went to a big house. 

He didn’t know whose house it was nor did he recognize most of the people around him. He said the only people he knew were a few of his cousins, his aunt, and his uncle.

Pham recalled that everyone was told to walk to the beach around midnight where they continued into the water to board his uncle’s fishing boat.

“The boat was fairly small,” he said, remembering how it was only 45 feet in length and about eight feet in width in the widest part. 

Pham recalled how the boat was old, had no toilet, not enough space for the 46 people it held, and definitely not enough food to feed everyone there. 

“Fortunately though, as this was an old fishing boat in Vietnam at the time without any kind of refrigeration, my uncle used to load his boat with a lot of ice for the fish,” he said. “I remember chewing on a lot of ice to survive from the hunger and dehydration.”

He recalled a moment of joy as they saw land after seven days at sea. 

Their boat approached a beach in Malaysia but were unfortunately turned away. The Malaysian Coast Guard explained to them that they would not be welcomed into the country.

However, some of the personnel gave them some canned food in trade for valuables and pointed them toward Indonesia, where they would be welcomed.

Two days later, the boat arrived in Indonesia, where a group of people tell them to go to the other side. Camps were set up for the Vietnamese refugees.

Pham said because he didn’t have any possessions or clothes, he had to re-wear the clothes he had on for the entirety of the trip and stay in Indonesia. He saved his t-shirt and jeans for special occasions and wore the shorts he had underneath them everyday.

“I wore them to do chores, to play, and even when I bathed,” he said.

Time passed in the refugee camp before Pham, with his cousins, uncle and aunt, were able to leave. They were interviewed by refugee systems in three countries before they were able to find a new place to stay.

Pham said his uncle really wanted to go to Australia, but they didn’t want them, and that their next choice was Germany, but it was too cold in the winter time. Their last choice was the U.S., which worked out in their favor.

On Nov. 13, 1979, Pham and his family arrived in the U.S. They were sponsored by the Kenneth and Andrews families, who provided them a place to stay until they could find their own. 

Pham recalled being among the only four non-white students at his school and learning English was a lot harder than it is now. 

“There was not actually an ESL program, but there was a teacher and you could tell she was trying her best,” he said.

He ended his story with a memory of when he went back to Vietnam for the first time after escaping. 

“I went from door to door asking my neighbors if they remembered me and then I found a girl, a bit older than me, who did and we sat and talked for awhile.”