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Ken Nguyen: We left Vietnam. We got on the boat. We're floating, floating but unaware which way to go.

Myhau Phan: We were in the boat for six days and five nights. And the ocean, it was so scary. We didn't think we make it. But we did.

Ken Nguyen: We lucky we made it to Malaysia. After two pirate attack, we went to a refugee camp to see the American delegation to interview us to see where we are from, why we left Vietnam. So we qualified because our family belonged to the South Vietnam. So we are related to American government. So we are accepted to America.

Myhau Phan: We came to Santa Clara December 13, 1985. And after the Christmas break, we enrolled to adult school, Santa Clara Adult School right away.

Kathy Hamilton: They are able to articulate so well the importance of the adult school to them, and their ultimate security in this country that they were able to walk to school and learn English and have a safe place for their child to be in child care, that it gave them the start that they need.

Ken Nguyen: I did learn English when I was in high school. So I have in here. But my wife, she chose French at that time. We have choices. We can choose English or we can choose French. She chose French. I choose English, more modern.

And she came here-- when we came here, she knows no English. She even can not count from 1 to 10, A to Z. So we start from scratch. I went to [? benton ?] about a year.

And after that, I went to college about 2 and 1/2 years. And after that I dropped to get involved in business. I worked for a furniture company. So that's why I got involved in business. After school, 4 or 5 o'clock, I went out to furniture company to deliver furniture.

Patty Nguyen: I'm so proud of my parents' accomplishments. They came here with nothing but the clothes on their backs. My father started out as a paper boy. He entered the furniture business as a delivery person. And look at where he is now.

And without my mom, none of that would be possible. So I think they make the perfect couple. Without my dad, she wouldn't be as successful. Without my mom, my dad definitely would not be able to run the store. And I know my brother and I are so proud of them and so grateful. And they're the best parents in the world.

Ken Nguyen: Many immigrants when I came here, and that time, I remember if you don't have enough English to guide your children and to listen to them, and you cannot handle them, then they went wrong way.

And I saw in the Vietnamese community, I saw many cases. They were not lucky like we were. We were from the cities in Vietnam, so at least we had an education. So we can here, we continue to keep going so we can improve our English, learning English and we can guide them to the good way.

Kathy Hamilton: I know it's been very important for them to raise both their children to be productive members of society, and how proud they are of their children.

Ken Nguyen: So they grow up, they went to school at both of them have a degree and one become a teacher in the West Macedonia And the one left for New York. Yes, so they have a good life now.

Kathy Hamilton: As I got to know Ken and Myhau as our new neighbors, I think that they do epitomize the journey that so many of our adult school students have taken, coming to California and the United States in a time of hardship and making a superhuman effort to get here that's beyond what most of us can understand and appreciate.

Ken Nguyen: One great thing about America and you probably Americans don't recognize it, in different countries, you have a limited time to go to school only. If you cannot pass the school, then you kick out right away. But in here, you can go until you finish school. In our country, we don't offer education like in America does, but different. So if you can learn, you can get higher and higher education. Like I tell my children, the more the better for all of us.

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