The Oxford dictionary defines WAIFS as "homeless and helpless persons, especially unowned, abandoned and neglected children". Throughout history, when there has been an occupying force of military servicemen in a foreign country or territory, relationships inevitably develop between those servicemen and local women from the occupied territories. During the US and Allied occupation of Southern Vietnam in the sixties and early seventies, some of these relationships resulted in children of mixed heritage, born to Vietnamese women and their occupying companions. What happened next is complex and varied depending upon individual circumstances, twists of fate, and other political and nonpolitical factors. Some of these children and their parents never parted, and later immigrated to their father's homeland. In other cases servicemen who fathered these children died in battle or were severely injured at some point during the remainder of their tour of duty, and were never heard from again by the mothers. A few servicemen left for home and later returned to find their children and the mothers, to help them immigrate. Others completely abandoned their children along with the mothers and never looked back. There are many different stories. When a local girl found herself pregnant with the child of an occupying serviceman, she was often exiled from her family and community. This exile became particularly more acute after the final departure of the Allied Forces from Vietnam in 1973 and repatriation of the South by the ruling North in 1975. Eventually, years after the war, the existence of these children was acknowledged by the US and Allied Governments, yet, despite government programs designed to allow these multicultural children quick entry in to the United States and Allied Countries, many are still living throughout Vietnam. Their lives have been difficult in the wake of the absence of their fathers, and the hard lives of their mothers. Because of their lack of basic family structure (mother, father and extended family relationships), in most cases, they do not have the same benefits of social and community support, common to the lives of the average Vietnamese citizen. They are often denied entry into the education system, and therefore, many of them are illiterate. A large number are homeless, living on the streets, making a living as beggars or working in the lowest level of Vietnam's labour pool. Many are for all practical purposes, indentured slaves, working for basic food, clothing, and shelter. In Vietnam these children can be found on the streets of any city, on farms, wandering the roads, or in small villages, Though some have been able to make connections within Vietnamese society, and many have benefited from the general kindness of Vietnamese people, and have found a survivable life in Vietnam, most of these waifs live in very poor conditions. The true measure of their numbers is largely unknown however the Boston Globe has estimated them at about 50,000. These children have a common heritage as descendents of occupying servicemen. In the cases where these multicultural waif children were fathered by Americans, in accordance with US policy, each of them should have access to easy immigration to the US, if this is what individual should so desire. Yet this is far from the experience many live with. It has been documented that many of these children are routinely denied their opportunity for US citizenship, and there are numerous scams that seek to exploit these children for profit, based on the value of their immigrant status. Often, after paying fees to middlemen and scammers the same children who are routinely denied are often approved for immigration. False family members are often attached to the immigrant's case file, also becoming eligible for immigration along with the American Asian multicultural child. These scams, while making small fortunes for some scammers, have left many of these multicultural waif children caught up in false paperwork filing dilemmas, that have left them in a pool of applicants who are therefore routinely denied entry into the United States Homecoming Program for American-Vietnamese Waifs. The Australian Government doesn't have a homecoming program for waifs fathered by Australians. Vietnamese waifs are also left to fend for themselves in cases of Vietnamese Forces fathered children. These children have other issues to address as well. Like children anywhere they want to know their fathers and their children want to know their grandfathers as well. The desire to be known and acknowledged in the world. Many of them struggle with the pain of abandonment, and the hard lives they live. They simply seek to connect with the fathers that gave them life or to just have a dialogue about their struggles, their lives, with a person who can listen and will care enough to help. They also have issues related to day-to-day survival they have to wrestle with. These "children" are now grown adults, many of whom have children
of their own. So, this legacy of poverty and lack of opportunity has bridged
a generation, affecting the lives of a new group of young multicultural
descendents - War Waifs 2nd Generation. These waif children and their
families are working with very minimal resources. Money, education, legal
services, job training, healthcare, and adequate housing are all on-going
issues that need to be addressed. |