To create a portrait of Yman Huang Vien is daunting. She has lived many lives and her life’s arc is complex, filled with unending challenges which she views with both preternatural grace and grit. I asked her for some photographs from her escape. Their faded and tattered images spark one’s imagination of the string of hardships that began when she was still a teen. 

Yman’s escape recorded April 27, 2023.
Lightly edited for length and clarity:

I escaped Vietnam in September of November 1977. It’s quite a story— first because we made many attempts and because my Mom and my two sisters were left behind. I also traveled to the countryside two, three times. The first couple of times, we lost everything:  our boat ran away and they took our possessions, but the third time we were able to get on a boat and then transfer safely to board the second boat on the Mekong River to get us to the big boat for our trip on the ocean. Unfortunately, we were being followed so they demanded we give them additional gold and stuff so we could safely get on the big boat when we reached the sea. But the waves were too high and our small boat was sinking. Luckily the big boat’s wife was with us so the big boat had no choice but to return to rescue us…when we reached Malaysia the Fukien fisherman warned us that our boat was too nice and we should do something to make them (the coast guard) come and rescue us. So our boat owners sunk our boat until the water came up to here (Yman pats the top of her chest) that’s when they came. I had to hug my two younger brothers and my younger sister and my Dad (to stay afloat). 

While in the refugee camp, Yman and her family had to overcome more obstacles. They were waiting to be added to a list of refugees to be sent to the U.S. according to a U.S. agreement but the family arrived after the deadline although two of her uncles’ names were on the list.

We arrived past the deadline. I always refer to this part of my escape to the U.S.  as my “journey of begging.” My Dad wanted me to talk to the translator from the United Nations to beg for our names to be added to the list along with our uncles’ group who arrived earlier. She told me, “No, you passed the deadline.” I had to beg her every day, every time I see her, I follow her and tell her, “Please let me go with this group with my uncles because my Mom and my two sisters are waiting in Vietnam” (to be rescued). When the next list of names were announced, we were on that list! This is how I learned how important it is to be persistent. So that’s how we got to Chicago, sponsored by the Jewish Family Community Service.

Yman escaped Vietnam when she was only 18. She came from a well-to-do family. Before the takeover, her father did well in business as a Chinese living in a Chinese district in Saigon. Her dream was to marry, have children and become a housewife. But this part of her story was evidence of her inner resources that included an nascent entrepreneurial spirit. When they reached the Malaysian refugee came, the challenges continued…

We didn’t have a proper place to stay so we had to get into a tent. We didn’t have any water so we had to walk to get well water. It looked like the color of tea. We had no meat, no food. The vegetables were really spoiled. I began selling spring rolls. I had $100 sewn into the elastic of my waistband. One of the refugees selling spring rolls wanted to sell his share in the business when his name was put on the list of of refugees going to Australia. I told him I would pay $50 U.S. dollars to buy in. I never worked in my life until then. I was in high school. I took piano lessons. We had a maid, a servant and a driver. All of a sudden, I have to chop onion and chicken, to de-bone them to make these spring rolls. It was a good business because people in the refugee camp spend money. Every day you chop a bag basket of onions so your tears are running nonstop, but I got really lucky to get this business going and made money at the camp. 

It is easy to generalize about others. The story about refugees can be strikingly similar, but Yman had an extraordinary sense of loyalty to her family and a penchant for working harder than anyone else to achieve her goals. She quickly overcame the language barrier and eventually went to Truman and Loyola earning top grades and earning degrees in accounting and business.  She rose to become a bank president and co-founding the Chinese Mutual Aid Association with her father Duc Huang to help others new to America. But after overcoming a lifetime of challenges, as successful as she has become, she still faces obstacles that finding Buddhism has helped her endure.

“As a refugee we have no choice, you have to escape, if you stay, your life might go down the drain so your desire is for freedom, to have a better life. Under the Communists, you don’t know what is going to happen to you and your family, but once you come here, you see the whole world. You have a choice but I always see a glass ceiling for me. Even among the Chinese, they still see me as the woman from Vietnam until I talk. Until I conduct business. Then they will look at me differently. But still some people are still afraid, that a woman, as a refugee, as a person from Southeast Asia, can be more successful than long-time residents…One thing I have learned, it’s like being on stage. When you are a CEO, you play a CEO. If you have to play a leader, you play a leader, as a daughter, you are a daughter, don’t mix up your roles. I think I’m pretty good at this…I told my sons. Your life is like waves. They’re coming and when you know the wave is coming, you have to jump up high. You don’t want to be swallowed up but the waves. Being a Buddhist, I tell myself, “Let go, this is fake, this is karma, you have to deal with it.”

Would you like to know more about the Chinese Mutual Aid Association? Check out their website at:  www.chinesemutualaid.org