A Resurrection of Heritage
Hanh Phi
October 2, 2000

Over 80 children from all over the US gathered at Snow Mountain Ranch, Colorado, on the weekend of August 19th for a three-day revival of their heritage. These children, ranging in age from 1 to 15 years old, are either adopted from Vietnam or a sibling to an adoptee. Their American parents took them to this camp to give them a little taste of their heritage.

The Vietnamese Heritage Camp (VNHC) started in 1999 as an effort to bring together the families of adopted Vietnamese children to teach them the culture of Vietnam.

Last year the camp was a day long, held in Lowry, Colorado. This year the program has grown significantly to over 40 families and 25 volunteer counselors and lasted three days in a camp near Granby.

The children were divided by age group and led by two or three counselors. Each group had specific activities that better satisfied the ages. The days were split into various interactive Vietnamese cultural workshops such as singing, folktales, language, kite making and art. The parents also had some informative workshops about Vietnam, its culture and philosophies, parenting adoptees, and planning for VNHC 2001. The last evening of camp was celebrated with the annual dragon parade and performances by the youth group from the Vietnamese Catholic Church.

Only a few days with these children can enlighten a person to see how amazingly well these children (even the infants) can distinguish between who they are and who surrounds them. I asked little 2-year-old Eric, who in the room looked like him and who did not. Impressively, he was able to identify all the Asians in the room. Through this experience, I’ve realized that these children in particular have a very strong awareness of their identity and ethnicity.

Along with teaching these children about their identity and ethnicity, they also taught them a new perspective about being adopted. One of the workshops called "Heart Talks" had identical boxes set out for the kids to pick. Every child would pick a box and inside would be an angel, and that angel was theirs to keep. One child took out her angel and said, "But my angel is broken." The facilitator replied, "If you were a parent adopting a baby and s/he was broken, would you return her/him?" Although these children are still very young, this workshop gave them a very unique angle on their adoption.

A few of the counselors were asked to give their view on the children. When asked about what he noticed most about the children, counselor Tung Tran answered, "They were all very Americanized, yet they retained a special interest in the Vietnamese culture and people. Ultimately, it would be their interest in the people that will draw them to the Viet Community."

Tran emphasizes that "There is a community that is willing to accept them [the adoptees]; we the counselors and their adopted fellows who were born to Vietnamese parents, yet are also Americanized. We should make ourselves more accessible to them (e.g. emails, letters, phone calls...) so they too can know the Viet Community."I was the counselor for the youngest age group, the one to two year olds. After a few hours with them, I realized that they’re extremely curious little kids and they welcome the Vietnamese culture very much. Their adoptee parents teach them at an early age that they are Vietnamese. Thanks to them [the parents], these children can come to this camp only once a year and still have such interest in their heritage. After speaking to a few of the counselors, I realized that this camp not only revived the culture for the children, but also for us. Bert Ballard, an adopted counselor from Operation Babylift (the mission to rescue babies from Saigon in 1975 after the Vietnam War), said that he valued the experience very much for giving him the opportunity to develop a connection to a younger generation of adoptees.The camp is working on possibly opening the camp up to all Vietnamese families to bring together the Vietnamese and the adoptees communities. The camp plans to thrive more every year, with old and new counselors, adoptees, and culture. One day, our culture will be fully resurrected.