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Author Topic: 40th anniversary reunion  (Read 2081 times)
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« on: May 31, 2022, 05:38:34 PM »

A large part of the original group of refugees ended up in Melbourne, Australia. Forty years after the rescue they decided to hold a reunion, but then along came the Covid virus. Finally, in 2022 the reunion could take place. Through all their efforts, in particular Thuong Huynh with organising and conducting the ceremony, Tim Huynh with putting the photos together and unearthing some more from the past, and Linh Pham with running the slide show, the event was a great success. And let’s not forget Viet Trí Quách; without his personal efforts to re-establish contact afterwards we would never have come together to begin with. Thank you all!

So here we all are, grown in number 42 years later:



Tan Phuoc Huynh, the skipper of the boat which made it out of Vietnam, under great danger to himself and the others, is sitting on my left, centre row. Only the day before we were celebrating his 90th birthday!

If this feels like a family photo, that’s because it is. With altogether four generations spread across the erstwhile refugees and their descendants and with my own son, his wife and grandchildren, we are now one big family - by mutual consent. The relationships have evolved through many meetings and visits over the years.

That reunion wasn’t just a happy gathering. What made it especially wonderful is the present-day existence of so many people with their descendants all settled and leading accomplished lives.

More photos can be found on the Facebook Mayaroma group https://www.facebook.com/groups/mayaroma.

PS:
Below is a map showing Mayaroma’s overall three-year voyage from Taiwan to Gambia. The map with the waypoints drawn in was put together by Dan Pitman, the current owner. Thank you Dan!



The green icon marks the approximate location in the South China Sea where the rescue took place.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2022, 12:03:15 AM by otoom-admin » Logged
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