n635  0311  17 May 78
 
BC-Indo 2takes 05-17
Following is the second of three articles
By LARRY INGRASSIA
(c) 1978 Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO     - Le Long escaped by sea, Dao Van Hung by land. Both risked
their lives to be free from communism.
    ''It is better to be eaten by the shark than to live
with the Communists,'' Hung says.
    Long and Hung are among the thousands who have fled
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia since Communist take-overs in
1975, but they are more fortunate than most who escaped.
    Many have died at sea in small boats, or in the jungles of
Southeast Asia at the hands of Communist soldiers.
    And at least 100,000 more are languishing in squalid
refugee camps, suffering from inadequate food, shelter and
medicine, hoping that the United States will open the
immigration gates wider for a second wave of refugees.
    Long (not his real name) is one of the ''boat
people.'' His flight to freedom - which took him from
Saigon to Chicago - almost cost him his life.
    Long, a bachelor in his 20s, planned his escape for
nearly a year. As a schoolteacher, Long found life under the
Communists not physically unbearable, but emotionally
unacceptable. He feared he would be sent to a re-education
camp or to the ''new economic zones'' where life is harsh.
    ''Under communism, some generations in theory must be
sacrificed,'' Long said. ''I don't want to be sacrificed.''
    So he sought out some friends, they pooled their money
and began searching for a boat to buy. It cost them 10,000
dong (the Vietnamese currency). The average wage in
Vietnam is about 60 dong a month, Long said.
    Last June, with 16 refugees aboard the 28-foot boat,
the group slipped out of a coastal town about 40 miles
southeast of Saigon. They had enough rice, noodles and
dried food to last about a week. Their destination:
Malaysia, 400 miles across the South China Sea. It is a trip
many other boat people have made.
    ''The engine broke down two days after we left,'' Long
recalled. ''We had no sail. We were helpless.'' Without any power,
they began drifting to the east - the wrong direction.
    The food soon ran out, except for a little set aside
for a 2-year-old baby. ''I had no food for 20 days.
I lost 30 pounds. We survived on rainwater,'' Long said.
    While at sea, the refugees saw about 30 ships, including
10 that Long believes saw them but passed them up. Finally,
after nearly a month at sea, a South Korean vessel picked
them up about 120 miles directly east of the Vietnamese
coast. Later that day, a raging thunderstorm struck.
''We would have died if we weren't picked up,'' Long said.
    The refugees were taken to Indonesia and placed in a
refugee camp, one of few with good conditions. Long stayed
there until earlier this year, when he entered the
United States under a special program to admit boat people
with relatives here. He now works for a social service
agency, and considers himself lucky to be here.
    Hung's journey to Chicago took longer. A Vietnamese
born and reared in Laos, Hung fought in the war and
returned to Laos after his discharge from the army. He went to
work running his father's industrial workshop, but was
arrested in early 1975 by the Pathet Lao Communists.
rr    (More) 05-17
 
 
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