A Life of Thanks

Sr Elizabeth Bui Thi Nghia

Preface to “A Life of Thanks”

In 2000, Mr. Ron Briggs asked me to write an article commemorating my involvement in the Vietnamese Christian Community in South Australia. They wanted to make a publication celebrating the activities and achievements of Vietnamese people in South Australia over the previous 25 years (1975 – 2000). The article below is the original text that was published 20 years ago.

After 30 years in Australia, I felt a call to serve God’s people in another capacity. I remembered my loving parent’s prayers and wishes for me to move to the United States, where all my family had relocated after the war.

In 2005, I left Australia and came to the United States to serve as a Chaplain for Mercy Hospitals in US across the country. For me, the opportunity to become a Chaplain was very important and I believe it is a very meaningful mission. I am here for the patients and their families, for the doctors and all our colleagues. I am her to fulfil the mission of Mercy – to bring to life the healing ministry of Jesus through compassionate care and exceptional service.

Fifteen years on, I have always missed and prayed for all my acquaintances in Australia especially in South Australia.

The author, Mr. Ron Briggs, has passed away, so I thank the Vietnamese Boat People Monument Website in South Australia for inviting me the opportunity to share this article. The article describes the 30 years I served in Australia and Adelaide. It is an example of a boat person coming to South Australia and making a small contribution; a contribution to my Country of Australia, South Australia and the Vietnamese Community.

Sister Elizabeth Bui Thi Nghia RSM, OAM
Catholic Chaplain & SW Counselling
Springfield Mercy Hospital, USA
April-15-2020

A Life of Thanks

As a young nun in the religious Order of the Holy Cross, Sister Elizabeth Nghia arrived in Australia in 1976 as one of the “boat people”, having been forced to flee her homeland in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. But the real story of this remarkable woman begins before her arrival in this country. It is an astonishing story of survival and faith in the face of impossible odds. Indeed, some would suggest the fact that she and her companions survived at all, is a miracle.

“…having been without food for four days, the situation had become perilous“

The story of Sister Elizabeth’s ordeal began when a small fishing boat with 32 desperate people on board, left the shores of Vietnam to seek the freedom that had been denied them in their own country. They had provisions and water for five days. By the tenth day of their journey, having been without food for four days, the situation had become perilous. All were now very weak from lack of food, and the boat was drifting without fuel. Sister Elizabeth herself was too weak to stand, as were a number of her companions. It was then that a ship came into view and spirits lifted. Their hopes for rescue however, were dashed when the ship sailed on.

Sister Elizabeth remembers the scene very well: in the forlorn conclusion that it was the end’ she and her companions said their good-byes to one another and prepared for the inevitable. Another ship came into view and hove to at some distance from them. It was the Hai Lee, a Hong Kong registered cargo vessel. To the dismay of Sister Elizabeth and her companions, this ship too, began to sail away from them. In a desperate, last attempt to be rescued, Sister Elizabeth was asked if she had brought her nun’s habit with her. She had. Struggling into it, and being supported by two of her companions, Sister Elizabeth stood on the deck of the tiny fishing boat and prayed for a miracle. Once again the Hai Lee hove to, and this time Sister Elizabeth and her companions were taken aboard. The master of the Hai Lee explained through interpreters that when he stopped the first time, he had radioed the ship’s owners for instructions, and had been ordered to sail on. Having then seen Sister Elizabeth in her habit, he had sent another radio message, at the same time confiding to the survivors that at home in Hong Kong, he himself had brothers and sisters in religious Orders.

Sister Elizabeth recalls that she and her companions were given the crew’s living quarters and treated exceptionally well. She remains very grateful to the master and owners of the Hai Lee. It was subsequently revealed the first ship that had sailed away from them without stopping, had been identified as a Russian cargo vessel on its way to Vietnam. The Hai Lee took the survivors to Hong Kong but they were refused permission to disembark and had to sail on to Japan. By this time, Sister Elizabeth had become very seriously ill. At one point she weighed only 36 kilos. Sister Elizabeth remained in Japan for three months recovering from the ordeal, before travelling to Australia as a refugee.

For many, the mere fact of having survived the war, of having made the hazardous boat journey, and of having arrived in a foreign land with an familiar and at times, intimidating culture, would have been trauma enough. But, not Sister Elizabeth; for her, it was a rebirth and a new beginning. One of the first hurdles she had to overcome was her religious Order not having representation in Australia. The answer was to turn to the Sisters of Mercy who readily accepted her into their community. As Sister Elizabeth quickly points out, it was a perfect solution.

I now have two families” she says, “the Sisters of Mercy in Australia and the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Vietnam”.

As a newly arrived refugee, Sister Elizabeth immediately seized the opportunity to help those less able to cope with their situation. At times facing intolerance and prejudice, and notwithstanding her own predicament as a new arrival, she identified a pressing need to provide support for her country-women and fellow refugees.

In 1978, less than two years after beginning her life in Australia, and with little in the way of funding or resources, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Indo ­ Chinese Australian Women’s Association (now the Australian South-East Asian Women’s Association) and became its first President and Welfare Director. This organisation, which began as a Vietnamese women’s self-help group providing pastoral care and welfare support in the areas of housing, employment, income, education and counselling, to name but a few, typifies the kind of work with which Sister Elizabeth is involved.

Although a formidable challenge in itself, her work with the women’s group was but one aspect of this remarkable woman’s drive. In the true spirit of her Order’s underlying philosophy, she grasps every opportunity to demonstrate her caring attitude by striving to serve, help, and comfort others, and to offer hope to all people in need. Thus in addition to her social work among the older generation, Sister Elizabeth maintains an enduring passion for the children of the Vietnamese community.

Her deep-felt sensitivity towards the special needs of children can be traced back perhaps, to the time Sister Elizabeth was forced to flee Vietnam when Communist troops seized the Saigon orphanage where she had charge of I 00 orphans. Not only was she not given the time to say goodbye to her family, but she had to leave the children for whom she had cared, and with whom she had lived and worked for over six years. It was a devastating blow to this patient and unassuming nun whose only “crime” was to devote her time and energy to the care of those less fortunate than herself.

In 1983, just a few short years after her arrival in Australia as a refugee, Sister Elizabeth recognised a need for an ethnic school to be established within her community so that the language and cultural traditions would not be lost to the children. So it was that she founded and became Principal of the Lac-Long Vietnamese Ethnic School.

Testament to the success of this project, as in so many others with which Sister Elizabeth is involved, is in the statistics showing that in its sixteen years of existence the School has grown from an initial 8 students to a current enrolment of 756 students at six locations throughout metropolitan Adelaide.

In 1984 Sister Elizabeth was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to ethnic welfare. Sister Elizabeth herself is the first to play down the significance of such an award, preferring instead to look on it as a recognition of all those with whom, and for whom, she works. For many people, the award of the OAM is seen as the crowning achievement of their service to the community. But not Sister Elizabeth; for her it was yet again, simply another beginning, and a milestone along the way to achieving even more, not only for the Vietnamese community, but for the migrant community in general. Such is the measure of this extraordinary woman.

In 1985, Sister Elizabeth was shortlisted for the national BHP Pursuit of Excellence Awards in the category of community service and welfare. Quoted in the book of citations that accompanied the awards, one of her colleagues had this to say: “She is on the go seven days a week and sometimes forgets to eat, but she never forgets her work I would like to think that other migrants and refugees, no matter what country they come from, have their hopes, needs and ambitions fulfilled as successfully as those who have been cared for by Sister Elizabeth”.

In 1994, the Flinders University of South Australia awarded Sister Elizabeth a Medal to Commemorate the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in recognition of her “outstanding contribution in support of Indo-Chinese women and their families, and her work in providing community support and services to immigrant women”.

Together with other members of the Vietnamese community, one of Sister Elizabeth’s more visible achievements has been the establishment of the Vietnamese Christian Community Centre at Pooraka. It was also a project that in its initial stages met with a great deal of resistance from some quarters. Today however, the Complex at Pooraka stands as a fitting tribute to Sister Elizabeth’s stoicism and her determination to quietly and efficiently get the job done, no matter what the obstacles.

In recognition of her work, and in particular her outstanding dedication to assisting the community, the City of Salisbury named Sister Elizabeth its Citizen of the Year for 2000. The citation that came with the presentation of the Award, speaks volumes: “The Salisbury Citizen of the Year Award this year goes to one of the most dynamic forces in our City, to a woman who never rests if there is an opportunity to do something positive for her community … “

Sister Elizabeth remains a charismatic but quietly spoken person with a huge capacity for working to improve the quality of life of all those in need. Diminutive she might be, but in terms of the work she does within her community, most of us would pale into insignificance by comparison. In contrast to her dynamic energy, and in keeping with her vocation, she has no pretensions to worldliness. She humbly, if rather reluctantly, accepts the awards and honours that is bestowed upon her. In this respect however, hers is a true humility, and in her own indomitable way, she sees these awards not as icons but as a tribute to the entire Indo-Chinese community in their efforts to make a positive contribution to the nation they know as Australia, and which they have come to call their home. “My primary aim,” says Sister Elizabeth, “is to serve those people who are most in need, and by doing so, give thanks to God for His loving care and protection”.

by Ron Briggs

Quote from the book : “Celebrating 25 years of Vietnamese Settlement in South Australia”, Published by The Vietnamese Christian Community in South Australia, 2000

Note: More stories of Sister Elizabeth works in USA from 2005 can see from some articles below:

Faces of Mercy: Sister Survives War, Starvation Prior to Ministry at Hospital
October 30, 2016
By Mercy’s Madelynn Innes
https://www.mercy.net/newsroom/2016-10-30/faces-of-mercy-sister-survives-war-starvation-prior-to-ministry-at-hospital/

Paying It Forward: Sister Saved by a Stranger Spreads the Mercy Mission
December 6, 2017
By Karel Lucander
http://www.sistersofmercy.org/blog/2017/12/06/paying-it-forward-sister-saved-by-a-stranger-spreads-the-mercy-mission/

Sr Elizabeth Bui Thi Nghia