Kuku Island, Indonesia »   KuKu Island photos - please upload them here

I think all of you will be happy to see these photos.

Photo 1:Tin Lanh 1-12-1979
First standing row: 5th from left, Tina; 7th from left, Lucia.

We had taken some photos when we had picnics at the little hut next to the edge of the mountain with our church friends. We asked Mr. Lam to developed those photos and send them to us. Maybe we moved to a different place a few times and lost contact. I hope Mr. Lam still has those photos. If the people who are in this photo see this, can you please contact me?


Photo 2: Kuku Island beach 12-12-1979
Left to right, back row: Chi Phuong (Tai-Chi’s teacher); friend, Tina, Jane, Frank, Lucia, My Nhi, Thieu, friend.
Front row: from left, Cam Hung, Dong Lai, Van Thong.

Frank is my brother. He was 16 years old at the time. We were leaving Kuku on 12 December 1979 and went to Galang Island. Our friends sent us to the port. We stood at the back of Dong Lai's family coffee shop when we took the photo.

Tina,

Thank you. You photos take me for a walk down the memory lane.

I remember the church very well. My friend in Kuku, Thoại Vân, and I used to go up the hill next to the church to get firewoods. We were close buddies, and I was the stubborn one. When we returned from the jungle, we carried the same load of heavy wood on our shoulders. Sometime, TV was tired but I would refuse to rest or switch side (of the shoulders). I felt pretty bad about it, but we indeed had lots of fun with each other. ( I could only hope TV does not curse at me if he has sore shoulders now -). Like I am, Thoại Vân is Chinese Vietnamese. He grew up in Mỹ Tho and did not have the privilege to learn to write in Chinese. He was 16 at the time. He went on the journey with a family of 7 girls. The Mom brought TV along to be the servant (sort of), in hope he would do the hard, labor work in the refugee camp for the family. That appeared to work out well for TV and the family. TV was loyal and stayed with the family until they parted ways for the ‘third country’. TV’s parents were in Viet Nam. They only read in Chinese, so I wrote a few letters for TV, thus knew more about his family than I would need to. I lost contact with TV after leaving Kuku. In the 90s, a mutual friend told me TV settled in Portland, Oregon US. TV owned a few bean spout factories and was very successful in making a living. I would hope to reconnect with my friend Thoại Vân some day.

I am amazed by your good memory. How could you remember the names of your friends after all these years? I tried hard, but I cannot recall meeting any of your friends during my time in Kuku from 7/79 to 3/80.

Hung

Tina,

I totally forgot the names of the Café along the Kuku beach. I remembered we used to hang out listening to the music from the Café, perhaps on the very same spot in your picture.

I still have the blue CARE bag. I wasn’t sure whether I got it from Kuku or Galang. Your picture answered that question for me. Thanks.

Yea, friendships back in the days were special. They were as pure and raw as they could get. We had no expectations from each other, given no visibility into the future. I am glad to hear you’re still in touch with your friends. I wish I could do the same, especially with Thoại Vân. I wonder how he is now. Could he be an COE of a Fortune 500 company? Would he show up in a fancy car with a hot chic, or as a fat guy and an old lady?...Until then, in my heart Thoại Vân will always be the loyal, loving and lanky young boy who survived adversities and cared for others from Kuku.

Hung