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Kimaleen (Anh Thu) Tran

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Parents left by boat.  Dad left in 1985 and Mom left in 1988.  They were a few days at sea.  First Refugee camp is Budon Island Malaysia.  Day stay for 2-3 years and Mom for 1 year.  Day left the camp in 1988 and Mom in 1989.  Day was resettled in Toronto, CA and Mom in Buffalo, NY

Journey

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My Story

00:00 / 01:04

Kimaleen Tran [00:00:00] My name is Kimaleen Tran and my Vietnamese name is Anh

Thu, Anh Thu Tran.


Interviewer [00:00:05] Okay. And where were you born?


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:08] I was born in Buffalo, New York.


Interviewer [00:00:10] And what year?


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:11] 1995.


Interviewer [00:00:12] Okay. So where are your parents from?


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:15] My parents are from. Both from Vietnam. My mom is from Bến Tre and my dad is from Mỹ Tho.


Interviewer [00:00:22] And do you have any brothers or sisters?


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:24] I do. I am the oldest daughter of two other sisters. My younger sister, her name is Cynthia. And she was she's one year younger than me. And then my youngest sister is 16 years old. So we have a big a big age gap. Yeah.


Interviewer [00:00:39] So tell me, what brings you here to share your story?


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:43] Yeah. So I'm here to really preserve my parents legacy and my family's legacy and really amplifying underrepresented voices in the community and tell their story. My passion has always been in social impact and storytelling, and I'm really grateful for this opportunity to be here with Vietnamese Boat People.


Kimaleen Tran [00:00:59] For the longest time, I've been putting together pieces of part of our identity and sharing our stories, especially in humanities and preserving this history. It gives us a voice to be seen in ways that we had felt like we weren't always seen.


Interviewer [00:01:14] So tell me about your parents story.


Kimaleen Tran [00:01:16] So my mom and dad they’re Vietnamese boat refugees my dad and mom did not know each other in Vietnam. And my dad escaped Vietnam in 1985 from Mỹ Tho, and he was on a boat. He did not tell me exactly how many days. However, he ended up being on overseas. He arrived to Malaysia, which was Bidong Island. That's where my dad first set his feet on the island and stayed at the refugee camp there.


Interviewer [00:01:45] How old was he when he left?


Kimaleen Tran [00:01:47] 17 years old.


Interviewer [00:01:48] 17. And does he ever talk about what life was like in Vietnam?


Kimaleen Tran [00:01:53] Yes. I think it brings a lot of pain, but it also brings a lot of roots and memories for him. My dad, he, he grew up in on an island called Thoi Son. And that island was where he worked. Like he it was a lot a lot of crops and agriculture and even portions of food that he would have to share with his brothers growing up. They didn't always you know, they grew up in an impoverished community there in the Mekong Delta.


Kimaleen Tran [00:02:22] The only way and he was the youngest son of five brothers. Being that he was a youngest son, he had a lot of responsibilities at that age. He had to watch over the home. He had to you know, his dad was sick. And so that was his journey.

But entrepreneurship has always been rooted, and carving our own path has always been rooted in our story as well.


Interviewer [00:02:45] What about your mom?


Kimaleen Tran [00:02:46] My mom grew up in Bến Tre and she's the youngest of ten kids. Her dad was an herbalists, which is Thuốc Bắc in Vietnamese. And he during the war, during the Vietnam War, my mom's dad, my grandpa, ông ngoại he helped a lot of people in terms of the holistic healing and holistic medicine. And however, during war it was a really hard time and he did have to stop that Thuốc Bắc business as well. But that was the village that she grew up in Bến Tre.


Interviewer [00:03:17] And what was her journey from Vietnam?


Kimaleen Tran [00:03:21] Yeah. So her journey was that my mom, she was actually going with a cousin. She just thought it was for fun. Actually, she didn't know much at that age. She knew at that age, I imagine. I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to even try to grasp what was happening. But her cousin was she thought that she was just going on like a fun trip with her cousin. But next thing you know, she was on the boat to escape Vietnam and she wanted to go back, but it was too late.


Interviewer [00:03:49] How old was she?


Kimaleen Tran [00:03:51] She was 18 and


Interviewer [00:03:53] And so both your parents left without their families?


Kimaleen Tran [00:03:58] Yeah, well, distant relatives, but not their parents or their siblings.


Interviewer [00:04:06] And did they both share with you pecifically how that felt leaving without their parents?


Kimaleen Tran [00:04:15] Yes, I think a lot of identity loss. My mom didn't really. It's it's it's hard to bring up a lot of these things. Right. So I always ask, well, what are the things you do remember that bring you joy. Well, she said a funny story is that when my mom first arrived on the island, Bidong Island, she said that was how she met my dad, was that he was the one who held her hand and was like, “Hey, like, what's your name?”


Kimaleen Tran [00:04:43] And it turns out they're both from the Mekong Delta. And he was a translator for the hospital and for the doctors there. That's why he was there for 2 to 3 years on the camp. And that was the beginning of their relationship there.


Interviewer [00:04:58] That's sweet. Yeah. So where did they first arrived? When they came to the United States.


Kimaleen Tran [00:05:04] My dad arrived in Toronto, Canada, and my mom arrived to Buffalo, New York. She was sponsored in the US. My dad has quite has kind of a journey. He was supposed to go to the US and be sponsored by his brother, who was at that time already an American citizen.


Kimaleen Tran [00:05:20] But there was a miscommunication with paperwork and they got his birthday mixed up, so he actually couldn't be a U.S. citizen. But then when he was still on the island of the refugee camp, he had Canada sponsor him and his dad a few years later.


Interviewer [00:05:38] Okay. And your mom?


Kimaleen Tran [00:05:39] My mom had was sponsored by her, her sister in New York, in Buffalo, New York, but surprisingly, Toronto in Buffalo, New York, only an hour drive. So it turns out that they were able to meet up and it was fate that they were able to meet up again after all that time.


Interviewer [00:05:58] So did they have they shared with you like coming to America and what those initial years were like?


Kimaleen Tran [00:06:05] Yes. I would say also during their time in the refugee camp, too, it's I didn't get to mention a lot of that as well. But my dad, he was he actually opened up a coffee shop on the refugee camp with his brothers. And then from there, that's how he got to Toronto, Canada, because his brothers were already in business. And so that was it wasn't it was really hard initially because they didn't know the language.


Kimaleen Tran [00:06:34] They didn't know they didn't have like the college. They didn't have the opportunity for a college education here. But they carved their own paths. And I really will say that they were pioneers of their time. So my dad actually was initially in gold and jewelry, but that brought a lot of pain as well, because the immigrant refugee experience of even being in entrepreneurship, it can be dangerous being in jewelry and

gold.


Kimaleen Tran [00:06:57] And so although that was initially the line of work that my dad was in with his family, they had to leave it for reasons of being in danger with that business in which after that they found nail salons. And so my dad, you know, had to get his license and he ended up owning a nail salon. That was when my mom and dad had business. So my mom ended up marrying my dad from in Canada.


Kimaleen Tran [00:07:28] They got married at Toronto City Hall. And so my dad was so in jewelry at that time. Next to the jewelry store was an empty space. And my mom, like, what can my mom do? And so she ended up selling bridal gowns next to my dad. And it was like a family business. And after that, they moved to Orange County, California.


Interviewer [00:07:46] What did they know people in Orange County?


Kimaleen Tran [00:07:53] Yes. My dad's brother, my dad's older brother, Bac Thu, was in Orange County. And so they moved to Orange County and I was only one years old, so I would not have remembered.


Interviewer [00:08:02] So they were both entrepreneurs?


Kimaleen Tran [00:08:04] Yeah.


Interviewer [00:08:05] Did you grow up going into the stores or when you were born and I guess your earliest memories, were they still running the shops?


Kimaleen Tran [00:08:23] Yes, it was pretty much ingrained in my upbringing. I remember at a young age I would first it was the same. Yeah, it was the jewelry business. And my dad was like a goldsmith. He was always bringing my sister and I, my younger sister Cynthia and I, into the factory. And I just thought it was cool because I would just see him work on like the specific jewelry pieces.


Kimaleen Tran [00:08:35] But then after that, it was the nail salons that we'd go to. Interestingly enough, my mom, when she moved to Orange County, she also carved her own path. So in Corona Del Mar, which is Newport Beach area, she ended up going into calling around for employment to have her own nail salon corner in a hair salon corner in Corona del Mar.


Kimaleen Tran [00:09:00] So for the longest time, I think at least six years, she had a nail salon corner in Corona Del Mar in a hair salon that was in a predominantly Vietnamese nail salon. And so before we moved to Colorado, which I haven't gotten to that yet, she sold at that that corner as well.


Interviewer [00:09:18] When did you move to Colorado?


Kimaleen Tran [00:09:30] I moved to Colorado at sixteen years old, and now I'm 28. So that was 2011.


Interviewer [00:09:29] So tell me what it was like growing up in Orange County because it's quite a few Vietnamese-Americans there.


Kimaleen Tran [00:09:33] Yeah, I think. Definitely brings. A lot of emotions.


Interviewer [00:09:45] Take your time it’s okay.


Kimaleen Tran [00:09:50] I think it was a great way to be in touch with our culture, our identities. But I think my family was. It was hard because and I don't focus on the pain that it brought us, but we found community in other Vietnamese people.


Kimaleen Tran [00:10:05] But the thing that I am really passionate about is a lot of the times we don't talk about as well, like the impacts of immigrant trauma and. There was a lot of there was a lot of pain. It's like we came together as a community and it was amazing to have so many Vietnamese friends growing up.


Kimaleen Tran [00:10:25] And I went to so I grew up in Westminster Fountain Valley, which is considered Little Saigon, California. And I loved my mom would take me to Brodard every single Sunday. My dad would take me to this cháo restaurant. And it was it. It made me really proud to be, you know, first generation Vietnamese American.


Kimaleen Tran [00:10:46] And but the sides that were hard was also like the whole time my parents were there to carve out their own path and survive, essentially. Right. And you don't think of those things when you were little, but I think that it was nice to be able to have friends that could look like me, right?


Kimaleen Tran [00:11:07] But I at the same time, growing up, I had been surrounded by a lot of diversity, and that's what I really enjoyed and loved as well. And the beach, we my parents would always take it to the beach growing up. And so I do have a connection to Newport Beach, Huntington Beach area. But celebrations it was a huge Vietnamese community.


Kimaleen Tran [00:11:32] But the biggest reason as to why we actually moved away halfway through high school for me, which was incredibly hard, I was an angry and angry teenager, was because he wanted to start over and not be in an area where there was as much competition with nail salons and businesses.


Kimaleen Tran [00:11:48] So we went from, you know, being that we are minorities, we went from feeling like a majority to essentially like moving to a rural town, Cowtown, Colorado. That was a huge culture shock for me because I was so proud of where I was from as well. But I also had a lot of trauma. I mean, but who does it right? And so really, I've been able to, because of moving away at such a young age, he just wanted us to, like, grow up as good kids.


Kimaleen Tran [00:12:19] And I think the hardest part for me is that I, I had a lot of I had a lot of Vietnamese friends growing up as well. And I think that a lot of the times they found their community, unfortunately, and lost a lot of them to gang violence as well. And that is the reality of what it's like to grow up in an immigrant community sometimes. And it's hard to talk about. But through all of this research, my biggest passion is to bridge the gap and to shed a light on like how we are also multifaceted and to break those barriers and break generational trauma.


Interviewer [00:12:57] Was where there are large immigrant populations in Colorado where you were?


Kimaleen Tran [00:13:03] Yeah, not where I was now. I moved to Greeley, Colorado. I don't know if you've ever heard of Greeley, Colorado, but it's an hour north of Denver at this time. Colorado is not booming yet and very rural. Funny story about Greeley, Colorado is it's known to smell like the smell of cow. And because it's known for the manufacturing companies out there. So my dad would always I'm like, what does that smell? That smells

like cow poop? And my dad always say it's the smell of tiền, which is money, right?


Kimaleen Tran [00:13:34] So it was just funny early memory of me moving there. But no, my sister and I, our earliest moment moving there was people would be like, or like students and peers would be like, So are you Asian or are you Chinese? And I remember

thinking I had never gotten asked that my whole like growing up.


Interviewer [00:13:55] Because you grew up in a Vietnamese community.


Kimaleen Tran [00:13:58] Yeah, exactly. And then I told them I was Vietnamese and they were like, are you Hawaiian or Vietnamese? I'm like, What does that mean? Right? And so I think at a young age it makes you question a lot of your own identity. But now I feel like it's made my identity stronger and wanting to share my story and my family's story of migration.


Interviewer [00:14:15] So at what point do you think you started to reclaim that identity and kind of build your own narrative?


Kimaleen Tran [00:14:28] I think it started really happening. I didn't realize this at the time, but at 17 years old, which is my junior year that I had moved to Colorado, I was trying to put together the pieces I was still a little angry about, I really think. And throughout college, I was always involved in diversity and equity inclusion initiatives, including leading like I was the vice president of Community Outreach. My whole entire life I have been very

involved in community related initiatives and especially when it comes to multicultural business and storytelling.


Kimaleen Tran [00:15:04] And so I think I've been doing it or I realize I been doing this the whole time. I just didn't I didn't necessarily study that right. But I, I think that I've been putting the pieces together since moving to Colorado, and I really came into touch with it, though, after graduating a lot of the pain that I had and the mental even related to mental health wise, I didn't get in touch with until after I graduated. Being that I came from a really

strict family, I was a party girl in college and so I didn't I wasn't as in touch with all of these feelings, although I always cared about humanities and story preservation.


Kimaleen Tran [00:15:44] But and it wasn't until I recognized, like I started seeing the parallels. And with everything in our ommunities, even the Southeast Asia communities, I ended up meeting a lot of Laotian friends, and I have friends who have also parents that

were affected by the Vietnam War. I have a Loas friend in Colorado who became one of my best friends. She told me that her parents had also had immigrated here after the Vietnam War.


Kimaleen Tran [00:16:13] But then I started doing more research and found out that Laos was really affected by the Vietnam War because they had the most bombs per capita, which I was like, Wow, we all have. Even though we're not the same per se ethnicity, we all have parallels in our stories. And I started to even see the impacts of the different impacts of immigrant trauma and how can we really come together and talk about these issues because it's brings collective healing.


Interviewer [00:16:35] Yeah. Can you share a little bit more about or maybe some specifics about the immigrant intergenerational trauma that you've mentioned?


Kimaleen Tran [00:16:46] Yes.


Interviewer [00:16:47] Personally for you, what were some of those?


Kimaleen Tran [00:16:49] It's a lot. So I will I think to really start, though, even the littlest things and again, I don't it's I don't blame my parents for any of this. I don't blame anyone. I think it's really just about talking about it and providing resources for our community. Now, the biggest one is so a few years ago I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and ADHD.


Kimaleen Tran [00:17:11] And then I thought to myself, I try to tell my parents and they didn't understand right then I realized upon doing this research, there was no language for me even to explain in the Vietnamese community, in the diaspora. And then I realize we I see certain relatives and friends and that then I can see some similarities there in terms of generational trauma. And so upon my research, I discovered that there is such a lack of health research.


Kimaleen Tran [00:17:42] And not only that, but it's stigmatized in our community. And so that's how I've come across, more so the generational trauma as well. My parents were raised a certain way to no fault of their own or anyone else, but they came from a war torn country. I'm a product of war. And so that is in itself generational trauma.


Kimaleen Tran [00:18:02] How do we move forward from this right to have these conversations and to spread this, the light on it and to destigmatize it, to break those barriers and to bridge those gaps? But it first starts with having this conversation. And it's

not to say like, what is wrong with our community, but how can we provide resources for our community?


Interviewer [00:18:22] And so what was it like when you first tried to have the conversation with your parents?


Kimaleen Tran [00:18:28] Yeah, I actually think it's been going great. I mean, it's not easy. I think that sometimes when you have these conversations, it does stir up a lot in the family. But I, I really think that my dad and mom have been unlearning a lot of the patterns, funny stories that I told my dad. Dad, you've been unlearning. He he's like, không sai rồi or you're wrong. And then I'm like, Dad, do you know what unlearning means? And he's like,

Yeah, I mean, I'm not I am not learning. I'm like, No, like you are, you are. You are unlearning a lot of patterns. He's like, yeah, okay.


Kimaleen Tran [00:18:55] And so I realized the biggest realization I had of all of this is maybe the whole time, the reason why I have had so many disagreements and arguments with my dad growing up was that it was a language barrier. And so my I really want to, you know, bridge this gap, have these conversations in terms of connecting the dots and coming together in the community. But I realize maybe my dad would say some things in Vietnamese. I would say some things in English growing up, but we both didn't understand each other, leading to disagreements.


Kimaleen Tran [00:19:26] There's also something, as you know, called filial piety, which is in our own culture of respecting your parents. And I think at times it made me feel like I didn't have a voice, even though that wasn't always like that wasn't always the case. But that's part of the generational trauma, feeling like you, you know, your parents wanting you to be so successful in a way.


Kimaleen Tran [00:19:50] And I also thought I only had three paths medical law or business. I ended up choosing business because my parents are entrepreneurs. But I realize my passion is really in sociology, public health, and humanities. I've always loved

storytelling and journalism as well. And so now I'm on this journey to really carve my own path. And I happen.


Interviewer [00:20:12] And how do they feel about that.


Kimaleen Tran [00:20:16] I, I don't have the words to say it in Vietnamese. I think they're happy for me as long as I'm happy. And actually advice for my sister, which she's now in nursing school. She's one year younger than me. She said Mom and dad because mom and dad will heal as long as you work on healing yourself. Because I try to like to say like, maybe you can go to therapy. I'm like, Why do we need therapy? But she said, As long as you prioritize your own health and healing, they will too. And I couldn't agree more. When we start to do this work for ourselves, it shows where I can be.


Interviewer [00:20:54] No, I think that's great. And I think everything you said is a lot of what we've seen, too, is that our parents, they were brought up in a different way and in a

very, very different environment. So and because of the communication barriers and the cultural differences and which we’re brought up, sometimes the communication lags and

the understanding, but it's not necessarily trying to change who they are or who you are, but trying to bridge where we can further understand each other.


Interviewer [00:21:32] So I love what you're saying. And I'm just, you know, I'm wondering if there are others out there that may be feeling the same as you. What would be sort of some last words that you would leave with them so that they know that, you know, you've also gone through this and you're also working with your parents and, you know, trying to communicate better.


Kimaleen Tran [00:21:55] I would say the biggest takeaway through this journey for me is prioritize your healing and health and putting while you while you're able to do that, you can also help your family. And with that being said, don't be afraid to speak your truth. Something that I've been telling myself, as well as embrace the fear in you dance with the fear, which is incredibly hard.


Kimaleen Tran [00:22:15] I think even as a daughter of refugees and immigrants, to put myself out there because I know I'm going to be perceived a certain way. And I already grew up with a lot of judgment. Right. But that's me facing my fear. And I just have to learn how to now dance with that and speaking my truth in a way of more so bringing the community together. And I love my parents and my family.


Kimaleen Tran [00:22:37] And I'm really here to tell their story because they were truly pioneers of their time, even though they didn't take the traditional path. And now I'm not taking it to traditional path either. So whatever it is that you have a desire to do, do it and go after your dreams. Because we do have one life to live. And there is a saying, an immigrant saying that goes. Our grandparents and parents survived so that we could thrive. And I think that you should thrive and don't let fear get to you.


Interviewer [00:23:05] So if you could say one thing that you most admire each about your mom and then your dad, what would that be?


Kimaleen Tran [00:23:17] I would say for my mom, she has the ability to think outside of the box, carve our own path, and she's not afraid. And so the biggest thing is she's fearless. That is my mom. That's what I admire about her. My dad, he's very creative,

actually. And so I think that I admire his ability to, even though he hasn't always understood a lot of the things that I talk about, his ability to now be open to hearing what we have to say and what his daughters have to share.


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