My Hero: Sophia Mai Simpson
by: Cami S.
During the Vietnam war in the 1960’s and 1970’s, my mom grew up in Saigon, Vietnam. She is my hero because she is courageous, determined, and caring. Life was unpredictable and unstable when she was a child. Because of the war, she never knew when she would be able to sleep through the night peacefully. Many nights she was awakened by the sound of bombs and they had to go under the stairway for shelter. Even though things were hard, she still had friends, brothers, and sisters like any normal child. Her parents could not afford to buy toys, so she and her brothers and sisters made their own toys from things they found around their home. Sometimes they would catch bugs and flies for entertainment! She went to a good French school, because even though they didn’t always have enough money to buy food for their family, her parents believed strongly in providing their children with a good education. Her parents only finished fifth grade. When the communists from the North took over their city, she didn’t go to school for three whole years! Her parents made the very difficult decision to give her up to an orphanage so she could leave Vietnam in hope for a safer and better future. They loved her so much they knew that it would be her only way out. Just as they predicted, the Red Cross went to Vietnam to rescue orphans and bring them to America for a better life. She had never attended Middle School, and only spent 2 years in High School in New Jersey when she reunited with her sister Lydia who she had not seen for almost thirteen years! As if this story alone doesn’t make my mom a hero, here are few more attributes that make her my hero and an amazing person.
My mom is very brave. One of her most courageous moments was when she saw a girl from her school and the girl’s family of seven get kicked out of their home by the communist soldiers. She convinced her mother to hide them in their small house. This took courage because they could get in very serious trouble with the Communist soldiers for doing this. They could throw you in jail or execute you! She was so very thankful for her mother’s support. My mother could not turn her back on people who were in need. The girl was named Stella and she is living safely in Taiwan with her family!
My mom is also a very caring person. She shows how much she cares about people in many way. She risked her own safety to help Stella’s family and she treats her own family with the same kind of generosity and love everyday. She and her mom supported the orphanages in Saigon by giving them food even though her own family lacked everything they needed to survive.
My hero is also very strong. Since my mom’s mother helped the orphanage, they let her send my mom with them to a different country. The groups all went to different locations so they dropped my mom off in Taiwan. She was supposed to be picked up by a family she had never met, and she didn’t have any money or know the language. That must have been terrifying for her! Back then, to get out of the airport, you had to pay your way out. Well, since my mom had no money, she was stuck in the airport until well after dark. Finally, the family came in looking for her. She must have been a very strong little girl to take on all of those challenges at such a young age. She came to the new country, eventually learned the language and started earning her own money.
After a few years in Taiwan, she managed to reunite with her big sister. She flew to New Jersey in America and met her sister. Then she had to learn a whole new language! So now she is quite a polyglot and speaks Vietnamese, Cantanese, Mandarin Chinese, French, and English! She has had a great impact on my life by encouraging me to do the right thing, appreciate what I have, and give to others. I am so proud of my mom and she will always be my hero.
