More help for the desperate

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512300250dec30,1,3170940.story

Luong, who is Vietnamese, says she doesn't mind the long hours of boredom sitting on the hard floor her family shares with seven others, who also use the same hot plate and toilet. At the end of that coveted phone call, she says, lies fulfillment of a powerful dream: escape, after 16 years in the Philippines, to a new life in the United States.

Many initially lived in a refugee camp on Palawan, a remote island 360 miles southwest of Manila. In 1996, the camp was closed, and the Philippine government, under United Nations supervision, began sending them back to Vietnam.

Some refugees responded by attempting suicide, community workers say, and others rioted at the airport. Finally, after the intervention of human-rights groups and the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, the repatriation was halted.

On Palawan, stories of anticipation and dejection are common. After the camp closed in 1996, at least 400 refugees were moved 10 miles away to "Vietville" a site that the Catholic Church built. Today about 40 remain, living in two-room huts made of concrete and bamboo.

Amid the dust of the camp, one corner remains alive: a small white coral grotto made by refugees in the trunk of a tree. There's a cross and a statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by flowers and lighted candles.

For the Vietnamese refugees, many of whom are Catholic, the place is a shrine.

"Every week they make offerings," said Hue Thi Le, 45, who, with her husband and six children, now lives a few blocks from Luong in Manila. "Those who have been approved offer flowers as thanks. Those who've been denied come to pray that they'll be accepted."

I'm glad to see the Philippines and the USA and the Church are still working together.