A Refugee in the White House: What My Story Reveals About America

President Barack Obama visits a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

By Elizabeth Phu, White House Director for Southeast Asia, Oceania, and East Asian Security Affairs

A re-education camp. That’s what they called it — a euphemism for jail.

I was born in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. During the war, my mother was a nurse, my father worked for the U.S. Army, and my uncle was an officer in the South Vietnamese Army. As far as the state was concerned, we were on the wrong side of history. My parents, and others like them, lived in constant fear and uncertain of the kind of future their daughter would have under such circumstances.

So when I was two, my parents planned our escape. We tried to flee, but they found us. My mother and I were sent to a re-education camp for 7 months. My father and uncles were locked up for an entire year before my grandparents were able to buy their freedom.

President Barack Obama is hugged by a participant during a discussion with refugees at the Dignity for Children Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

It was clear we couldn’t stay. So, once out, my family made another attempt to leave Vietnam. My parents and grandparents gathered what they could to pay for our passage on an over-crowded boat headed out to sea.

It was a dangerous journey. Twice, we encountered pirates. The second band of pirates attacked and ransacked our boat, took all that we had, and smashed our remaining water tanks. But, we eventually made it to Pulau Bidong, an island in Malaysia.

President Barack Obama hugs one of the participants following a discussion with refugees at the Dignity for Children Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

I was one month shy of my fourth birthday when we finally made it to America on December 3, 1979. My parents had $20 in their pockets and a few friends in Oakland, CA who helped us start our new lives in America. It took one month of food stamps and daily searching, but they found jobs and slowly managed to build a modest life for our family. Our neighbors opened their homes and their hearts to us, teaching us about American traditions and cultures.

President Barack Obama visits a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

I learned English, and I still remember my first English sentence: “Teacher, can you please push me on the swing?” I practiced it over and over so I could say it in school the next day.

Because of my parents, and because of the home and opportunity this country offered us, my American-born sister and I went on to graduate from college and today, I work in the White House for President Obama on his national security team.

Only in America is a story like this possible. I do not want to imagine what kind of life I would have led if the American people hadn’t taken us in.

Right now, there are millions of refugees who are hoping their story can go the same way. The world is facing a refugee crisis right now — the worst it’s ever seen since World War II. Sixty million parents and children have been displaced and are now looking for safe haven — just like I was as a little girl. Today, I joined President Obama at a Foundation in Kuala Lumpur dedicated to helping refugees and some of the city’s poor, providing them education, training, and hope. Thousands of refugees have been helped by The Dignity for Children Foundation and many other organizations providing aid over the years — refugees who would be facing a very different fate had Malaysia not welcomed them.

President Barack Obama visits a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

My dad always reminds us that the freedom we have isn’t freely won. We risked everything to flee and run toward these shores, and we must earn it here by making the most of the opportunity America gives us. That’s what so many fleeing the violence and terrorism in Syria and other places around the world are seeking — an opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

President Barack Obama visits a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 21, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

There are many things that make America great. But to me, above all else, it is our boundless compassion and generosity — to defend freedom and protect those seeking it — that sets us apart. It’s who we are. I hope that never changes.