For those whose families were in Saigon, like Brother Augustin Phuc and the Juniors Alphonse Minh and Lam Thanh Hoang, they returned home without any problem. But for Brother Francois Anh, native village in My Tho, Brother Jerome Diep, in Kontum, Brother Valery An, in Doc So - Hue, Junior Anthony Thanh, in Nha Trang, and Junior Andre Thang, in Dong Nai, the problem was not that simple. Except for Junior Anthony Thanh who wanted to return home in Nha Trang where there were at least three La Salle communities, all others were “recommended” to stay in Saigon despite the formal order of the police to return home. “You’ll be in trouble and the local authorities will keep a close watch on you,” said some Brothers and friends. Brother Lucien Quang, Visitor, agreed to drive four of us to the Retreat House of Mai Thon.

Brother Lucien recalled that on the morning of December 15, Bishop Nguyen Van Binh had informed him that 8 priests and 8 La Salle members were to be freed from the Police Station of Ho Chi Minh City, and he himself was going there to welcome them back home. The La Salle Brothers who had been in Saigon area, were informed of the joyful news and gathered at the Provincialate House with gifts and foods waiting for their “lost-but-now-found-alive confreres”. They were very disappointed and totally confused at the news that only 8 priests were freed, and that 8 La Salle members were to be transferred to another re-education camp. “Anyway,” Brother Visitor continued, “I am happy to welcoming you today, free - at least freer than in those camps - and in good shape. What about for other Brothers, particularly Gervais Ha and Pierre Thang?” Nobody had an answer to Brother Lucien’s question.

***

Two days later, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1980, many former students and friends came to La Salle Mai Thon to celebrate the most joyful event for humankind, chanting “Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to His people on earth.” On this occasion, they congratulated everyone of us “still alive and in good shape.”

Especially, the family of my closest friend at Phuoc Tuong Phat, Mr. Remy Hien, informed me about the reason why he and his family, Nguyet his wife and Hien his son whose godfather I am, didn’t flee overseas by the end of 1979: They all agreed to wait for me, i.e. for this joyful day, the day of my being released from prison. He then started planning a way for his family and for me to flee overseas.

***

The very first thing I thought the most important to do was to inform Brother Lucien, Visitor, about what I had heard from Mr. Joseph Thang before I was released from prison. At first, Brother Visitor was incredulous - not only incredulous, he even suspected that I was trying to spy on him. To be honest, I didn’t blame him for his doubts and prudence. Indeed, before we were released, Brother Francois Anh and I were concerned about the attitude our confreres would show up towards us, e.g. “Is there any ‘condition’ in exchange for their release?” It was expected that our confreres should think like that, although actually, there was no such condition.

I thought about verifying the confidence that Mr. Joseph Thang expressed to me at the Police Statement 2 days before I was released. I then looked for someone I could trust to get more information about that confidence. I asked one of my students, Quoc Dinh, to be at the Ky Dong church every Saturday from 3:00PM to 5:00PM, and to secretly detect the so-called “betrayer with the bicycle and his rush basket on it” who had been suspected of spying on the religious Orders and/or religious communities. Quoc Dinh recognized that man right on the first Saturday. I asked him to follow that man after 5:00PM, and to be very careful not to be suspected in any circumstances. After the 3rd Saturday, Dinh told me, “I am afraid of following that man, because it seems that he suspects I am following him...” I thanked him and told him to stop the assignment.

Anyway, I was assured that Mr. Joseph Thang had told me the truth about “the man with the bicycle and his rush basket on it”. In addition, about a week later, another former student of mine, Minh Triet, whose father had been arrested at the Dac Lo Center at the same time with Mr. Joseph Thang, told me that he knew “that guy” and has suspected that guy as a “spy” for a long time earlier. Furthermore, Minh Triet had been looking for the opportunity to kill him. I cut short his intention, arguing that, “If you kill that guy whom we know a ‘bad guy,’ the police will replace him by another one whom we don’t know. Anyway, sooner or later, he will be liquidated by his bosses.” Minh Triet and I agreed to spend more time to follow him.

About a week before Tet Nguyen Dan, February 1981, Brother Lucien called me up to his office. He recalled to me that he had encountered “that fellow with the bicycle and his rush basket on it”. Brother Lucien recalled, “He stopped me at the junction of Hai Ba Trung and Hien Vuong streets, just 3 days ago. He inquired of me about the Council meeting set during the Tet Holidays. Particularly, he asked me if Brother Jules, Director of Ban Me Thuot community, will be down to Saigon for the meeting. I was wondering how does he know about the Council meeting and that Brother Jules has been invited to the meeting? I now believe in what you have told me about that man!” I laughed, adding, “What about the ex-Brother who was “appointed to follow up the way you and/or Brother Roger exchanged money from overseas?” He seemed reluctant for a while, then said, “We have stopped dealing with this matter and looked for another way safer...” Thank God!

On April 7, 1981, Feast of Saint De La Salle, Brother Lucien, Visitor, conferred me with about being M.C. for the Feast of Saint De La Salle, Patron of all Christian Educators on May 15. I suggested that he provide with some gifts as rewards to the Brothers who would compose songs in honor of our Saint Founder and each composer had to perform his songs at lunch time, after the Eucharist celebration at Mai Thon. He agreed. There a more than 10 Brothers - Sister Hoai Chau included, had enthusiastically participated to this contest project. [It’s interesting to note that Brother Augustin Phuc who had composed some songs, was called up by the police on May 16 and investigated him about other composers and the contents of their songs, etc.]

From then on, a new wave of composing songs in honor of Saint De La Salle and Blessed and Saint Brothers more or less opened a threshold of new hope and enthusiasm for the De La Salle Vocations in the District of Saigon.

***

As mentioned earlier about the way of self-sufficient life at Mai Thon (cf. page 169,) the daily work of four “ex-students from the re-education camp,” was to hoe - instead of hiring buffalo to plough - and to so prepare the field for the growing of rice or other vegetables. (We had been trained for this kind of work during more than two years in the K3 re-education camp!)

In the meanwhile, I was looking for the way to legalize my “citizenship” that had been seized when I had been arrested and put in jail, and kept even when I was legally released from prison. Kim Hoa, the young lady who, during three years, accompanied her mother to bring me food supplies at K3, encouraged me to meet her friend who, she assured me, “had ‘good relationship’ with brother Third, head of the Police Department in Ho Chi Minh City.”

I was really surprised, even confused when I met him. He was the ex-Brother that Mr. Joseph Thang had mentioned about. I tried to hide from him any feelings I had about him, and hoped that he couldn’t know that I had heard about his so-called “appointment from the Police in exchange for his liberation from prison.” To be frank, he didn’t do anything bad that could affect the La Salle Brothers yet, at least until now.
Following his nice assistance and introducing me to his “boss brother the Third” who was the chief police at the Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City, I wrote a letter requesting to transfer my name from the family-register in Thu Duc to the family-register at Mai Thon. I handed the application to the office of the Police Department.

A few days later, I was called up to the office of the Police Department. Surprisingly, I met again the young man who told me that “The La Salle Brothers weren’t involved in politics...” At seeing me, he was really astonished and asked, “Frère, you didn’t return to your native village yet?” I smiled, shook my head. He then looked at me, much calmer and relaxed. He said softly, “I understand, Frère , your situation. But I am sorry. I cannot do anything other than urging you to go back to your native village. If the local authorities make difficulties to your status, then return to Ho Chi Minh City, and we’ll help you to dissipate the difficulties.” But as I insisted, he promised to submit my application to “brother the Third” and gave me an appointment for the next week in order to get the decisive response to my request. [I later knew that he was a former student at La San Ba Ninh - Nha Trang before ‘75. ]

I recalled to the group of four everything that just happened, and everyone expressed joy and hope. On the due date, I came back to the office of the Police Department. This time, the officer stood at the front door of the office, handed me a piece of paper, and then said, “The authorities provided you with this reply document. Return home and execute what has been ordered.” Then he left.

I eagerly unfold the paper and read:
“Name: Nguyen Van An,
“...
“Re-confirms that the above person’s “Permanent Residence is The Police Department at Tran Hung Dao Street, Ho Chi Minh City.”

***

Besides working on the rice fields, i.e. hoeing, rice harvest, etc. Brother Jerome and I had the opportunity to re-install the water pipelines into each Brother’s room. [The water system - drinking water included, in Mai Thon before ‘75 was provided totally from a well for drinking and from natural water pumped from the river for general use. After the events of ‘75, the system was so deteriorated that most of the water pipelines were broken. It was heartbreaking to see the old Brothers picking up water from the river in a plastic basin and bringing up to their room for their personal use. When Brother Maxime Tran, Director of Mai Thon, had successfully requested to install running water from the city, Brother Jerome and I volunteered to fix all the water pipelines and to bring water into each room.] We hadn’t finished working on the pipelines yet when Brother Lucien, Visitor called up the group of Four by the end of September, 1981, to inform us that “we should leave Mai Thon, as soon as possible, because the Police could come anytime and we’ll be expelled or re-arrested.” The very first reaction of our group was, “Nonsense! They arrested us, put us in jail without any citation in Court, confiscated our property at La Salle Thuc Duc and all of our personal documents, i.e. ID card, family-registers, etc...” Brother Lucien, calm as usual, confided, “I understand your feelings. But, what can we do? Moreover, if you were re-arrested, it would be fine for you because you are more or less familiar with the life-style in prison and you don’t care anymore, but don’t you understand how your old Brothers and Confreres have felt and taken care of you while you were in the re-education camp?” Everyone kept silent, looked at each other, really moved.

However, the problem was not “To move out of Mai Thon” but “Where to move to?” In the end, Brother Visitor agreed to help us find a small land and to build up a small hut for four, somewhere far away in any “New Economic Zone,” at least temporarily, and if possible, to “buy” a family-register from the local authorities there, and then just “Wait!”

After the meeting, Brother Lucien called me and said, “I know that it’s hard for you to confront such a situation in the country. What do you think if you can find a way to flee overseas?” I smiled and made a joke, “Why escape? I’m continuing to fight...” then we laughed. I informed him that my best friend, Remy Hien, had prepared everything necessary to flee overseas for his family and for me. Remy should finish building a boat, big and safe enough for the risky and dangerous adventure, in one or two weeks. “I will live in the boat, as a fisherman,” I said, “I don’t know for how long it will take to...” Brother Lucien assured to me that “It doesn’t matter for how long you’ll live outside a community. If you have opportunity, you can just stop by once in a while to see me and your Confreres, and keep in touch with us whenever you can.”

While Brother Francois was looking for a “New Economic Zone” where we could “buy” the family-register, Brother Jerome Diep and I, with Junior Andre Thang volunteering to help, continued to finish fixing and/or setting new water pipelines into each Brother’s room at Mai Thon. About 10 days later, Brother Francois got a new family-register from the local authorities at a “New Economic Zone” far away in Long Thanh, about 40km from Saigon. Thanks to the new family-register, we could get the temporary “moving permit” to Tan Cang, and join Brother Joseph Trien who had been alone for a long time in the Community of Tan Cang.

On October 1, 1981, Remy Hien called me to “live, permanently, in the boat until our successful fleeing overseas.”

My wandering - or homeless - life began.