{"id":4881,"date":"2025-12-05T12:48:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/?p=4881"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:48:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:48:34","slug":"vietnamese-refugee-sisters-survive-harrowing-journey-now-pay-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/vietnamese-refugee-sisters-survive-harrowing-journey-now-pay-it-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese refugee sisters survive harrowing journey, now pay it forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Metro Atlanta<\/a><\/p>\n
The Tran sisters make Thanksgiving special for Vietnamese seniors at First Senior Center of Georgia, hosting both American and Vietnamese feasts.<\/div>\n
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By Danielle Charbonneau<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Nov 27, 2025<\/span><\/div>\n
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The classic Thanksgiving origin tale tells the story of a group of courageous pilgrims who sailed across the ocean in search of freedom and a new beginning. Along the way, the travelers are aided by the kindness of strangers in a strange land.<\/p>\n

The story resonates with <\/b>many of the Vietnamese seniors who will celebrate Thanksgiving at First Senior Center of Georgia in Norcross this week. Many of the 500 seniors who will attend the nonprofit day center\u2019s Thanksgiving festivities have personal tales of crossing seas, surviving hardships and building new lives as refugees or veterans.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

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A server wearing a pilgrim costume serves a large platter of food to a table during the Thanksgiving celebration at the First Senior Center on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Norcross. (Jason Getz\/AJC)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n
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The story also resonates with <\/b>the two Vietnamese women who largely run First Senior Center: the Tran sisters \u2014 Von (the center\u2019s founder and CEO) and Linda (the center\u2019s food bank and kitchen manager).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

A tale of survival<\/h2>\n

In 1983, when they were just 9 <\/b>and 6 <\/b>years old growing up in communist Vietnam, the Tran sisters\u2019 <\/b>parents woke them in the dead of night and brought them to the edge of the sea. They were instructed to crawl down into the bottom of a fishing canoe, where they were hidden by a blanket of fishing nets.<\/p>\n

They fit snugly alongside their three older siblings while their parents loaded into a second boat behind them. They had not been told in advance of their parents\u2019 plans to leave their homeland, nor what to expect from the journey.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n