SaigonNezumi.com

I just posted some some articles and photos pertaining to the Vietnamese Amerasians and Adoptees who were part of Operation Babylift.  They were sent to me from a Vietnamese Adoptee that resides down in Austraia.

Vietnamese Adoptee Articles and Photos: http://www.saigonnezumi.com/vietnam/vietnamese-adoptee-articles

Operation Babylift Articles and Photos: http://www.saigonnezumi.com/vietnam/vietnamese-adoptee-articles/#operationbabylift

To learn more about Vietnamese Amerasians and Adoptees, please visit these websites which are run by Adoptees and Amerasians:

• Adopted Vietnamese International
• Amerasian Family Finder
• Amerasian Foundation
• Operation Reunite

(Operation Babylift)

I met with Clint and Hung from the Amerasian Childfind Network tonight. Clint visits Vietnam a couple times a year to help Vietnam Veterans find their long lost Amerasian children. We still do not know the exact number of Amerasians left in Vietnam, but it could be as high as 7,000 based on some leads. We just do not know.

Clint helped me form the Amerasian Foundation back in 2003 and he was the one who encouraged me to move to Vietnam instead of Albania back in 2004. The Amerasian Foundation is not a search organization. Instead I refer my Vietnamese Amerasian cases to Clint and the Amerasian Childfind Network. My Filipino Amerasian cases get refered to the Amerasian Family Finder run by my friend Jenn, a Filipino Amerasian. Both Clnt and Jenn have been very successful. Last year, Jenn and I solved a case and helped two Vietnamese Amerasians find their Vietnamese mother after being separated for nearly 35 years (the mother lived just 5 minutes from my house in Saigon).

Since I arrived in Saigon back in 2004, roughly 20 Vietnamese Amerasians I have met have emigrated to the US. Many others still are refused entry to the US for various reasons. Many Vietnamese Amerasian cases are still unresolved here in Vietnam. There are Vietnam Vets still seeking their Amerasian child, the youngest being in their mid-30s now. Vietnamese Amerasians here are still trying to seek their fathers. In the Philippines, the numbers of Amerasians are up to the hundreds of thousands.

Right now a major issue for the Amerasian Childfind Network, Amerasian Family Finder, and Operation Reunite (an organization run by Trista, a Vietnamese Amerasians) involves funding. Searching for both fathers and Amerasians is not cheap. The costs get higher if Clint and Trista have to fly to Vietnam to investigate a lead. Nobody flies to the Philippines for leads, it is all done online.

For the Amerasian Foundation, it is easy, I just run my organization as an online entity. The costs to maintain a website are quite low. I end up referring most cases to Clint and Jenn. For Trista, Clint and Jenn, it is another story. They bear the costs of all searches.

Now I am trying to think of a way in that I and the Amerasian Foundation can help them before it is too late…

I just referred 14 Filipino and Vietnamese Amerasian cases to five different organizations that help Amerasians for the Amerasian Foundation, a nonprofit I run online.  I got backlogged in emails this past month.  Back in 2003, I used to get 2-3 cases a day which I normally referred to Clint Haines and the Amerasian Childfind Network.  Getting just 14 cases is nice but I know Jimmy Edwards (Amerasians Looking for their Roots) and expectant mother Jenn W. (Amerasian Family Finder) get many, many more cases.

The Amerasian Foundation does not handle searches.  Thus, when I get cases, I refer them to Clint, Jimmy and/or Jenn.  Clint and Trista Goldberg (Operation Reunite) get the Vietnamese Amerasian cases.  Jimmy and Jenn get the Filipino Amerasian cases.  I have a new contact in Thailand who can handle the Thai Amerasian cases.  The Filipino Amerasians, Thai Amerasians, and Vietnamese Amerasians make up the majority of the cases the Amerasian Foundation receives.  Japanese and Korean Amerasians make up a small minority (due to language issues).

In the next couple months, I will have Vi, my web content editor for Vscapeone, translate the Amerasian Foundation into Vietnamese.  Both the Vietnamese and English website templates will be changed to make it more dynamic.  I want to add a Registry and Forum again which can be monitored around the world.  I am behind schedule but I will have Vi start translating next weekend.

If anyone can help with Thai translation as well, it would be nice.  I would put off Japanese and Korean at this time.  I am not sure if Tagalog will be needed earlier.  I think Jimmy and Jenn can handle that.

I am debating about re-incorporating the Amerasian Foundation again.  I know the Amerasian Family Finder wants to be incorporated this year.  Operation Reunite and Amerasian Childfind Network are both incorporated.  Incorporation is crucial if we ever want 501(c)3 status.  I want the status so I can help Jenn with her fundraising efforts.

Yeah guys, I am still in it.  The Amerasian Foundation will be 5 years old in December.

Amerasian Foundation – www.amerasianfoundation.org

I am not sure if many of you who read my blog knows, but I originally came to Vietnam back in May, 2004, as a volunteer to help out with Vietnamese Amerasians. In the US, I had formed the Amerasian Foundation which I still run mostly as an online entity from Saigon. I am currently designing a new database for Amerasians in an effort to help them find their fathers, and vice versa.

There is a bill currently going through Congress which, if passed, will allow some Vietnam-Era Amerasians obtain automatic US citizenship. Many of you may be surprised that the majority of Vietnamese Amerasians that made it to the US are not US Citizens. Citizenship classes have not been productive since the majority of Vietnamese Amerasians are illiterate. In short, the are unable to take the US citizenships examination. There has been a lot of effort to try to get this bill passed as law:

Detailed Summary

Amerasian Paternity Recognition Act – Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to confer automatic citizenship on aliens residing in the United States in lawful permanent resident status: (1) pursuant to a classification petition approved under a provision that gives preferential treatment to persons born in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand after 1950 and before October 22, 1982, and fathered by a U.S. citizen; or (2) who were born in Vietnam after January 1, 1962, and before January 1, 1976, and fathered by a U.S. citizen.

Current Status

Latest Major Action: 11/2/2007: Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.

From: http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_4007.html

This bill looks like it will be passed sometime in 2008. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, the two largest groups of Amerasians have been excluded, again. The Filipino Amerasians and Japanese Amerasians (primarily in Okinawa) are two of the oldest and largest groups of Amerasians. There are roughly between 150,000-200,000 Filipino Amerasians left behind in the Philippines. In Okinawa, the number could be around 15,000-20,000 of known Japanese Amerasians (many thousands more are unaccounted for).

What of these Amerasians???

AmerasianWorld.com

That is the original name of SaigonNezumi.com.

I am an Amerasian. A Japanese Amerasian. Children of War. I formed the Amerasian Foundation to help my fellow Amerasians. With the help of AAHope Foundation and the Amerasian Childfind Network, I came to Vietnam to continue my work. I was lucky, from Saigon, I was able to create a Global Network of organizations helping Amerasians and other Children of War from around the world. Together we helped search and reunite Amerasians, and Adoptees, with their Asian mothers or American fathers.

I will be blunt, the majority of people really are not interested in the plight of Amerasians around the world. It is so easy to label us the sons and daughters of prostitutes. Whether we are in the US, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, or Vietnam, we endure this harsh label. Our mother’s endure it even more but they teach us to walk with our heads up. I always like meeting mothers of Amerasians since they really make me feel proud of who I am and of my Japanese mother.

In return, I vow to always protect the mothers of Amerasians. W, Amerasians, owe this to our mothers.

I am an Amerasian.