{"id":26361,"date":"2024-06-26T23:03:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T03:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26361"},"modified":"2024-06-26T23:06:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T03:06:58","slug":"episode-1069-pasong-banjongpanith-our-laotion-refugee-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26361","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1069, PASONG BANJONGPANITH……OUR LAOTION REFUGEE 1976"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 1069<\/div>\n

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RIGHT TO LEFT:  PASONG BANJONGPANITH, KEVIN SKEOCH,<\/div>\n
ANDREW SKEOCH, ALAN SKEOCH,  CIRCA 1976<\/div>\n

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EPISODE  1069:   WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT, MR SKEOCH?<\/div>\n

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SO IN 1976 OUR CHURCH HAD  four teen agers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


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\u2018\u2019That requires a little more organizing, so let\u2019s get at it right away\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

we will  need specialized help\u201d, said Walter Irwin to our committeeS.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLike?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFirst we need  someone to find the kids a home..an apartment in Port Credit\u2026a housing committee\u2026then beds, furniture, dishes,<\/div>\n
food, clothing, employment\u2026 committees that can act fast.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Note:  Our church had  a lot of veterans…active people.  Big congregation with every pew filled.<\/div>\n
Money was not  a problem.  <\/div>\n
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\u201cAlan. you and Marjorie will be in charge of Pasong, the youngest of the children.  He will have to be enrolled in school.  <\/div>\n

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\u2014”\u2018WHAT IS A FUCKING  IMMIGRANT MR. SKEOCH?”<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow do you like school Pasong?\u201d<\/div>\n
No response but he looked at me strangely<\/div>\n
Then queried, \u2019What is a ‘fucking immigrant\u2019; Mr. Skeoch?\u201d<\/div>\n
That knocked me for  loop,  I thought long and hard to get the right answer and failed,\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201cPasong, you may have to get into a fight,,,sorry to say that,\u201d  And I gestured with my fists,  I had learned<\/div>\n
that Pasong was a wrestler in Laos so he could handle himself .  He was short and wirey with muscle.<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, Mr Skeoch\u201d  and he made a gesture with his hands at hip level.  The kid who ca<\/div>\n
Pasong a \u2018fucking immigrant  was  in grade 3 or 4\u2026not a fair fight.   I think Pasong grinined<\/div>\n
but I am not sure.<\/div>\n

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There were two courses of action\/ \u2026fighting or running.  <\/div>\n

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Pasong  presented a third possibility.  Just ignore the remark.  Do nothing.  He reinforced his suggestion by<\/div>\n
a humorous hand gesture at his waist.  <\/div>\n
Just a little kid.  <\/div>\n

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DO YOU SMOKE , MR. SKEOCH?<\/div>\n

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Pasong was fun .   One day we were driving down Stavebank, just Pasong and me.<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you smoke, Mr. Skeoch.?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI did once when I was in Grade Nine\/    Long time ago.   I swiped a cigarette\u2026.lit it<\/div>\n
with friends then thought  \u2018Why am I doing this?  One cigarette. <\/div>\n
“Why ask me Pasong?  Have you started to smoke?\u201d <\/div>\n
\u201cI am in Grade Nine.\u201d<\/div>\n
I think he grinned.  It took me a few seconds get the joke.  Pasong had started to smoke  He wanted my advice  His answer was funny and flattering.<\/div>\n
Pasong wanted my advice. .  He made me feel good,  A surrogate parent <\/div>\n
for a couple of years until his release parent arrived ,<\/div>\n

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THE STONEBOAT WINTER DAY<\/div>\n

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\u201cPasong,  do you want to come with me to a farm auction?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat is an auction?”<\/div>\n
\u201cYou will see<\/div>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d<\/div>\n

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It was a bitterly cold winter day ..mid January January 1978 or thereabouts.   The auction sale <\/div>\n
was a mile or so from our farm,,,not far away. <\/div>\n

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\u201cLook around Pasong while I get a bidding number.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Pasong was interested in the piles of tools and other 19th century things the farmer had saved.<\/div>\n
The small crowd was interested in Pasong ..<\/div>\n
never seen a Laotian.  I bought a clutch of hand  drills used to make holes in barn beams for wooden trunnels <\/div>\n
(tree nails) and some spear tipped wrenches but my big purchase was the stoneboat \u2014 a flat sheet <\/div>\n
of steel tipped up a bit at the front for hauling behind a team of horses,  Heavy brute of a thing for moving<\/div>\n
stones from field to fencerow in early springtime.<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow can I get this stone boat to our farm Pasong?<\/div>\n
\u2019Stoneboat?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen snow is gone I need you to help get stones off our field.   OUR  best crop is stones left<\/div>\n
here by ice 10,000 years ago.  <\/div>\n

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 How do we goet the stone boat to our farm..too heavy to lift.<\/div>\n
Only way I can see is pulling the stone boat \u2026a chain hooked to the truck and the stoneboat.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cwhat\u2019s my job?<\/div>\n
\u201cMake sure we do not go too fast,  Danger that the stoneboat  will bash into the truck like a flying saucer\u2026<\/div>\n
You watch… danger if\u2019 if the stoneboat slides faster than the truck.\u201d<\/div>\n
I Figured any Person who had crossed the Mekong River in 1976 would like a bit of danger,<\/div>\n
Only a mile or so of ice road  on top of the gravel roadbed and no traffic on side road five.<\/div>\n
Small adventure.  Stupid adventure.  <\/div>\n
Why remember it?<\/div>\n

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THE HUMAN BRAIN IS A WONDROUS THING \u2014MEMORY<\/div>\n

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I am not sure we were the best family to put in charge of Pasong but<\/div>\n
it seemed a good fit to us.  <\/div>\n

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PASONG VISITS US 20 YEARS LATER<\/div>\n

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Pasong arrived at our farm 20 years after the Vietnam\/Laotian war.He was married with children<\/div>\n
and a house north of Toronto,  He was no longer that 12 year old immigrant or that 14 year old <\/div>\n
cigarette  smoker (and may never have been such   He parked his Cadillac in our lane\u2026<\/div>\n
the first person to do so.  <\/div>\n

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Now, nearly 50 years after the fall of Saigon  Pasong may be in his fifties.  No longer a \u201cF- word immigrant\u201d.<\/div>\n
A Canadian optometrist in Brampton.<\/div>\n

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I still need him to pick stones.<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 1069 RIGHT TO LEFT:  PASONG BANJONGPANITH, KEVIN SKEOCH, ANDREW SKEOCH, ALAN SKEOCH,  CIRCA 1976 EPISODE  1069:   WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT, MR SKEOCH? SO IN 1976 OUR CHURCH HAD  four teen agers. \u2018\u2019That requires a little more organizing, so let\u2019s get at it right away\u2026 we will  need specialized help\u201d, said Walter Irwin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}