You may remember that a few weeks ago we brought you the heart-warming tale of a Vietnamese refugee who was welcomed to Glen Innes forty years ago, and who went on to succeed as a Sydney businesswoman.
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Le Thach arrived in Australia with nothing but the clothes she stood up in – not even a proper pair of shoes, just thongs.
Today, she is a prosperous entrepreneur who races her Ferrari for fun on a Sunday.
We’ve had a letter from someone who knew her in Glen Innes at the time and who has kept in touch ever since.
He doesn’t want his name used but he says of her and her family: “They have all worked their way up to be well settled and well off since then, all because of their hard work and dedication to whatever they have taken on.
“They are much admired as they have become great Australians of whom we should all be proud”.
And he enclosed two pictures of Le and her family taken shortly after le and her family arrived in Australia.
Le Thach was similarly grateful to the people of Glen Innes.
“The Glen Innes people”, she says today, “I always treasure them so much. Families took me out on weekends. They brought food over for us.
“The people of Glen Innes are very generous and that deserves to be known in the town and everywhere else”.
When she was a refugee, a committee was formed and it sponsored her as a migrant and then paid for her schooling in the town. A couple paid the school bills and insisted on anonymity. Teachers took the trouble to teach her English – “hello” was the first word she learnt; “banana” the second when a nun at St Joseph’s gave her one.
She is still in touch with people from the committee that welcomed her, particularly its chairman Bruce Robertson and Ken Barker.
Ken Barker said: “They came from a refugee camp in Malaysia and they didn't know if anybody wanted them. And suddenly they turned up here. and they found people who wanted them and cared for them. To be wanted and care for and loved is a very basic human need and and that's what they got when they came to Glen Innes.
“They couldn’t believe what a wonderful country it was. They wanted to know what the government wanted because we organised some social security for them and they said what does the government want us to do for this money. And we said ‘No, nothing’.
“It's for you to live on until you find a job.”
She did find a job and never stopped.
She now drives a Ferrari and goes back to Vietnam once a year to see relatives. She says the main reason is to remind her children where their roots are and where their parents came from.
For her good fortune, she thanks the people of Glen Innes. “Their generosity deserves to be known”.