America is Our Country Now

Cindy Nguyen with VIET is a galvanizing force for the Vietnamese community.

The Vietnamese community has lived in the New Orleans area since 1975, but the community has not fully integrated into American society. I wanted to help my community, so Tina Owens and I started VIET in 2001.

In the first year, our after-school program had 25 kids; the following year we had 50 kids — that was a big step for us. Later we added a summer program, and in 2003 we added our tax program, to help low-income people file their tax returns.

The weekend of Katrina, we were renovating the community center. My staff asked me, “Miss Cindy, are you evacuating?” I’m thought: Where to? My whole life is VIET and my family. I put up the last ceiling panels and went home, and my husband said, “We gotta go.”

We evacuated to Iberville, and on the TV we saw our community underwater. I think I have that moment frozen in time. My family was scattered, and we didn’t anticipate being gone for that long. I think a lot of New Orleans felt that way.

We ended up going to Houston. In the Hong Kong Market it was packed, people running around and volunteers trying to link people with resources. I was in line and one of my students from the after school program said, “Miss Cindy, is VIET going to set up here?” I was exhausted and wasn’t feeling like myself. But I looked at her and said: “We are going to set up shop here. We are going to do whatever we have to do. So let your mom and dad know that Miss Cindy is here, and they know somebody who is going to help them.” And at that moment, I think I got my reality back.

We partnered with the community center in Houston; I helped people to find apartments and with food stamps and Medicaid applications. After a month, I felt I could be more resourceful back home, so I returned in October 2005. There was no power and no running water. There was nothing; everything was destroyed.

Although it was a challenging time for our community, I’m grateful for Katrina in a way, because people stepped up to the plate. Before Katrina, VIET was the only organization out here; now we have Mary Queen of Viet Nam CDC and VAYLA. VIET can focus on what we do best. We now have 400 kids and serve a diverse population.

I am proud of my community’s determination and courage. We lost our country when we first came over in 1975, and we said, we’re not going to lose this. America is our country now, we can rebuild. And that’s what we are doing.

This post is part of a series, “In Their Own Words”, that acknowledges the role that nonprofit leaders have played in the region’s recovery. Five years later, they’re still at work.