HOF081: Hoang Chinh

In the final days of the war, while many of his friends and acquaintances were converging in the Saigon harbour to look for a way out of Vietnam, 21-year-old medical student Hoang Chinh spent his time at a hospital, tending to the injured and dying. Thanks to his medical expertise, Hoang would later be offered three spots on a boat that was about to leave the country; a former patient felt safer having a doctor on board.

Once his family of three arrived in Kitchener, Ontario in 1982 however, Hoang struggled for five years to find a way to return to his medical practice. He delivered newspapers, assembled paint brushes and processed poultry while trying to find a medical internship in order to qualify as a physician. He eventually gave up on that hope in exchange for a career as a settlement counsellor and then a court interpreter.

 
 
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