HOF119: Doumphet Phanthavong

Doumphet Phantavong remembers the difficulties that he and his friends experienced in attempting to swim across the Mekong River to Thailand. They were exhausted and lucky to have been saved by soldiers patrolling the river during the night. Once in Thailand, he was reunited with his family in a refugee camp.

During his stay in the camp, he met and befriended his future wife. His family was offered an opportunity to settle in France, but his future wife had left to go to Canada. He decided not to join his family as he was determined to make a life with his future wife in Canada.

He arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba in October 1979. He managed to find his future wife who had settled in Vancouver with the assistance of the Mennonite church. She left Vancouver to join him in Winnipeg where they married and established themselves permanently.

Note to Researchers

A consent form was signed by each of the interviewees whose videos are posted here on the website. They have each consented to making the video available to the public and they have consented to the use of the contents of their videos by the Hearts of Freedom project researchers. Consent is not available to external researchers to quote or publish from it. Researchers interested in the subject have the opportunity to view a documentary film, Passage to Freedom which has been completed and is available through a distributor https://www.mcintyre.ca/ Researchers from the project are in the process of completing a full length book based on the interviews. Once this book is available researchers will have the opportunity to review it and to refer to it for research purposes.