Escaping Viet Nam

A naturalized U.S. citizen, H'Yoanh Ksor Buonya was a Montagnard refugee from the Central Highlands of Vietnam, near the Jarai village of Cheo Reo. Escaping Viet Nam - H'Yoanh's Story is a survival saga beyond the imagination. Shortly after childbirth, her mother died, and relatives cared for her until she was four, when they placed her in a Catholic orphanage/school. Education became most important in her life, but in 1975, at the age of 16, she found it necessary to follow other Montagnards into the jungles of the Highlands to escape persecution by the North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong. From 1975 to her arrival in North Carolina in November 1986, H'Yoanh faced starvation, danger, death and incredible hardships resulting from the potential capture by Pol Pot's genocidal regime. Even though her faith was tested, she believes that angels were with her through the darkest of times.