"Coming to America from Vietnam was like not being able to breathe, then being able to breathe. When I first stepped on American soil, I had already made the decision I would stay." - Dung Thi Nguyen
Dung Thi Nguyen (pronounced YOOM THEE NEWYEN), 26, doesn't know much about 4th of July except that it is "the day of freedom."And she knows what it is like to live in a country with no freedoms.
Nguyen is one of hundreds of Amerasians - children of Vietnamese mothers and American fathers - who have been welcomed into the United States through the Orderly Departure Program of the Homecoming Act of 1987.
Because of their ethnic background, she and other Amerasians suffered oppression in Vietnam from the Communist government.
"We were pressured to quit school because of bigotry and hatred," she said through an interpreter. "We were caught between two cultures - American and Vietnamese - but not fitting in anywhere."
Her mother last saw her father when she was three months pregnant. Nguyen searched for her father as a small child but lost hope of ever finding him or coming to the United States.
"We didn't ever think about coming to America because we were just trying to survive," she said. "Poverty was especially bad for Amerasians because we had no rights."
She quit school in the fifth grade, married in 1978, and repaired and sold junk that she found. She arrived in Salt Lake City last November with her husband, mother and daughter, who will celebrate her fifth birthday this week.
Nguyen expressed gratitude for all Americans who have helped Amerasians come to the United States. She works as a maid at a hotel and lives in a Salt Lake apartment with her family.
She said she feels patriotism through loving all kinds of people, and that her first priority is learning English.