Vietnam 50th Year Reunion FALL of SAIGON

I was born in Vietnam. I don't know exactly where or how I came into the Lam Ty Ni Orphanage. My paperwork states no known relatives. My birthdate is assumed. The name of Lam Yen Thao was given by the orphanage. I was flown out of Saigon, Vietnam, in early April of 1975, merely escaping the Fall of Saigon via Operation Babylift, a humanitarian mission to save war orphans. On April 5, 1975, I arrived in a Pan Am 747 Boeing airplane at the U.S. Army Post Presidio in San Francisco, California. From there, I flew to Baltimore, Maryland, to my adoptive parents. I was approximately 15 months old. I have no recollection of any of this. I have memories as a young child with my adoptive parents from around 3 years old. I specifically remember my adopted mother weeping in bed the day Elvis died, August 16, 1977. After that, I don't remember her around anymore. I was at work with my adopted father, hiding under his desk in his office, as he worked in DC for NOAA. From there, I remember taking a flight with him, flying into Tucson, Arizona. From there, he brought me to his parents in Thatcher, Arizona. He stayed 2 weeks with me before he left. He left me with 2 people I barely knew (my adopted grandparents). I didn't understand. I was heartbroken that he left me. From here, I remember hearing a lot of questions when my grandparents would take me out in public, "So cute, where is she from?" This is where I learned I was from Vietnam. This is where I learned I was different. I started feeling embarrassed/ashamed, not even fully understanding why. From here, I began hiding, trying to sweep under the rug the very little I even knew about myself. As I grew older, I didn't know how to deal with the questions and the jokes. I had no answers myself. My emotional state was a wreck for years, not facing any facts. I wanted nothing but to fit in, to be liked, to be part of the only people I knew that surrounded me. I began lying about who I was and where I was from, pretending to be someone I was not. Ashamed to share with people I was, in fact, a product of the Vietnam War. Embarrassed by the questions people asked, hurt from the snide remarks I'd hear that shouldn't have bothered me. I had my own questions hidden deep in the closet. So much sadness for so long. Then, into my teenage years, acting a complete fool of myself. This is where I started experiencing real racism. At 18 years old, my best friend convinced me that I didn't need to lie anymore for people to like me. If they didn't like where I was from or who I really was, they weren't my true friends. I still wasn't ready to open that closet, though. It wasn't until my later 30s that I finally looked for something or someone. Finding the woman who took me out of the orphanage and into her home for 9 months. Finding out she was the one who put me on that flight via Operation Babylift. Taking a DNA test trying to find blood relatives. I'm still regretting to this day not searching for answers, not trying to find family in my younger years. Now it could be too late. Finally, in my 50s, coming to terms that I more than likely will never know my birth family, never know what happened in their lives, never be able to tell them about mine. I am OK with that. I have to be. This is the 50th YEAR ANNIVERSARY of THE FALL of SAIGON. I have the opportunity to take part in a reunion with over 70 other Vietnamese adoptees! (As a child, I thought I was the only one in the whole wide world.) We will visit the Presidio in San Francisco, and from there, fly back to Vietnam and step foot on my motherland. I will be able to go see my orphanage, which is now a school. I can tour my motherland and meet other adoptees just like me. This will be a dream come true! Help me get over my past and finally live for the future ❤️‍. Please help me with the added expenses to get back to Vietnam, and help me donate to the cause of Vietnamese mothers looking to reunite with their birth children through DNA testing. ❤️‍ If there is any time I need your generosity, the time is now! Thank you for reading my story! Please donate to my cause! ❤️‍❤️‍ I will fly out at the end of this month, 03/25 ✈️