Raleigh News & Observer Logo

Montagnards reclaiming their names | Raleigh News & Observer

×
  • E-edition
    • Customer Service
    • Support
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Sponsorships
    • Stay connected
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Social Media Directory
    • N&O Store
    • Buy Photos
    • Databases
    • Archives
    • Newsletters

    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Health
    • Local
    • North Carolina
    • Nation/World
    • Science
    • Thumbs Up
    • Traffic
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • All News
    • Counties
    • Durham County
    • Johnston County
    • Orange County
    • Wake County
    • All Sports
    • Baseball
    • Canes
    • College
    • Columns & Blogs
    • High Schools
    • NASCAR & Auto Racing
    • NBA
    • NFL
    • NHL
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Panthers
    • Soccer
    • Schools
    • Duke
    • East Carolina
    • NC State
    • North Carolina
    • All Politics
    • The North Carolina Influencer Series
    • State Politics
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • PolitiFact
    • PolitiFact NC
    • Rob Christensen
    • Under the Dome
    • All Business
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Health Care
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Shop Talk
    • Stocks Center
    • Technology
    • All Living
    • Video Now
    • Best-Kept Secrets
    • Blogs
    • Celebrations
    • Comics
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fitness
    • Food
    • Games and Puzzles
    • Home and Garden
    • Horoscopes
    • Mouthful
    • Past Times
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Video Now
    • Arts News
    • ArtsNow
    • Books
    • Contests
    • Dining
    • Entertainment
    • Games
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Nightlife
    • Television
    • On the Beat
    • Happiness is a Warm TV
    • All Opinion
    • Columnists
    • Dwane Powell
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Letters
    • Opinion Shop Blog
    • Other Views
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

    • Advertise with us
    • Place Ad
    • Apartments
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Jobs
    • Legals
    • Obits/In Memoriams
    • Weddings
    • Today's Daily Deal
    • Special Sections
    • Today's Circulars
    • Rewards
    • Photo Store
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Legals

Midtown: Community

Montagnards reclaiming their names

By Lori D.R. Wiggins

    ORDER REPRINT →

October 06, 2012 04:56 PM

Imagine life in a land where your only legal recognition is “male” or “female.”

Imagine a place where people know only their birth year, so everybody claims a Jan. 1 birthday.

Imagine police harassment after your husband fled to a better life and you await permission to follow.

That was Jum Y’s reality – until her story continued.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The sequel began 10 years ago in the arms of St. Paul’s Christian Church on Blue Ridge Road. The latest chapter continues with the Montagnard Name Project, led by the church’s Mary Circle women’s ministry.

Here’s a bit of background.

In 2002, Jum’s husband, Glun, escaped through the jungle to a refugee camp in Cambodia, fleeing oppression and ostracism. The Vietnamese government targeted the indigenous Montagnard people, who were known to have fought alongside U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

With help from the United Nations, our government and a Lutheran organization that finds refugee sponsors, Glun joined the largest population of Montagnards outside Vietnam and settled in our state. He was one of four men sponsored by St. Paul’s.

In 2005, after years of diplomatic negotiations, Jum, Glun and their four children became the first St. Paul’s Montagnard family to reunite.

“It was the most wonderful reunion,” said Laura Klauke, a Mary Circle member who teaches English and Bible study to the Montagnard women of the church. “It was the best Christmas present I ever had.”

Since then, the three other families have reunited. The families, who faced brutality for their worship in Vietnam, became members of St. Paul’s.

Resettling, reclaiming names

But the process of resettling as families has been complicated. Because the Vietnamese government does not recognize Montagnard family names or statuses, women and children who leave Vietnam under official sanction of the government are given last names of only “A” for male or “Y” for female.

Men were allowed to use a chosen family name on official immigration documents, leaving many Montagnard families with three last names: Y, A and their Montagnard family name.

It spells confusion on everything from school records to job applications. But you’ll notice Montagnard children have first names beginning with the same letter as a symbol of family identity. Jum and Glun’s children are Nip, Ni, Neh and Nap. The fifth, Natalie, was born here.

“To have the last name, I’m happy,” said Jum, who plans to become Jum Yiet Siu, using her mother’s first name and her husband’s last name. “We want the last name. We want it for a long time.”

It’s a process of legalities, time and money. Even so, the Mary Circle is helping 17 St. Paul’s Montagnards change their name.

“We always want to do something beyond ourselves,” said St. Paul’s associate pastor Diane Faires.

In addition to the name-change project, St. Paul’s members have helped the families with housing – including building two Habitat homes – and with doctor’s appointments. They’ve also helped each woman get a driver’s license and learn English and the Bible.

They’ve celebrated marriages and named babies, as it is customary among Montagnards to ask loved ones to choose a baby’s name at birth. And St. Paul’s member Julie Mullin employs many of the Montagnard women at Fiberactive Organics, a sewing business she owns.

Attorney Cathy Cralle Jones, wife of St. Paul’s pastor the Rev. Phil Jones, oversees the charge to legally change the Montagnards’ names.

That includes filing petitions, which cost $120 per person and must include an official photo ID and proof of state and federal criminal background checks. The background checks, which each take at least six weeks to process, cost another $50. Before consideration, a notice of the petition must be posted in the Wake County Courthouse for at least 10 days. Also required are two affidavits of character and an affidavit stating that the applicant owes no taxes or child support.

The $120 filing cost to change a child’s name requires a petition that must be signed and filed by both parents. For minors 16 or older, two affidavits of character also are required.

In the past two months, all adult fingerprints have been done and state criminal background checks are complete, Cralle Jones said. Completed federal checks are expected this month.

So far, St. Paul’s has raised almost half of the $2,500 needed to change the names of its eight adults, two 16 and over, and seven children.

“Once we have all the legal stuff done, we’d like to have a Christening,” Cralle Jones said, noting Biblical references to naming. “When people are called by God, they are given a new name.”

As word spreads about St. Paul’s Montagnard Name Project, others of our Montagnard neighbors want to legally claim their family name, too, and claim the identity denied in their home country.

“I hope this effort will begin circles of involvement,” Cralle Jones said.

Perhaps we need only imagine what it must feel like to be part of St. Paul’s and its Mary Circle.

I imagine a soul ignited by a joyful spirit.

  Comments  

Videos

Tough loss for the Canes

Clemson coach Brad Brownell recaps loss to FSU

View More Video

Trending Stories

Another high-rise tower is planned for downtown Raleigh

February 18, 2019 11:26 AM

Hurricanes owner Dundon takes over new football league

February 19, 2019 08:43 AM

Will former President Obama attend the Duke-UNC game? Here’s the latest buzz.

February 19, 2019 06:30 PM

State employee’s excessive sick pay needs review

February 19, 2019 12:00 AM

Gene therapy company doubles plans for RTP jobs after receiving incentives

February 18, 2019 12:14 PM

Read Next

North Raleigh: Community

Triangle Aphasia Project hopes to empower those who can’t find their words – Wiggins

By Lori D. R. Wiggins

Correspondent

    ORDER REPRINT →

May 24, 2017 03:55 PM

Triangle Aphasia Project, or TAP, works with the community and speech specialists in the trenches to find innovative ways to help its clients re-enter life empowered by purpose, support and opportunities to fulfill their passions.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE MIDTOWN: COMMUNITY

North Raleigh: Community

Two Wake Forest choirs to perform at Lincoln Center in New York – Turchetti

May 22, 2017 10:38 AM

Midtown: Community

Signing Day doesn’t have to just be about sports. Let’s celebrate academics – Wiggins

May 17, 2017 01:09 PM

North Raleigh: Community

Raleigh church is exploring social issues – Turchetti

May 11, 2017 11:36 AM
I survived my daughter’s first year away at college – Wiggins

Midtown: Community

I survived my daughter’s first year away at college – Wiggins

May 10, 2017 06:35 PM

North Raleigh: Community

Women with Purpose will focus on entrepreneur’s life lessons – Turchetti

May 05, 2017 10:47 AM

Midtown: Community

Community Notes: May 7

May 03, 2017 03:55 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Raleigh News & Observer App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Triangletoday.com
  • Legal Notices
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Our Ads
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • N&O Store
  • N&O Photos
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Report News
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use


Back to Story