A four-year old girl comes to the Untied States by boat, and although it is far from a pleasure trip and despite the very real threat of sinking or dying at sea at the hands of pirates, she feels safe in the strength of her parents.
As an adult Angie Chau now knows that as “boat people” her family faced not only terror and danger but the cold-hearted politics of not being permitted to dock and being stranded at sea in a fishing boat perhaps to capsize and drown. Malaysia finally succumbed to world pressure and allowed the refuges to come ashore. The strength of parenthood at its most protective is a huge gift and the reason Angie remembers having a good time at the refugee camp as her father taught her to swim in what she describes as beautiful oceans.
The road to becoming a San Franciscan was an adventure to Angie and puzzling out the mysteries of her new life always a challenge. She talks about San Francisco as a melting-pot, and, might I say how lucky we are that she bubbled to the top. Her book Quiet As They Come, although fiction, is a tribute to her transformation and the people who guided her life. Please do look at Angie's speaking schedule for appearances at a variety of Bay Area locations. It is a charming and uplifting experience to listen to Angie describe herself as an adolescent flowing into a new culture of teen life while the adults in her family had to be longing for home and people left behind.
Angie Chau has a most gracious spirit welcoming us into her life and sharing with us her family’s determination and faith in the future for themselves and their only daughter. This book is an act of generosity as is her talking about her journey on Love Letters Live. Thank you Angie, for bringing us into your world and letting us get to know the girl who became the woman you are.
From me to you with love in the air,
Janet
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