Escaping to
Freedom A poignant chapter in one family’s remarkable story was written thanks to a life-changing gift received decades ago. Gratitude inspires them to pay it forward for future generations of students
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Hannah (Truong) Temple sees the life-changing power of generosity every day: by looking at her own family’s story of incredible hardship, resilience, courage and success. The Canadian chapter began in 1980 — and continues to unfold today with plans to create a New Canadian Bursary at Ambrose University. Temple was only two years old when her family joined an estimated one million people escaping South Vietnam on a desperate flight to freedom. Brutal conditions following Saigon’s fall to North Vietnam’s Viet Cong forced families to risk all they held precious to find safety, and perilous
journeys would see a staggering 40 per cent die from starvation, dehydration, illness, pirates or drowning. Canada offered one of the world’s few lifelines and, over more than a decade, 200,000 Indochinese refugees, including tens of thousands from Vietnam, found a new place to call home. They found hope and started new lives largely because Canadian churches refused to look away and reached out to help. “When you hit rock bottom and have nowhere to go but up, you recognize
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