� Simon Scoones/Worldaware

The countryside in northern Vietnam.

Anh and Kim are two sisters who were born in Haiphong in northern Vietnam. When fighting broke out in the country, they had to flee with their family by boat to China. At the time, Kim was 4 years old, and Anh was only 3. But Anh can still remember her last sight of her village:

"I saw hundreds of people trying to escape the thick black smoke rising up into the grey sky. All our homes, the entire village was in flames. People had grabbed what belongings they could carry before they left. Some had bicycles to carry their possessions, others had baskets or pushed carts. Little children were carried by older brothers and sisters or pulled along by harassed mothers, arms full of bundles".

They fled to the coast where they got into boats to escape to China. Kim remembers the journey:

"When we got into the boat, I liked watching fish swimming in the water, and all the boats around us. It was like an adventure for me. I did not understand what was really happening. My mum was holding my little sister and she was crying, but I didn't understand, I was too excited."

They landed on Hainan Island, part of China and were put into a refugee camp with hundreds of other 'boat people'. To earn their keep, the adults were forced to clear areas of jungle to create land for farming. The conditions in the camp were very bad, and it was not long before Anh and Kim's family decided to escape into the jungle along with other refugee families. They were lucky to have a bicycle to help them carry their things. The camp's guards chased them, but later the guards returned to the camp empty-handed, sure that the escaped refugees would not survive.

But the refugees did survive, helped by some of the local people. But after two years, Kim and Anh's parents decided it was time to send the two girls away. They wanted them to have a chance of a better life. Kim and Anh's Mum and Dad worked hard to save up enough money to pay for their boat fares. They had to trust the boat owners and hoped that Anh, now 5, and Kim, 6, would reach a safe destination.

� Simon Scoones/Worldaware

"We were told that we were going on a boat trip with a relative," remembers Anh, " and so we waved goodbye to our parents, not knowing that it would be many years before we saw them again."

The journey would be dangerous. The tiny fishing boat was packed with escaping refugees and took many weeks to reach land. The girls were lost, tired, hungry and scared. Kim says:

"After four days our food and water ran out. The boat owners were more concerned to get money by packing in as many people as possible, rather than taking up room with food. The ocean was huge, beating our little boat with big, lashing waves. We were burnt by the sun, and drenched by the rain. But at least, when it rained, we had some water to drink. Drinking seawater was like poison, and everyone on our boat was sick. I lost count of the days; each day was just the same as the last. But then, one day, a big ship came and picked us up. We had been on the sea for three weeks."

Many other boat people were not as lucky as Anh and Kim. Some were in boats that were deliberately sunk. Pirates boarded other boats, and the people were attacked and often killed. Others starved to death or died of thirst. But the Danish ship that had rescued Anh and Kim took them to Hong Kong where they were put in another refugee camp. Anh says:

"At first we thought it was fun. We had food and were safe in a new country. With so many refugees, conditions were poor, but we were too grateful just being alive to notice this. All the children were put in huts together - there were about 200 in my hut. We slept on bunk beds on three levels. I didn't realise it at the time, but the beds were damp. We were always hungry and so we ate whatever we were given. We all ate in the big hall - it was always very noisy. We had no shoes or underwear - there was none available. We were supposed to have school every weekday for two hours, but most of us hid instead."

After five years in the refugee camp, Anh was now 10 and Kim was 11. Being older, they became more aware of the poor conditions in the camp. Anh remembers feeling very angry:

"I became aware of the high fences, the guards and the barbed wire. Why were we locked up when we were not criminals? I felt unwanted, the guards seemed to hate us, and they had whiter skin than ours. Like many others, I became very bored - the same tangled wires, the same blue uniforms. And bored people would argue over silly little things, which would lead to fighting."

Over those five long years, the girls had no news at all about their parents. Several charities tried to trace them but they had no success. By now, the two sisters had spent almost all their lives fleeing from danger. Then they were told that they were going to be moved to London, England to live with other refugee children. Anh and Kim had a new adventure, flying to a new country. At first this was almost as scary as when they had left on the boat. Anh remembers:

When they first arrived in London it was spring, but the children felt very cold. Everything looked so big - but most importantly, it smelt free. Everything was strange and new at first. Along with the other refugee children, they had to learn about a new language, a new country, a new school, a new life. But Anh and Kim quickly learned how to speak and write English. Sadly, they had to cope with being bullied.

When Anh was 16 and Kim was 17, the sisters returned to China for a visit to be re-united with the rest of their family. They hadn't seen their parents for 11 years. Anh and Kim also discovered that they had a grandmother still living in Vietnam. Three years later, their parents, and younger sister and brother came to live with the girls in England.

Finally, in 1999, Kim and Anh travelled to Vietnam to visit their grandmother, more than twenty years after they had fled to escape the fighting there. The two sisters were now grown adults � Anh was 24 years old and Kim was 25. As visitors, they no longer felt that they belonged here, and found it difficult to cope with the poor conditions in their grandmother's village. They also found out that their grandfather and other members of their family had been killed during the years of fighting.

After all those years away from Vietnam, Anh and Kim have grown used to running water, indoor toilets and easy communications. But they did enjoy meeting up with cousins and other relatives. By chatting to them, Anh and Kim could learn a bit more about their old homeland, and what life might have been like for them if they had never become refugees.

Here is a picture from that time. Anh is wearing a black top in the centre, and Kim is wearing a green dress on the right. They are standing outside their grandmother's house with four of their cousins.

Now that Anh and Kim have good jobs in England, they want to try and make their grandmother's life as happy and comfortable as they can. They have been saving up to build her a brick house. In November 2000, they went back to see it being built. As Anh said:

"Grandmother's new brick house, which is being built to replace her bamboo hut. This is so that she does not have to take shelter in the hurricane season or the monsoon season."

Although they are now more settled, life is still not easy for the sisters. Their father is not well and both parents have found the move to England very difficult. But Anh and Kim know how fortunate they have been to find their parents again, to receive a good education and to be able to begin a new life. At least for this one refugee family there has been a fairly happy ending!