Hello Friends and Family.

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It's fantastic that my younger brother, Andy, will be running with me for the London Landmarks Half-Marathon. We were born a decade apart, on opposite sides of the world. I was born in a tiny coastal village in Southern Vietnam and he was born in the urban jungle of London. We represent both the 1st and 2nd generation of Vietnamese immigrants, but our goal is aligned and we run to help others that are in the same situation as our family's was decades ago. We are both proud to be doing this on behalf of all refugees.

Please take a look at his fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andy-ly
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As you all know (but may have forgotten), I come from a refugee family.  My dad (a former soldier in the South Vietnamese Army) and my uncle fled Vietnam after the Vietnam war, risking their lives on the open ocean to escape possible arrest, torture, persecution and the very real threat of death.  Their journey on the open sea was a dangerous one where they were boarded and robbed by pirates and were on the verge of starvation as food rations ran out.  Through weeks at sea and in a refugee camp in Singapore, they were eventually re-settled in Aberdeen, Scotland.  My dad's story was featured in a newspaper article in 1985, you can read it here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f2FjMODQ-I_NSJC-l3lFXp8VdrKJhxW_/view?usp=sharing) [you can copy and paste in to your browser].

In their new life, they were very fortunate to have had the help and assistance of host families.  They were warmly welcomed in to the local community.  They were given shelter, enrolled to study English at the local community centre and were given skills training in order to get jobs.  The local MPs were petitioned to re-unite refugees with their families, and after almost 6 years of tireless petitioning my mum, my older and I were flown to the UK to be re-united with my dad.  That was the first time I had met my dad as he left Vietnam while my mum was 4 months pregnant with me.  As you can imagine, it was such an emotional day the day we landed (cover photo).  

Our family's journey to the UK as refugees is just one story out of thousands.  The work that Refugee Action and charities that support refugees re-settling in the UK is invaluable.  Refugees risk their lives, the lives of their family and the lives of their children to escape.  No one would do that unless there was no other choice.  It is the same difficult choice my dad had to make when he and my uncle fled Vietnam (along with millions of other Vietnamese people).  That is why I am doing this run, to help as many refugee families as possible in these difficult times.  Just as our family were helped 40 years ago.  I am now 40 years old and that's why I decided on doing this charity run, to give something back to help the refugee community.

Not to get too political, but I feel that the current negative rhetoric and government stance on refugees is a policy that I am entirely against.  The UK was once a nation that warmly welcomed refugees seeking safe harbour here and helped to settle families like mine.  The way refugees are now negatively portrayed really saddens me.  I urge that when you see a negative headline or government policy aimed at refugees to think of our family and of your friendship with me.  You will see that we refugees can have such a positive effect as we are truly grateful for everything that's gone in to helping our family here and we do all we can to repay that kindness.  I hope that my friendship with you over the years is evidence that refugees can and want to make a positive contribution to those around them.

Those of you who know me know that I am not much of a long distance runner.  In fact I detest it.  I have never run a 10km run before, so this half-marathon (21.1km) I already know it will be brutal for me both in training and the actual run itself.  But I will be fully committed to completing it knowing that the money raised will go to help many  families that need help right now.  

I have a conservative target of £500 as a minimum to be raised for this run, and I would be incredibly moved if I raise over £1,000.  Your friendship and support throughout the years in my journey and our family's journey to the UK as refugees has been something that I have always been grateful for.  I hope your pockets are as big as your hearts!  All donations are greatly appreciated and will go a long way to making a difference.  And if you have any rich friends, please feel free to forward on to them!  

I will keep you all updated on here on my progress.

Much love,

Thanh