This nail clipper was represented Hanh - my relative aunt from my Dad's side. She immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1976 when she was 17 years old. The story of Hanh was nearly three decades ago before I was born and it happened with the affective of historical content. Before 1975, her family lived in the Southern Vietnam. Her father was working for the US Military by then. After the Vietnam War, Hanh and her two brothers went on the sailing boat, left both their parent to came to the United States. When she arrived to the United States, she stayed at the refugee camp in Southern California with fellows boat people by the time. She was facing a lot of discrimination, exclusion, racism towards Asian people especially Vietnamese community that people called they "parasite" the US government. She has no money, none of anything valuable with her on her journey. Furthermore, there were culture shock, home-sickness, and the language barrier that she had to overcome. She would did anything to keep herself survive regardless being treated badly. Later then, Hanh decided to learned ESL in order to become a nail technician so it would help her achieve a better life. The nail clipper that she still keep until now was the one that she first used on her first day being a nail tech. It stayed as a memorial object to help Hanh remembered how tough it was at first place. She was happily married, now having three nail salons herself and both her kids are successful in life.  

– Olivia Nguyen

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