In my childhood, every night when I heard the siren wailing,
I would automatically roll down from the bed, firstly under the bed
and if the siren went again three times, that meant that it was getting dangerous,
and we needed to run into the bunker. If it only sounded once,
then afterward we could get back into bed and go back to sleep.
That was our everyday life.
In 1978, when war broke out with China and Cambodia,
it meant that all young South Vietnamese men first had to join the army.
I also had school friends who came from the North;
they were allowed to keep studying.
It was only we from the South who had to go and be cannon fodder first.
My mother did everything in her power to prevent me from having to enlist.
Then she bribed someone into letting me go to the GDR.
When I went to the GDR, my mother said:
I hope that you learn something there
and if you come back home with what you’ve learned, then I’ll be happy.
Then I’ll be able to sleep easy.