Thang Nguyen 555

Her name is on the boat in the background of a BBC reportage.

It spells THUY TRANG.

And I wonder if this is the second or third time the owner faced hardship (Vietnam evacuation, Katrina and now oil spill).

Three strikes.

At least they are hired to help with the clean up instead of fishing.

When the roof caved in, everyone has to chip in.

During the Katrina evacuation, I suggested our company to print the Katrina Relief pre-paid cards to be given out in Houston.

And I went there to the shelters to give them out ( it would be my third time doing such a thing as well, after Hong Kong and Philippines).

This time, after watching the segment, I know the price of oil and shrimp will rise by this summer.

But one special nagging feeling is about THUY TRANG  and other Vietnamese fishermen.

Are they holding up? Having just rebuilt their houses and communities, will Mr Quan and others decide to quit?

I know one thing: whatever Kim Phuc (the girl in the picture, running naked down the escaped road from napalm) is made of, Thuy Trang will be up there:

full of resilience, resourcefulness and on the look out for people in the same boat, literally.

Talking about living in the global village in the jet age: THUY TRANG still needs that oil to power the engine. No way around it.

Thirty years ago, there were some confrontation between old and new comers. Now decades and two disasters later, I bet Vietnamese fishermen and others in Gulf

all looked as if they were made of the same clothes: tan, oily and the smell of the seas on them. Nature has a way to blend its creation, but something don’t mix well, like salty sea and crude oil.