Sithy and her sisters practicing the Wishing Dance in Long Beach CA c. 1982 (location unidentified). From left to right: Sithea Yi, Sithy, and Sitheavy Yi. Sithy crocheted all the blouses for them.
Sithy Yi with her family in her uncle’s home in Long Beach, Ca in 1982. From left to right are her youngest sister, Sitheavy Yi (Jennifer Diep); Sithy; her uncle’s daughter, Sheila Tran; her mother, San Thi Tran; and middle sister, Sithea (Sithea San). Sithy is not sure, but it looks like they had gathered for a holiday celebration. The family lived with their uncle for about one year. Sithy was probably about 15 years old and was attending 9th grade at Jefferson Middle School in Long Beach.
Sithy Yi (front) and two unidentified friends are walking along the stream in the Bataan Refugee Processing Center in the Philippines, 1981.Sithy’s uncle, Tran Anh, who lived in Long Beach, CA. sent the family some money to buy clothes. They also hired a photographer to take pictures.
Sithy Yi (center) is performing the Coconut folk dance with her sister, Sithea (right), and a friend, Ouch (nickname), in a Buddhist temple in the Bataan Refugee Processing Center in the Philippines. The young man on the left in the back row is Rithear Chhang; the other two are unidentified. Each dance style has its own costuming convention, but the correct materials were not available in the camps, so performers improvised. Here the young women are wearing sarongs. The young men are wearing Salvation Army t-shirts and black pants in an attempt to be dressed alike.
On May 29, 1981, Sithy Yi’s family was approved for travel from the Chonburi refugee camp in Thailand to Long Beach, California. Their uncle, Tran Anh, who lived in Long Beach, had sponsored them.
