Winnie Kaetzel

Bending with the Bamboo: Memoirs of an American Missionary Family's Life in Laos During the Vietnam War Winnie Kaetzel

When Communist Pathet Lao Forces liberated Laos in 1975, Professor Pheng and three other tenured colleagues were dismissed from their teaching positions at the university and sent to work on a communal farm. Pheng had already decided to stay with his country no matter what happened, but four years later when several of his co-workers were arrested and sent to a remote northern province for re-education, he knew he was next. So, on a dark, moonless night, Pheng abandoned his home, livestock, and small orchard, and pushed the pirogue carrying his wife and five daughters off the Lao shore as they headed across the Mekong River to Thailand. In the hot, crowded refugee camp, friends told him about God's love and he soon confessed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. The night before his family left camp to immigrate to Canada, he came to our home to say good-bye. With moist eyes, he said, "Missionary, if I'd never had to leave Laos, I'd never have met Jesus."