Bataan Philippine Refugee Processing Center

" PRPC, located in the mountains of Bataan, was about a 3-hour bus ride from Manila. The PRPC opened in 1980 and closed around 1995. I worked there from 1984 to 1988. More than 400,000 Indochinese refugees (Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao, ethnic Chinese, and some other minority groups) passed through its gates. Almost all of them had already been accepted for resettlement in the U.S., and almost all of them had already spent months and years in first asylum camps in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. During their stay in the PRPC, the refugees underwent final processing, health screenings, and studied English and U.S. culture. Most of the photos in this album were taken on one day...the day before I left. They're not the most beautiful, and they don't include ceremonies or friends' faces. I took the photos to remember the look of the camp. What the photos can't express is what the PRPC felt like...the amazing mix of languages, backgrounds, and cultures, the old hatreds and loyalties, the night sounds from the forest, the steam rising from the earth after a sudden downpour, the sound of students repeating an English phrase, the sound of prayers from a temple at sunset..."
~Gaylord Barr~

WE ARE HAPPY TO SHARE ALL OF THE PHOTOS PRESENTED HERE. HOWEVER, IF YOU DO RE-POST ANY OF THEM, PLEASE GIVE US CREDIT.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pictures of Bataan PRPC by Gaylord Barr (10)

46: A Neighborhood 1 statue depicting a Khmer couple escaping from their country with their children and belongings.

Một tượng đài ở vùng 1 do dân Cambodian làm

47: Altar offerings - wild flowers in a Coke bottle
Một bàn thờ ở khu 4

48: Volleyball without a net.
Các em đang chơi volley trong lòng đường

49: A tombstone in the camp cemetery, or "neighborhood 11" as it was called by the refugees

Một nhôi mộ ở nghĩa địa mà dân tị nạn thường gọi là vùng 11, thay vì gọi là nghĩa địa

50: A woman preparing for departure. She had more to take with her than many refugees.
The label on her packet has her name and T number. The T number was the case ID given to each refugee or each family by the UNHCR
Người đàn bà đang chuẩn bị đồ đi định cư. Thường thì dân tị nạn không có nhiều đồ như thế.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Pictures of Bataan PRPC by Gaylord Barr (9)

41: Posing
Những khuôn mặt tị nạn

42: The valley, rice fields, and forests below the camp
Đồng lúa nhìn từ trại xuống

43: Communal toilets doubled as bathing rooms for women.
Phòng vệ sinh và phòng tắm chung cho mỗi dãy nhà

44 : Posing in front of That Lang Laotian Monument, Neighborhood 3
2 người tị nạn trước tưng đài That Luong

45: The weekly food distribution - this week fresh pineapple and fish
Ngày phân phát thực phẩm