When the tragedy of the thousands of southeast Asians fleeing Vietnam by boat burst upon the consciousness of the world in the late 1970s, the Canadian government organized a private sponsorship program. Churches and small groups of individuals across the country undertook full responsibility for one year for the well-being of the refugees that they agreed to sponsor. This is the story of one such refugee, Phu Sam, as told to Evelyn Friesen, one of the daughters of the Friesen family that took part in helping to resettle Vietnamese refugees in Canada.