Cary woman who escaped Vietnam as a child helps Afghan refugees coming to America

A woman who became a refugee in America after her family escaped the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War is now helping other refugees arriving in the Triangle.

Thuy Dancik lives in Cary.

She was just shy of 11-years old when she, her 5 siblings, and her pregnant mother escaped on a Vietnamese naval ship commanded by her father.

"You see that cannon right there?" she says, pointing to an old photo. "Our home for three weeks."

Another fading photograph taken in December 1974, about 5 months before the fall of Saigon, shows a normal, smiling family, enjoying a day together. In this photo, Danick knew little of the war in her country.

Her father worked closely with the Americans, and that relationship forced the six children and their pregnant mother to flee Saigon in the final days of the war.

"There were hundreds of people, hundreds of people, clamoring to try to get out," she says.

Her family escaped their home country on a boat commanded by her father – with nothing but the clothes on their back ... and hope.

"I have to believe in hope, because without that, I’m not sure my family would have made it here," she said.

They arrived in New York as refugees, relying on the generosity of sponsors and strangers, much like the Afghan families who escaped the Taliban before America's withdrawal from the country.

"Those helping hands, so many of them remain faceless, so many of them remain nameless to my family and me," she said. "But without those nameless, faceless folks, we wouldn’t have been able to move forward and succeed as much as we did."

Dancik is now coordinating volunteers who assist people resettling in the Triangle through the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

She's lived the experience of a refugee, but also lived the American Dream.

She's retired now after selling the software company she started with her husband.

Tears, suppressed by time, come back up as Dancik watches America withdraw from another war. The scenes of refugees look so familiar.

"People trying to rush through the airport, helicopters flying out of the airport. It just brought back some traumatic feelings, you know, because those were the same feelings I had," she says.

That's why Dancik is pouring her energy into helping resettle Afghan families in North Carolina with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants – with the hope their new home in America will welcome them with open arms.

"Think about the survival of yourself and your family in that situation," she says. "How would you feel? What would you want to have happen to you?"

The support she and her family got when they first arrived as refugees here in the US is what allowed them to become successful American citizens.

She's encouraging others to help out now as these Afghan families resettle here.

People who want to volunteer and help can email volunteer@uscrinc.org or visit the website.