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Monday, March 2, 1998

Tutors help give immigrants hope for new life

By SHAWN WELKER / Herald Democrat

SHERMAN, Texas - At age 17, Khamsavanh "Kham" Sansavath came to the United States from Laos carrying not much more than a change of clothes and a few pieces of fruit.

Always saying education was the key to success, in December he graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a bachelor's degree. "The only way I can support myself is through education," Kham said.

He couldn't have done it without the help of people like Frances Nelson, a tutor in the Grayson Literacy Program, he said. But it also required perseverance and plain old hard work.

In the 1970s a communist regime took over Laos, and forced one member from each family into the military. Not wanting to face lifelong service there, Kham and some friends decided to escape across the Mekong River into Thailand.

He and his friends built a raft of banana trees and logs, hiding under the foliage to escape attention of constant military patrols.

When they reached Thailand, the Thai military arrested them as suspected communist spies.

In Kham's breast pocket are two black and white photographs, bearing holes from the staples that once attached the pictures to prison files.

In each picture is a young boy, wearing simple clothing and holding in front of him a sign with a prisoner number.

Because Kham had an uncle in the United States, he was able eventually to get a plane ticket there. "(The trip) was terrible because I knew very little English," he said. But refugees had bags around their necks which had travel information inside. So they were directed to the right place.

Kham almost didn't find his relatives in New Jersey. He had never seen them. They were at the airport holding a sign with his name, but the sign was written in English. Kham decided to get back on the plane, and his uncle decided to go on the plane looking for him. They met in the plane entrance.

"It took me two to three weeks to get used to the weather and the food and everything," Kham said.

From then on Kham learned English as he went through high school, junior college and finally SOSU. It was his uncle who first told him: you need an education to make a living.

Because Kham had to work, and because he was still learning English, it took him 5-1/2 years to get a four-year degree. He spent an entire year in high school just listening to teachers so he could get the feel for the language.

He ended up at Paris Junior College because of the big international population there. It was during one summer vacation that his uncle in New Jersey invited Kham back home to meet a woman from Thailand, who eventually became Kham's wife.

Supporting a wife made his financial situation even tighter QJhis wife couldn't work yet because she had just moved here and didn't have the necessary documents.

Even when others told him to drop out of school and work full time, Kham continued to take 21 hours of classes each semester while working. But Kham seems pretty modest about that. "I made pretty good grades," he said.

After junior college, he got a job as a traffic signal technician. And for the first time he had his own house and his first color television. He was able to finance a house for 15 years. He paid it off in five.

And in the meantime he worked another part-time job and attended night classes at SOSU, receiving tutoring from the Grayson Literacy Team. He spoke English well enough, but still had trouble reading and writing.

"Without help, I wouldn't have made it," he said.

Kham's native language is Lao, and he also speaks Thai, his wife's native language. The form of these languages is backward from English syntax. For example, "Where are you going?" might translate as "Going where are you?"

He had used tutors' before, and when he moved to Sherman he went to the library for help. He said, even if there's nobody there, you can just pick up a book and read for awhile.

Sure enough, he saw a group of adults in the back of the library studying. He talked to them and found out they were part of the literacy program.

The literacy team has 36 tutors, each helping one student, and 12 more volunteers just signed up for the program. The literacy program helps adults who just need to brush up on their grammar, as well as people who are learning English as a second language. The program is part of the Sherman Education Cooperative of the Sherman ISD as well as Sherman Public Library, and uses volunteers from around Grayson County.

In December, Kham received a degree in technology, drafting and design, representing the education he sought since he came to this country.

He's even looking at selling his house and making a much bigger investment, but that's all still in the future.

"I believe if you put your mind, your heart, your soul, you can do anything," he said.

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Distributed by The Associated Press