Finding refuge in Norwich

Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep, a doctor in Norwich who has written a moving poem for a campaign calling people to welcome migrants this Christmas.

As a baby in Vietnam he treasured a sweet-tin, painted with scenes of a foreign country half a world away. Within a couple of years he was beginning a new life in that country after surviving a prison camp and dangerous escape by land and sea. For centuries Norwich has been a sanctuary for people fleeing persecution. ROWAN MANTELL reports on the eve of Refugee Week.

Phuoc-Tan Diep was just three years old when he arrived in Britain.

With his penniless parents, and two brothers, he has never forgotten the kindness of the strangers who helped the family.

Thirty years on he is a doctor at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

Phuoc-Tan was born into a wealthy, intellectual family in Saigon, Vietnam, but his parents and their three baby boys were soon forced out of their home and sent to what Phuoc-Tan described as “brainwashing camps.”

Thousands died in these brutal camps but the family managed to escape and reach Hong Kong. From there they eventually found sanctuary in Britain. Others in the wave of refugees dubbed the “Vietnamese Boat People” found safety in America, Australia, Canada and France.

“I'm still not sure why my parents chose Britain or whether they were given a choice,” said Phuoc-Tan.

Gervais Kouloungo Mambs - a refugee in Norwich. PHOTO: ANDY DARNELL

However, even as a baby in Vietnam he had one link with the country which was to become his home. “I had a tin sweet-box when we left Vietnam, painted on it were images of England - of hope,” he said.

The family were given a room in a house in Wolverhampton - and helped by local charities and churches.

A place at the local primary school helped him learn English and by 11 he was fluent enough to get into grammar school.

It was his parents who suggested he became a doctor. “I realised I was not wise enough to choose my career, so for my A-levels I asked my parent's advice and they advised me to do medicine,” said Phuoc-Tan.

In 2007 he moved to Norwich to take up a job at the hospital. And he already loves his adopted home city - for its people, its culture and its beauty.

Fascinatingly, he said: “I feel very English. I am surprised when I look in the mirror that I am not white. But there is a core inside me which feels like I don't quite fit as well. In terms of home, I feel that my home is where my family is. Family is central to Vietnamese culture.”

Phuoc-Tan and his wife Maggie have a three-year-old daughter and a baby boy and have a strong Christian faith.

“People from the local church helped us a lot. The church paid for us to go on our only family holiday,” said Phuoc-Tan. “I think the Methodist church was a shining light. People from the church were influential in us settling in. It sounds a bit of a cliché, but they were a Godsend. They came and gave us clothes and whatever we needed.”

Phuoc-Tan has no actual memories of Vietnam because he was so young when his family fled. But he does miss the Vietnamese food his parents cooked. And he would love to return, to visit, to one day. Other ambitions include becoming a consultant, writing more poetry and probing what he calls the “deeper, harder questions - life, death, what is reality, is there any purpose in life, war, sacrifice, duty, love etc…?”

He has invented his own verse form and last year the Norwich doctor wrote a poem for a national campaign calling on people to welcome migrants at Christmas.



Gervais Kouloungou Mambs fled war and persecution in his home country - only to be caught up in another war.

He and his wife and daughter, Gervelie, had to leave their home city in the Congo when militia attacked. Separated from his wife in the chaos, Gervais and his daughter eventually found refuge with his parents.

Then armed gangs swept into that area too, and his father and cousin were killed.

Gervais was forced to flee again, to the Ivory Coast, and Gervelie went to live with her mum who had remarried. However, she was still not safe and was taken to live with her father.

Then the Ivory Coast was also convulsed by war with soldiers roaming the street killing civilians.

Gervais and his terrified daughter were in danger again. Friends and relatives were murdered.

Yet again they had to pack hurriedly and leave. Fleeing through warzones and across continents on borrowed papers they eventually arrived in Britain in 2003.

As soon as they stepped off the plane Gervais, and eight-year-old Gervelie, applied for asylum.

And, in Norwich, they found safety.

Gervais said: “When I first arrived, I felt it was a very small city and I liked the way people were so caring. The first thing that really captivated me was the number of churches. Our first home was near the prison. We were desperate to find a church and we went to ask at the prison because of its building. There are also lots of events in Norwich, including the Lord Mayor's Procession, that I particularly enjoy. I have not yet missed one since I arrived.”

But he does miss his homeland - the family and friends left behind, the smell of city in the rainy season, seeing children play in the rain as he did as a child. And Gervelie, who told her story in a moving picture book, still misses her mum.

“For me the language was the first challenge to my life in the UK,” said Gervais. “In addition to that there is this guilt about the people's perception about refugees and asylum seekers. No one has ever asked to become a refugee.

He would love to be able to return to the Congo one day and still has many relatives in the country of his birth. For their sake, and their safety, he is very careful with his words.

“I hope one day my country will be a safer place to live in,” said Gervais. “I want to dream about a country that will bring its children from different parts of the country together to heal it from its traumas. I have political ambitions and I would like to be able to contribute to the development of my country.”

For now he works for the Red Cross in Norwich, supporting vulnerable people who are being helped to resettle in the UK. “Helping people in need has been vocation, a call that I deeply felt from my heart. I just found myself good at it and I really enjoy my job,” said Gervais.

In Norwich he enjoys spending time with his daughter and watching the swans on the river. “Wensum Park is my secret garden. I just sit there and spend hours alone. I also spend time praying for a better world,” said Gervais.



Refugee Week launches in Norwich at the Forum on Sunday and events across Norwich next week include guided walks, food tasting, films, talks, theatre and music.

For more information see Going Out in today's Evening News and visit www.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk