CONCERT PROCEEDS WILL AID REFUGEE CHILDREN

Former Vietnamese refugees will be making good on promises to help those they left in their homeland when they present a benefit concert of native dance, music and drama Saturday at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

Proceeds from the 7 p.m. concert will be used to assist orphans living in refugee camps in Thailand and in Africa, according to Pham Hue, one of the advisers to the Vietnamese Student Assn. at the college.

“Many of our students have lived in camps in Thailand or Malaysia,” Hue said. “They have seen the misery with their own eyes. There are children there who had left Vietnam with their parents, but the parents were killed, and the children have no one to sponsor their coming to this country.

“Fortunately, our students had relatives who were able to sponsor them. But a lot of children, their age or younger, did not have that opportunity and were left behind. They need everything: food, clothing, medicine--basic survival needs.

“Our students gave them a promise to help them when they got to a free country.”

The student association, which has been active at OCC for seven years, has sponsored this event for three years.

Last year, the event raised $2,500, according to Ron Klein, a co-adviser of the group.

“The purpose is to raise money, which can be given to charities throughout the world which help needy children,” Klein said.

“It’s not specifically targeted to Vietnamese children. Last year, the money was split between two groups: one helping children in Malaysia and Thailand, the other--Oxfam America--which gives shelter and food for starving children in Ethiopia. The creators of the event were really concerned with identifying needy kids--not so much who they were, but in finding groups that were worthy.”

The program will present a mix of approximately 50 professional singers and dancers and students from various local high schools and colleges and will range from traditional to modern Vietnamese songs and dances, plus two short, recently written dramas. Performances will be presented in Vietnamese, but English translations will be provided.

Donations will be solicited.