Asian Seniors to Have Place of Their Own

Six years ago, Mai Cong received a gift from a friend in his 70s. It was a painting of a woman who was beautiful despite having no ears or mouth.

Cong said the portrait signified a frustration that older Vietnamese have because they are unable to communicate with most people in their newly adopted land.

“We can’t communicate what we want to say, and we don’t understand what they’re trying to tell us,” she explained.

On Tuesday, Cong recalled the painting as she opened the doors to a new senior citizens center designed to help ease that frustration. She said the Vietnamese Community Services and Asian Senior Acculturation Center in Santa Ana is the first of its kind in the nation.

“This service is so much needed by our seniors,” the 53-year-old Cong said. “This is not just a Vietnamese senior service; it’s a service for our whole community.”

Gathered for the opening were more than 200 Vietnamese seniors, some who had traveled from as far away as Canada to be with friends and family during the celebration of Tet, the Chinese Lunar New Year, which begins Friday.

Cong, president of the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc., a social services agency that worked to establish the center, said it took six years, a lot of dreaming and planning and $1.3 million to make it a reality.

“Today, as I’m looking at this,” Cong said, gesturing at the still-unfurnished, two-story, white stucco building at 1618 W. 1st St., “this is my reward.”

Sponsors of the center said it will aim at easing the loneliness and isolation that many older refugees feel by offering services that include daily hot lunches, recreational activities and English lessons.

As she stood under the pagoda-style entrance accepting congratulations, Cong remembered how hard she and others worked to raise donations. The center received a combination of local, state and federal grants. The largest check, $450,000, came from the state Senior Center Bond Act, while Santa Ana contributed $270,000 and Westminster awarded the group $30,000.

Her organization raised an additional $100,000 through fund-raising galas and donations from foundations, private corporations and individuals. Another $150,000 is still needed to pay for the building.

On Tuesday, as the group of seniors mingled and enjoyed sodas, champagne and Vietnamese food, they exchanged traditional Tet wishes of luck, fortune and longevity.

Many agreed that the center, where they can gather and talk about their old homeland while learning about their new one, is a welcome addition to their lives.

Liem Pham, 78, said the center will take a burden off his children.

“They love me,” Pham said of his 14 children, “But they, too, need time to themselves. They spend too much of their time taking care of me.”

“(The center) gives us a place to get together while we are away from home,” he added.

Duc Nguyen, 53, brought his 70-year-old mother to the center so she could get to know some of the seniors in the Vietnamese community, he said.

A columnist with the Nguoi Viet Daily News, a Westminster-based Vietnamese-language newspaper, Nguyen said he sometimes doesn’t have the time to spend with his mother. The senior center will provide her with the care and company that she needs, he said.

“Look at her,” he said, pointing to her as she laughed with new-found friends. “It’s about time there’s a place such as this . . . she’ll be happy here.”