In this book, Đặng Kim Xoa was inspired to write poems about humanity and the experience of her suffering through war, which turned into joys and celebration of God’s love and blessing.
Đặng Kim Xoa was born in 1927 and lived through many wars. She survived under Japanese occupation during World War II. Then, she lived through the resistance against French colonization. Then, she lived through over 20 years of internal struggle between the North and South Vietnamese. Through it all, she was a part-time high school teacher, homemaker, and single mom. After her husband passed away, she devoted her life to providing healthcare to the poor as a volunteer acupuncturist with Buddhist monks. In 1975, she came to the United States as a refugee via Guam and settled in Southern California. Kim Xoa continued to devote her work to helping Indochinese settlers at the International Institute of Los Angeles and the Chinatown Community Center. Kim Xoa operated one of the oldest schools and clinics of Chinese medicine in Los Angeles. She sponsored expert herbalists and acupuncturists from China to help provide complementary and alternative medicine to combat AIDS. Kim Xoa experienced the humanity and kindness firsthand through her flight as a refugee with volunteers from various religious organizations. Thus, in her late 60s, she got baptized into the Catholic faith and devoted her life to healing and aiding those in need, particularly community folks in poverty.
In this book, Đặng Kim Xoa was inspired to write poems about humanity and the experience of her suffering through war, which turned into joys and celebration of God’s love and blessing.
