“The first time that he hugged me, I knew (they were) family.”

Ny Derry was born in Vientiane, Laos. When she was 7 years old, Derry and her family escaped the Vietnam War and landed at a refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand. In 1980, after a year in the camp, her family was sponsored to come to the U.S. by a church community in Dallas, Texas.

When Derry arrived at the airport with her parents and three siblings, their sponsors — a husband and wife from a local church — greeted them. A hug from one of her sponsors made her feel welcome.

“The first time that he hugged me, I knew (they were) family. They were going to take care of us,” Derry said.

In Texas, Derry remembers the support shown by her sponsors, who were Black, and the Black community there.

“Once I’d grown up, there was this division that we hear about white and Black … I didn’t know what they were talking about in the media about chaotic stuff that’s going on versus what I’m living,” she said.

Derry learned English through school as well as by watching PBS and programs like “The Cosby Show” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” She translated for her parents, who spoke Lao, for a wide variety of things, including doctor appointments and financial matters. Though given opportunities to learn English through the church communities they were connected to, her parents focused their time on providing for Derry and her siblings by working jobs available to them. Her father was a janitor and her mom worked in a factory.

Derry and her family eventually migrated to upstate New York in 1981 to reunite with relatives. Later, Derry graduated from Binghamton University, got married, then moved to Michigan in 1995. She lives in Livonia.

This story is part of our Destination Detroit initiative, which through a series of interviews shares the rich history of the people who have shaped Southeast Michigan.