When Hannah Truong walked into Victoria Chinese Alliance Church at the age of 19, her life was forever changed. VCAC became her home church and it was there that she learned what a Chinese Christian looks like. From VCAC, her journey led to Canadian Bible College, where she met her future husband, Ed Temple. Together, Hannah and Ed have ministered at Burnaby Chinese Alliance Church and Kamloops Alliance Church.
She recently reached out these three churches to help establish “The New Canadian Bursary” at Ambrose University. The cover article in the most recent edition of the Ambrose publication, Anthem, tells the story of Hannah’s family escape from Vietnam and the family’s desire both to express gratitude for the generosity they have encountered and also to pass along that blessing to a new generation of newcomers to Canada. The article elaborates:
Hannah (Truong) Temple sees the life-changing power of generosity every day: by looking at her own family’s story of incredible hardship, resilience, courage and success. The Canadian chapter began in 1980 — and continues to unfold today with plans to create a New Canadians Bursary at Ambrose University.
Temple was only two years old when her family joined an estimated one million people escaping South Vietnam on a desperate flight to freedom. Brutal conditions following Saigon’s fall to North Vietnam’s Viet Cong forced families to risk all they held precious to find safety, and perilous journeys would see a staggering 40 per cent die from starvation, dehydration, illness, pirates or drowning.
Canada offered one of the world’s few lifelines and, over more than a decade, 200,000 Indochinese refugees, including tens of thousands from Vietnam, found a new place to call home. They found hope and started new lives largely because Canadian churches refused to look away and reached out to help. Read more…
