Faith Justice & Nhia Ju Lor
Submitted by Barb Messerknecht
Compiled with the help of a March 2005 Breaking Bread article by Merial Christensen
Nhia Ju Lor’s greatest desire was to be a citizen of the United States, the country for which he sacrificed much. He fought in Vietnam with the American’s when he was 13 years old. He helped two soldiers when they were shot, and he himself was shot twice.
Nhia’s hands were burned in the war and he was left without fingerprints. This and his inability to read and write made it very difficult for Nhia to be granted citizenship. His family felt cheated because of promises that were not kept to Vietnamese people who died helping American soldiers. The family thought life would get better moving, but it was very hard and unfortunate after so many sacrifices to get to the United States. Yet the US flag still flew on their house, despite all they had been through. Through the efforts of the Good Shepherd Faith Justice Group, Nhia Ju Lor and his wife were granted citizenship in 2002.