It is October 8, 1981, the air in Long An, a province west of Saigon, is the same as all the other nights that have preceded it – hot and sticky with a desperation that clings to anything and anyone that it touches.

Six years since the Vietnam War ended, a 31-year-old woman is willing her emaciated, 42 kilogram frame into a small boat. She’s devastated to be leaving her mother and 10 siblings, but determined to change the fortunes of her family.