30 August 2009
FPSS advocates are pleased to announce that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, have just agreed to repatriate Randy Sachs to Canada. This is wonderful news and we are sincerely grateful to the Government of Vietnam for the mercy they have shown in agreeing to reunite this family.
FPSS Advocate Kay Danes writes;
We are all just so thrilled for Randy and his family. This has been such a long, hard slog but they’ve shown tremendous courage and determination. They have all conducted themselves with dignity and never once waivered in their support to Randy. As an advocate, I deal with hundreds of families all throughout the world, and I can safely say, that most all of them experience many days and nights of devastating anguish. I will never forget the email I received from Dee Hogle, all those years ago when she wrote to tell me that her son Randy had been arrested in Vietnam.
It was around midnight when Dee returned home from a very busy midnight sale at her family clothing store. The phone rang. It was her eldest son’s friend calling from their home in Ontario. They were frantic as they told Dee that Randy had been arrested on drug charges in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Dee’s life, as she knew it, changed forever in that single moment.
‘My spouse, Robin, tucked Randy’s siblings, Colbie, (then 10 years old) and Robbie (then five years old) into bed. We immediately placed a call to the Canadian embassy in Ho Chi Minh City. We had great trouble getting through to them with the time zone difference. The language barrier and very thick Vietnamese accent was a definite challenge for us. We received no answers that evening, other than confirmation of Randy’s arrest. I cried myself to sleep … the first of many nights like that,’ says Dee.
Randy Sachs may or may not have thought about the consequences of his actions. He might have been foolish, believing, like so many others, that prescription drugs aren’t as bad as illicit drugs. In countries like Vietnam, however, they take a much stronger view of the illegal trafficking of any drugs. Mere possession of drugs can result in the death penalty. According to those who know Randy, they believe he did not set out to intentionally hurt his family, but everything that happened after the police slapped those handcuffs on his wrists, affected them. They were completely devastated. His mother Dee, his family and his closest friends were all helplessly drawn into a nightmare, his nightmare. Not only did they have to immediately come to terms with Randy’s arrest in a foreign country, but they were asked to pay in advance for the body bag that would be used to transport his remains home after execution.
Funeral arrangements are never pleasant and many people these days tend to do their planning well in advance, in order to lessen some of the emotional trauma associated with death. Dee and her family were expected to make such arrangements. They were forced to visualise Randy’s demise, a slow and lonely walk to a single post where he would be bound, blindfolded and possibly gagged, before being shot. No mother’s arms would comfort him, no whispers of ‘I love you son’, no final goodbyes and no second chance to make things right.
It is with great relief that I opened my email box today, all these years later, and read Dee’s simple message: “He’s coming home... I just can’t believe it”.
Here at FPSS, we get to experience some pretty horrific journey’s with families who face incredible hardships, ordinary families just like Randy Sachs’ family. Good people, good parents, who did the very best they could to teach their children right from wrong yet, somewhere along the way, a wrong turn is taken. Sadly, some people, as a result of the choices they make, may never have an opportunity to make another. Some people face a frightful legalised death because of their choices. Randy could have been one of those, lined up before a firing squad and shot. He was lucky to be given a second chance at life and I know, knowing him and all he has endured, he will make the most of that second chance and prove to everyone, but more importantly to himself, that he can make a valuable contribution in life. We can all fall and we can all pick ourselves up and go on to do great things. We just need a little faith in ourselves.
Dee Hogle and her entire family have been an inspiration to many families throughout the world. This story will give others a little more hope to face those dark days still ahead.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.’ - Dr Martin Luther King.
Something tells me that this coming Christmas, will be the best ever for this wonderfully courageous family!
More updates coming!
Kay Danes
International Humanitarian
Foreign Prisoner Support Service
'It is our Right 2 Human Rights.'
Author Website: www.kaydanes.com
Families Behind Bars; Stories of Injustice, Endurance and Hope (New Holland Publishers)
Standing Ground; An Imprisoned Couple’s Struggle for Justice Against A Communist Regime (New Holland Publishers)
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