Jimmy T. Tran

My hero is my grandpa. His name is Jimmy T. Tran. He was born in 1956 in Bac Lieu, Vietnam. He has six brothers and two sisters. He was the seventh child in the family. Jimmy has three children, two girls and one boy. My mother was the eldest child.

Jimmy left Vietnam in 1983, not long after the war ended. His children were really young at the time, so he left them behind with the family. My grandpa left on a tiny boat with very little food, a couple sets of clothes, and no money. He was on the ocean for four days. Finally, he arrived on an island. There were camps where people stayed and lived until someone sponsored them to another country. It could take somewhere between a year to several years until someone sponsors you. Luckily, Jimmy's eldest brother (he came to Canada before him) sponsored him in 1986.

Jimmy lived in Montreal, Québec. Before looking for a job, he had to go to school to learn French. His first job was at a chandelier company. He worked as an operator and assembler. When Jimmy had enough money and a place of his own, he sponsored his family so that they could come and live here with him.

Now my grandpa lives in Ontario, Canada, with my grandma, my uncle, and my aunt. He works as a Fitter, he changes the size of an item so that it can fit into another thing. He likes to watch T.V. and read the newspaper in his spare time. Jimmy also enjoys my grandma's cooking and he takes her shopping on the weekend. He takes my brother to the mall and buys him games all the time! His hero is Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada when he just got here. He says that Mr. Trudeau made Canada a better place.

Jimmy is my hero because he loves my family and I. Thanks to him, I am living in a developed country where I get good education and freedom to live the way that I want. Jimmy teaches me a lot about how life was like back in Vietnam. Jimmy displays the character trait: Courage. He is courageous because he put away all his fear just to bring us to a better home. Jimmy inspires me because he had a lot of courage which inspires me to be more courageous. Jimmy T. Tran is the best person I've ever known!