Happy Wednesday! Meet Maia Koinm with Closet Factory DFW. Maia joined the GFWBA in November. Welcome to GFWBA!! Thank you for sharing your story.

Maia's life story is amazing and so worth the read:

In November, it’s not only Thanksgiving but on November 11, 1979, my family and I arrived to America. I was born in Vietnam right after the war and my dad was in the South Vietnam military. He visited the USA in 1969 to help with the American Military, and after the war, he was supposed to be gone for a weekend to a re-education camp as the South lost the war. Instead of a weekend, he was brainwashed and tortured in a North Vietnam Communist concentration camp for over 3 years. When he was released, I was born, and he realized the horrors that he had witnessed was not a life for our family. At 3 months old, my dad, mom, grandma (she was 77 years old and watching American movies, it was her dream to visit the USA), my cousin who was 15 years old, my sister who was 5, escaped Vietnam through the jungles. My mom said she gave me sleeping medicine so I would not cry as a newborn baby, but I just ended up laughing (this may explain why I’m always laughing) which was better than crying. My dad built a small boat and for a week, we were at sea where we were lucky not to be captured by the pirates of Thailand (there are some horrible things that happened to the people who were intercepted by the pirates) and landed in a refugee camp in Malaysia. It was called Bidong Island, and I researched that a Time Life journalist called in “Hell on Earth” for being the size of a football field with 90,000 refugees who lost everything except hope. After spending the first few months of my life in an overcrowded refugee camp, we would be sponsored by First Christian Church and arrive to a suburb of Oklahoma City on November 11 (11-11 is a special number and day for me) who gave us a home, food, and clothing as we arrived with nothing except faith and hope for a better life. My parents are my heroes, and I am very blessed that we made it. This would explain my work ethic and why I strive to be the best and treat everyone kindly, as the church showed us true compassion and helped us with our new lives here. My cousin finished high school in Oklahoma and went on to become a physician. My dad started a Vietnamese Organization to help refugees get on their feet, and in the 1990s, Governor David Walters gave him an award. Sadly both of my parents passed (my dad in January 2021 from Covid, and my mom in 2016 from a rare blood disease – HLH – that took her quickly within weeks of being diagnosed) but I know they live through me, and I try to keep up with the goodwill they started. I am also grateful for anyone who gives me their time to listen or to meet, because time is the most valuable gift you can give anyone.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cd8-f5GJ4zg is a short reel when I am asked about me. I have been mission trips within the USA and to Brazil, I love to travel as I’ve been blessed to visit 21 countries and 45 of the 50 United States, and I love animal rescues as I moved to a 7+ acre farm in Parker County as soon there will be exotic animals once we build a barn. I have only been in Texas for over a year to finally marry someone last October 2021, that I liked since the first week of high school in 1993. You can say I’m a romantic as I moved here for true love

I look forward to meeting other members, and you’ll see I do remember people and have a good memory, and my goal is sincere – is to developing last relationships and if we can help each other, that’s even better, as my life in the USA started because of kindness and an open heart to help others as was evident with my family and the wonderful congregation of First Christian Church of Midwest City, OK.