An eight-year-old Ottawa boy says his CBC reporter mom gives him hope with a story about her journey to Canada as a Vietnamese refugee.

Judy Trinh, a reporter at CBC Ottawa, shared her story last month in a first-person article for CBC News.
In the piece, she detailed her trip to Canada as one of the Vietnamese boat people and the obstacles her family faced during their journey.

Over the weekend, Trinh, a mother of two, was handed her son’s homework. Matthew, a Grade 3 student, was assigned to write a letter following a class discussion about Terry Fox and how his battle with cancer gave people hope.

The students were asked to write a letter about something, or someone, who gave them “hope.” Matthew wrote a letter about his mom, Judy.

“My mom gives me hope because she was a refugee,” the letter reads.

“When she was coming from Vietnam she had to get on a boat to get to a refugee camp. But she got robbed buy (sic) pirates twice.”

The letter then talks about Judy’s successful career as a journalist, before mentioning the current struggle for refugees from Syria and several other countries.

“My mom gives me hope because she was a refugee and there are a lot more refugee (sic) trying to find a safe home,” Matthew wrote.

The full letter is pictured here. Below is a photo of Judy’s Facebook post, where she said she plans to frame the letter.

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