For immediate release—Monday November 25, 2024

Uxbridge, ON – On Sunday November 24, Ingenium Books author Dr. Vi Tu Banh launched his new memoir to a packed house of 250 people. 12 Elephants and a Dragon: A Memoir of Survival and the Kindness of Strangers makes for important reading in these volatile times. The book tells the story of a family of Vietnamese Boat People who, with the help of a group of complete strangers, made it to Canada to start a new life.

Dr. Banh, now an optometrist based in Uxbridge, Ontario, focused his presentation on gratitude for the five benevolent Canadians who brought him, his parents, and five younger siblings to Canada. A sixth sibling was born soon after their arrival.

Barbara Murphy (97), the only surviving member of that group of benefactors, read the foreword that she wrote for the book. Michael McLuhan, son of Marshall McLuhan, spoke of how, in 1979, his father listened to Michael Enright on CBC Radio describing the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People and how ordinary Canadians could sponsor one or more families, and then made the call that set in motion the process that would result in the Banh family arriving in a snow-covered Uxbridge. Dr. Banh’s parents and several of his siblings attended as well.

Marie Beswick Arthur, who authored 12 Elephants and a Dragon with Dr. Banh, said, “When I first met Vi Tu and heard his story, I saw a boy carrying a heavy burden. But the boy carried within him a dragon, ready to breathe fire into the promise he had made to his father as they were leaving the South China Sea: that one day he would write the story. And I helped him keep that promise forty-five years later.”

According to Dr. Banh, “I didn’t write the book, but I lived it. Marie took what was in my heart and wrote this book.”

12 Elephants and a Dragon: A Memoir of Survival and the Kindness of Strangers, by Dr. ViTu Banh with Marie Beswick Arthur.

“The world needs this book like never before,” publisher Boni Wagner-Stafford of Ingenium Books said. “We could never have predicted when we signed Dr. ViTu Banh that we would be releasing this book in a global environment where so many immigrant refugees from so many countries try to cross borders in hopes of finding a new life, and so many voices rise against letting fellow human beings in. 12 Elephants and a Dragon shows us the value of a helping hand and how seemingly small acts of kindness can turn into tsunamis of goodwill.”

Dr. Banh, now a pillar of the community that first opened its arms to him forty-five years ago, is dedicating his life to paying the kindness forward.

Those attending the launch event in support of Dr. Banh included his parents, several siblings, school and university friends and even a former professor. The venue for the event was donated by Wooden Sticks Golf Course in Uxbridge, with the proceeds from door sales, raffles and door prizes going to local charities.

12 Elephants and a Dragon: A Memoir of Survival and the Kindness of Strangers is currently available for sale in paperback and eBook and coming soon in audiobook.