FORT WORTH — Ebola first arrived in Dallas in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood, where new immigrants hope to grow roots. Then the deadly virus spread to a nurse, and fear rippled through the long-established Vietnamese community on the eastern edge of Fort Worth.
Nina Pham grew up in East Fort Worth, where she attended Catholic schools and where her family has been active in the Vietnamese church Our Lady of Fatima.
Since news of her illness broke, many in the Vietnamese community have rallied around Pham, her family and each other as they closely follow the news for any updates on how she is doing.
At the Phuong Restaurant on a recent afternoon, a group of women sat around chatting, constantly glancing up at the television broadcasting Ebola updates. Vietnamese-language newspapers by the door showed Pham and with her beloved dog Bentley.
“I feel sorry for the nurse and for her dog,” owner Hanh Truong said. “Everybody is online and on their cell phones all the time looking up information about her and about Ebola.”
The restaurant, which serves traditional pho soup and other delicacies, is located in a Vietnamese plaza just outside the Fort Worth city limits in Haltom City.
That stretch of East Belknap Street is a hub of the Asian community, with markets selling pastries, fish sauce and durian fruits. Businesses include a Vietnamese medical clinic that also displays signs reading “Se Habla Español.”
About 20 to 30 years ago, when many Vietnamese first settled in Tarrant County, they lived in that East Fort Worth/Haltom City area, said Tom Ha, a longtime civic leader who goes to church with Pham’s family.
Ha was among the first to flee his home country after the fall of Saigon. In 1975, he arrived in Florida and then Texas, where he helped establish the Vietnamese American Community in Tarrant County organization.
Ha said many were attracted to the Fort Worth area because of strong ties to Catholic churches and the businesses taking root along Belknap.
Eventually, the diocese opened Christ the King Church in the Riverside area in 1997 and then Our Lady of Fatima in 2001 on Fort Worth’s east side.
Population shift
The Vietnamese community in Tarrant County has grown by more than 50 percent since 2000 to about 30,000 residents of that heritage, according to census data.
In 2010, that population shift was a key to the election of the first Vietnamese American — Andy Nguyen — to Tarrant County Commissioners Court.
But as the Vietnamese community becomes more established, it also has become less concentrated in East Fort Worth and Haltom City.
Many moved to Arlington, home to the largest Vietnamese Catholic church in the nation — Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church, with about 3,500 parishioners.
Now, Ha said the younger generations are moving to smaller suburbs such as Keller and Mansfield for better housing and schools, or to major cities for job opportunities, as Pham did when she moved to Dallas.
“They are now beginning to move out of their community because they are moving up this economic ladder,” Ha said. “So the housing or the jobs that their parents knew to take advantage of are no longer what the younger generation need.”
Some families are even leaving Vietnamese churches for those with English services as younger generations have a harder time understanding the language.
Close connections
But despite these changes, many remain closely connected, particularly at Our Lady of Fatima. The small church has about 430 families.
Pham’s family has been active in the parish for years. Her mother is a member of the Legion of Mary, an apostolic organization of the Catholic Church.
Members have been praying for Pham and her family with special prayers added at Mass services.
Thuy Hoang, who operates the Vietnam Plaza Supermarket in Haltom City, learned of Pham’s illness at the church’s Sunday Mass. Now the television by her store’s front door — which usually is set to music channels or Asian soap operas — broadcasts CNN for updates on Pham.
“She attended the same school my son did. I know her family,” Hoang said. “When this happens to someone in your community, it is more personal. … But we believe in God, and we’re going to continue to pray for her.”
