Remarkable Women: Tram Nguyen helps Vietnamese community after historic flooding
'I sat there two blocks away with a couple of them,' Sioux City resident Tram Nguyen said. 'We just looked at the water. We couldn't get in here. We didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help them. We just looked at the water and started crying.'
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The Riverside neighborhood in Sioux City is home to a large Vietnamese community that needed help with the aftermath of the June 2024 flooding. That meant everything from cleaning up to help with translation when navigating the recovery process. That's when Tram Nguyen stepped up.
'This is like a little unknown village of a large Vietnamese community,' Sioux City resident Jolene Vasquez said. 'And she was, without hesitation, translating for them. She was boots on the ground with all the flood cleanup efforts, and she is, just overall, just a wonderful woman.'
'It doesn't matter what it takes, I wanted to stay there with them and support them,' Tram said. 'Make them strong because I just do what needs to be [done]. But at the same time, I didn't know if we were helping or getting any better, but I just did what it takes.'
Tram wasn't able to get into the neighborhood until two days after the flood on June 25, 2024, but from that day until September, she was there almost every day, sometimes from sunrise to sundown.
'On the weekends, I would be here from six [in the morning] until nine [at night when] it gets dark,' she said. 'When I work, then I would stop by either before work or after work.'
She did things like ripping sheet rock, cleaning mud and translating for the Vietnamese citizens that couldn't speak English.
'People try to help,' Tram said. 'It takes a lot of process of paperwork and the language barrier was worlds apart, so… if they didn't get help with paperwork then they would never be able to get help for financial to fix the house.'
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Helping people comes naturally for Tram. She has worked for Siouxland Community Health as a community health worker for 17 years and helps translate for the people that need the help.
'It's very important,' she said. 'I feel always wanted and helping people with the language barrier. You feel like you are always there for them. That is the most important.'
Tram lives on the north side of Sioux City and has no relations to those that live in Riverside, but since the flood and the time she spend there helping people, the neighborhood has become very special to her.
'I have no relations in this area, but after the flood happened, they became the family,' Tram said.
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