Scene 3: Tran In Guyana
On November 17, 1968 Tran and the Leo Ryan delegations arrived at the Jonestown encampment area. Jones held a reception that evening in the central pavilion of Jonestown where he spoke to the Peoples Temple members and Jim Jones to discover more about their operations. During Tran's interaction with one of the Peoples Temple members, he received a note from a lady named Mirjana which read:
"Please help me leave this place. I no longer want to be here."
The following afternoon, a Temple member by the name of Don Sly attacked Leo Ryan with a knife. Tran expressed strong desire to leave the site, expressing that everyone’s life was in danger. Ryan agreed that they should leave the site as soon as possible. He and his delegates took with them 15 members who expressed the desire to leave including Mirjana. Once they reached the aircraft, Tran witnessed a group of people arriving in a tractor and trailer and started recording. The armed men who were Ryan’s guards shot at the delegates killing Leo Ryan, NBC reporter Don Harris, Camera man Bob Brown, photographer Greg Robinson, and temple member Patricia Parks (Dr. Daly Lecture, December 2 2015). Mirjana survived the attack and was safely transported back to the United States.
In San Francisco, Keiko heard news of the tragedy that an NBC reporter was killed in Jonestown. The victim had not been identified at the time. It was later revealed that Tran Nguyen had fled safely from Guyana. The tragedy did not stop there however, as the greatest single loss of American civilian life before 9/11 occurred the same day. Nine hundred-nine members of the Peoples Temple died of cyanide poisoning; 75% of them were African Americans, many were from Oakland (Dr. Daly Lecture, December 2, 2015). A letter was later found from an anonymous member of the Peoples Temple describing the disastrous event.
"To whomever finds this note. Collect all the tapes, all the writing, all the history. The story of this movement, this action, must be examined over and over. we did not want this kind of ending. We wanted to live, to shine, to bring light to a world that is dying for a little bit of love. There’s quiet as we leave this world. The sky is gray. People file by us slowly and take the somewhat bitter drink. Many must drink. A teeny kitten sits next to me watching. A dog barks. The birds father on the telephone wires. Let all the story of this Peoples Temple be told. If nobody understands, it matters not. I am ready to die now. darkness settles over Jonestown on its last day on Earth (Tourish, "The Dark Side," 2013)."
