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Turn of Events

Through chance encounters while living up in Hanoi about 6 months ago, Tiffany had met someone who was interested in her story of her search for her birth mother. This acquaintance just so happened to know the host of the TV show 'nhu chua he co cuoc chia ly,' a show based in Saigon about people trying to find long lost relatives. After months passed and a few failed attempts, Tiffany finally was able to contact the host and arrange to be on the TV show.

Just this past weekend I had made plans to meet Tiffany and another Viet-American adoptee Brent, who like Tiffany, is also from Minneapolis, MN. Tiffany was passing through town as she was planning to travel the region before departing back to the US in the fall. We met at Brent’s regular hangout, the Trung Nguyen Café across from the Tan Dinh Market where Tiffany and Brent had been catching up at the café before I had arrived.

Tiffany and I were going to get a quick bite before her TV show interview when it started to pour and I mean torrential rains. So Brent, Tiffany and I were stranded in the café waiting out the flooding with a front row window seat of the motorbikes below navigating through what was the street and now transformed into a canal.

It was getting close to 7pm and the rain was starting to let up. Another adoptee friend, Tuy, was on his way to pick Tiffany up to head over to the VTV1 studio. Tiffany asked me if she should ask the lady at VTV1 if it’s okay if I join. I had no plans and my girlfriend was busy that evening so I wasn’t too keen on heading back to my house for a Saturday evening alone.

Tiffany and Tuy had been to the TV station earlier that day. The hostess was interested in her story about her search for her birthmother, her story as an adoptee of the babylift, but beyond that Tiffany knew few details about the show. At the café Tiffany showed me photos from her digital camera of the small studio which was a small stage covered with cracked plexiglass and surrounded by what Tiffany described as stadium seating reminiscent of high school days.

Upon arriving at the station, Tuy, Tai (Tuy’s driver), Tiffany and I scoffed down some banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) and stood in the dark and dank entrance with no acknowledgement of Tiffany’s arrival. After about 20 minutes Tiffany went to search for her contact and we made our way into the little studio. The audience was greeted by two hosts (male and female) briefing us of what to expect, then after some waiting, lights, camera, and action! Tiffany sat in the middle of the small dim lit stage with the hostess as a video introduction rolled. It was the all too common black and white footage of the war 30+ years ago to set the context of the time and also included images of the babylift. The hostess spoke in a calm and steady voice introducing and welcoming Tiffany. She proceeded to cover Tiffany’s journey back to Vietnam, show footage of Tiffany’s life over the past year in Hanoi teaching, doing volunteer work and teaching yoga. However, it was Tiffany’s search for her mother that was the focal point, Tiffany’s reason for being here.

After introductions, another video footage showed Tiffany with the hostess on a bench in Lenin Park, Hanoi. Tiffany described what she thought her mother might be like and what Tiffany wished to say to her. It was after this clip when the video footage stopped and the hostess presented Tiffany with a black and white photo in a black frame of a young woman, her mother, that it all settled in. Through a translator sitting next to her, Tiffany learned that her mother had long since passed away.
















[Picture of Tiffany's mother at 30, next to photo of Tiffany at 18]

We then saw a clip of a TV station staff member’s follow up search based on paperwork that Tiffany had from Holt International. Till now, this was Tiffany’s only trace of her history consisting of a brief description of her mother, Tiffany’s condition at birth and the hospital where she was born. The reporter followed the same path Tiffany had on an earlier visit to Saigon to visit the hospital to find out as much as possible. The story was starting to unfold as footage of the reporter showed him on a search through the maze of alleyways in the Saigon streets and talking to people who knew this story. When the footage stopped, the hostess then told Tiffany that her half brother and sisters, niece and grandmother were sitting right there in the front row of the audience. I could only imagine the shock that Tiffany was going through, as if time had stopped and nothing was real. Tuy and I sat there in the audience, also in shock only able to say that the photo that Tiffany looked like the photo she was holding of her mother. The search was over.

After the show was over, the hostess and Tiffany’s new found family surrounded Tiffany and the rest of us in a celebrity buzz. Through Tuy’s translation they made arrangements to meet the following day. Tuy, Tai, Tiffany and I later went to a café to absorb what had just happened. Later Zion and a friend of Tiffany’s, Christine, also joined us. So many thoughts, so many questions going through Tiffany’s mind. I told her that she was in good company, especially since Tuy had also been through a similar experience finding his birthmother. Tuy asked Tiffany if there’s a bubbling sensation on the back of her neck, as if she feels drunk to which Tiffany said yes. Tuy said that it doesn’t go away fast, that he had it for years…

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"Như chưa hề có cuộc chia ly..." (As if never separated)
To watch the interview you can go to nhu chua he co cuoc chia ly 08.  For more information about the program -> http://www.haylentieng.vn

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