Vietnamese Adoptees Living in Vietnam

We cannot definitely say what part of us is biological and what part is a product of our environment is, but for some adoptee friends coming back to Vietnam has resolved some of these issues and helped us figure out ourselves. Being able to look at your biological family might answer a lot of questions for who you are, but take this away and then you can only go back to the environment you originally came from. When asking Kai what part of him is Vietnamese, he confidently says that he can relate to how people here share, especially in the family. For Kai, there’s no doubt that he’s willing to share and take care of those around him which is obvious by his generous and friendly nature. What brought Kai back to Vietnam was a gradual process of learning Vietnamese culture, first back in Munich and continues in the present now living in Ho Chi Minh City. Unlike my experience in the US, Kai did not have the same early opportunities to attend adoptee reunions to learn about Vietnam and meet...

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 po...

Everything I ever needed to learn when first coming to Vietnam, I learned from my good buddy Tim Holtan . Before coming back to Vietnam for my first time in 1996, I had lots of questions and luckily Tim was there to answer them. We were also roommates in Hanoi back then so it was good to have him show me the ropes while I got settled in a strange place. While some of these rules to live by might seem insensitive I can only say you have to live here to understand. 1. Don’t ask, just accept it When Tim and I were studying Vietnamese, another student Ong Lou (Mr. Lou)would often interrupt the class excusing himself, “xi xi xin loi” usually asking what everyone deemed as a stupid question like why do Vietnamese shake with 2 hands to show respect? Tim’s response was don’t ask, just accept. While it’s interesting to learn culture and tradition, some things you just gotta accept! 2. Don’t watch them wash the dishes Many times eating Pho or rice at a street stall, I was often told not to ...

This article is about the re-found connections between Vietnamese adoptees and the orphanage workers who took care of us during such desperate times from the early to mid 1970's. Through various traces to our past, we have found the orphanages where we are from. For many of us, this is as close as we can get to our origins. Even more amazing was meeting the social workers who took care of us more than 30 years ago, familiar faces who we were too young to remember, but very well remember us. It's almost impossible to explain how grateful we are to these beautiful women who seem so familiar. Visiting their houses is the same closeness anyone would share with their own family. Like our very own aunts would, they still want to visit as much as possible, feed us and ask make sure we're okay. Despite the many years that slipped away when we were all sent to our unknown destinies , the meaningful bond we have with the social workers is timeless. [T...

the perfect shape, i've come full circle. far from home, i've come so far. we know the story far too well, as we size, share, and compare the scars. in quest of self, we have found each other.in the company of strangers, we have found a brother. we know the story all too well. we know the love of a child and mother. blood has proven wider than oceans. skin has proven only so deep. ignorance once fueled a fire self-awareness and understanding has laid to sleep. i will return to where i've never been. again. and my friend, i will see you there. together, we will walk the shape that has brought us so far. we will make the shape that has brought us home.

The following interviews are about Vietnamese adoptees from Australia, Europe and America who not only have come back to visit their heritage, but also to settle in Vietnam. Our perspective is unique as foreigners, as Viet-Kieu (Vietnamese Overseas), and as adoptees who, through various connections, know each other while now living in Saigon, Vietnam. Everyone in the world searches for peace and meaning in their lives. As adoptees growing up we have searched for comfort in our identity, finding where we fit in. While not entirely accepted in our home countries nor here in Vietnam, we share the feeling of pride and excitement in humbly submerging ourselves into our roots and this gives us peace. Why it is so meaningful to us to come back to our motherland which we were afraid to confront before is almost impossible to put in words, but these interviews shed some light. The interviews of Tuy Buckner, Brent Kurkoski, Khanh Oehlke, Zion Mitchell, Thao Pross, Kym Blackwell, Tiffany Good...