I'm extremely humbled to be among the winners of this year's
@ilo
journo award for labor migration reporting. I've been sharing more about what I hope to come out of this, and my work more broadly, on Linkedin. Join me there if you are keen.
Big shout out/congratulations to
@findingsen
on her superb work being recognised in the
@ilo
2023 Global Media Competition on Labour Migration: Here is Sen’s winning long-form piece for
@AJEnglish
:
An important milestone in Vietnam's
#COVID19
fighting history - the first three volunteers received the homegrown Nanocovax vaccine today. I still pinch myself about the fact that the world already came up with a vaccine for a lethal virus we only knew about a year ago.
So I have been immensely, tremendously fortunate to get a distinction for my dissertation as a result of my master's in migrations and diaspora studies at
@SOAS
. If you indulge me, this is a thread about some of my reflections, which I shall title: Distinction, so what?🧵
One of the world's few
#COVID19
-free bubble is burst.
#Vietnam
has reported the first local cases in 35 days. Tho only <10 cases so far, the two biggest cities have shut down bars, karaoke parlors, clubs & others. Vietnam's pandemic mantra: the earlier the measures, the better.
In
#Vietnam
, it's not easy to reach some places with
#COVID19
. The latest patient lives in Pin Tung village in the mountainous Ha Giang Province and medical officers had to walk 3km with testing and disinfecting tools to test villagers. They rested and ate ramen where they could.
Biden, who will be 81 this year, is 2y older than Party Secretary Trọng. Uniform both in the hair and solemn spirit. The most powerful leaders of two former enemies and now partners are about to enter a historic chapter of their relationship. Let's see what comes next!
I wrote about how the consequences of environmental hazards, poor government planning and upstream dams had led the Mekong Delta to suffer from the highest emigration rate and lowest immigration rate in
#Vietnam
in the last 10 years.
Sax icon Tran Manh Tuan performed Quê Hương (homeland) for
#COVID19
patients in front of a Saigon field hospital. The face-shielded artist poked a hole on his mask while standing in distance so technically no rule was broken.
#Vietnam
recorded >7k cases today, mostly in Saigon.
I lived with bucket showers for almost all my childhood and I can fact check this meme that we don't sit on the floor. There is usually a tiny plastic chair! But yes, that's pretty much what sad
#Vietnambucketshower
looks like lol
Asian obsession with white skin is in your face in downtown Saigon with this skin whitening pill ad. Apparently when a woman is dark, she looks dull and sad but when she has white skin, she becomes a lively champion (note the tiara) and even has bigger boobs.
#Vietnam
My grandparents got their first shot today, much later than many younger people even tho they are in their 70s and have plenty of underlying conditions. This is the best news I've got since this nightmare of an outbreak dawned on us 4 months ago. Go away, tears..
#Vietnamcolen
A South Korean court ordered the SK gov to compensate Nguyễn Thị Thanh 30 mln won ($23,800). She's one of many victims of the massacres in
#Vietnam
committed by the SK soldiers during the Vietnam War. This is the first legal acknowledgment of the ..
Today marks the 60th day of no community transmissions in
#Vietnam
. The country has returned to its normalcy since late April while many others are still getting there. 334 cases, 0 deaths - but it doesn't make the cut in the eyes of
@TIME
.
Google Doodle today features Sương Nguyệt Anh, the first female newspaper editor of the first women’s newspaper in
#Vietnam
. On this day in 1918, the 1st pub of Nữ Giới Chung (Women's Bell), where she was editor in chief, was pub-ed. Its office was on Nguyễn Du st in Saigon.
I don't usually drink, but this is one of the most fun, Vietnam on-brand cocktail menus Ive seen in Hanoi. A surprise to 1st grader me who learned these lifelong lessons by heart. Can't remember the bar's name, but it's on Ta Hien Street. Keep it up, fellow Hanoi creative souls!
My latest long-form for
@AJEnglish
abt one of
#Vietnam
's biggest emigration hubs, if not the biggest in certain situations. It hopefully explains the role Nghe An province has in the country's political economy. An overdue thread abt the story will follow
Explosive discussions on Twitter abt the alleged raping of 2 female students by 12 soldiers at a HCMC military school is happening at a rate I've not seen be4 & much of them seem to be led by Gen Z & activists. It's also happening on Facebook where posts are regularly taken down
The killing of 13 (15?) dogs who belonged to a migrant family fleeing home after lockdown in
#Vietnam
evokes powerful reactions & begs many questions. This thread tries to make sense of this incident reportedly done at a local commune level in the Mekong Delta (sources @ the end)
Although
#Vietnam
has been praised as one of the world’s best in containing Covid-19, it's failed in its fight against another pandemic that has been plaguing residents for years: excessively loud karaoke singers. What's it about karaoke? My latest story
Sand mining is eating away at the Mekong Delta’s foundations as it has done more to alter the sediment flows in the delta than hydropower dams, according to a recent report. My latest and a thread 👇
Ho Chi Minh City,
#Vietnam
richest city & biggest
#COVID19
hotspot just asked the gov for $1.2 bln to support >4.7 million poor residents or ~1.5m families. The city proposes to give 50k dong/fam/day, plus 1.5 mil dong ($65)/fam/month for rent and 15 kg of rice per person.
I wrote about the abiding love for Trump of Vietnamese in the US and Vietnam in the context of the election & perhaps of the future too. It can either be a political piece w a neutral stand or a journalistic attempt to understand Vietnam and its diaspora
I went out for a medical checkup (with papers per lockdown rule for ppl venturing out) & saw a typical Saigon touch that underscores my love for this city: a free box of food on a sidewalk - "whoever needs, take. Whoever contributes, thanks". And I FOUND REAL BANH MIS!
#vietnam
''Your kickstand!'' We Viets do this so often on the street, either telling others abt their kickstand still hanging down or being told abt ours. As illustrator X.Lan said, this is a ''Vietnamese specialty''. But maybe other countries w/ a similar motorbike culture do it too?
I wrote about
#Vietnam
government's recently announced policy to encourage the diaspora to embrace the Vietnamese language & culture to help “increase the country’s soft power” amid fears it is ‘at risk of fading’ in communities around the world. A thread
I'm thrilled to start working w/
@UNDPVietNam
as their national consultant to produce a Viet language podcast series for them, the org's first podcast. It's a big task, I'm very nervous but I'm grateful they hv enjoyed listening to
@VietnamBoba
enough to reach out! Wish me luck!
It's official! My cousin, same age as me, is getting 💒, making me the only one in my fam's batch of grownup kids who is not. Mom asked how I can get a hubby if I travel lots for work? But how can one resist the gentle breeze at a hammock cafe after long fieldwork @ Mekong Delta?
Great
#COVID19
news today: Vietnam lifted lockdown on the last hosp Da Nang Hospital, ending 30-day isolation of 2k med workers and abt 4k patients. Positive signs of recovery tho there are still local infections. Photo via VnExpress showing medical staff burst into joyful tears.
State channel VTV released a brilliant documentary w/ footage abt detailed labor processes & living conditions of🇻🇳trafficked victims INSIDE Cambodian global scam operations. I hv been following this issue for a while but still super keen. I'm curious tho:
Wowy, the rapper who taught US ambassador to Vietnam Dan Kritenbrink to rap in the Tet video, just did a photoshoot with his grandma and set a new family shoot standard. She is reportedly very supportive of her grandson's rap career. Photos via VnExpress
#Vietnam
“I’m not a big city boy, then three years ago I moved to Hanoi.”
The US ambassador to Vietnam has made a remarkable contribution to the Lunar New Year, releasing a rap song ahead of the country’s Tet festivities.
I spoke to Viet workers in 🇷🇸about their predicament, highlighting a dark side of the global supply chain where 🇨🇳 companies seeking to operate in countries w/ weaker regulatory oversight have been involved in allegations of labor & environmental abuse. 🧵
Nguyễn Thị Oanh, a
#Vietnam
runner at
#SEAGames32
, has gone viral for winning 2 gold🏅. After claiming one at a 1500m run, 30 mins later, she jumped right to a 3000m. State media lauded her as a studious child of a farming fam. She's also a party member w/ a master's degree.
I directed and produced the Mekong Delta segment in this documentary for
@abcnews
that spans 3 countries to explore the critical conditions of the one thing we all rely on for our basic survival: Water. (1)
Thanks to rapid and effective containment measures,
#Vietnam
's had no community transmission for almost two months, only 35 deaths and & life looks pretty much pre-2020. For many people, however, air pollution is a far bigger concern than the pandemic.
''..while some Ams may prefer to forget its atrocities & Vietnam is focused on forgiveness & the future, the wounds of Agent Orange victims still demand attention''
@nguyen_p_quemai
's personal, striking essay.
@nyt
used Viet diacritics, prolly the 1st time?
Indonesia just became the only country in Southeast Asia to hv changed its income category fr lower-middle to upper-mid, reclaiming the status it first gained in 2020 & rejoining Malaysia+Thailand.
#Vietnam
remains lower mid like Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Philippines & Timor Leste.
📣 The
@WorldBank
Group’s new country income classifications are out!
See which countries changed income categories in 2022.
📈 Explore the
#data
, including new classification thresholds:
📝 Read our analysis:
I've discovered a premium bún chả in Hanoi - chả ngan (grilled goose) served with the iconic garlicky fish sauce with typical papaya slices and ofc vermicelli! The taste is much richer and the meat more tender and aromatic thanks to dashes of sesame!
I spoke with
@excinit
about my reporting and a bit about my personal background. It was not easy for me to share these thoughts, but I hope you consider them.
#Cambodia
strike back. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts ''would like to take this opportunity to call Matt Lougnrey and
@VICE
to remove these images from their media. We urge researchers, artists & the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims"
The article in question () does not specify that the smiles are fake. The original photos in black and white of some of the Khmer Rouge victims are displayed in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh.
[On Vietnamese]
I read an op-ed about Vietnamese people’s proficiency in their mother tongue which has inspired me to write a few words about this. A thread for any language lovers🧵
Most people I have met, Viet and foreigners alike, have been impressed by my English proficiency.
I wrote about
#Vietnamese
trafficked to work in casinos & other facilities in Cambodia which fares poorly in anti-trafficking efforts. There's already historical resentments & discrimination against Viets, making it even harder to address this issue there.
The truck driver who caught and saved a baby falling from the 13th floor in Hanoi was the coverboy of
#Vietnam
national newspaper ystrd. His name, Mạnh, means strong in Vietnamese - a clever wordplay headline that unfortunately wasn't explained in the article for foreign readers
Ho Chi Minh's iconic grin across from a banner advertising strength pills for men in a busy commercial district. This picture is an epitome of Vietnam today in many ways.
A thoughtful essay abt a 10-yo who died falling into a concrete pillar while looking for scrap at a construction site: ''Hao Nam's death awakens society to the fact that children deserve to be guaranteed the right to a legit edu & safe play instead of struggling for a living.''
The US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City on Facebook today: “Welcome back to the South China Sea, USS Theodore Roosevelt! It’s warm, you can take the mittens off!" Click to see the whole pic.
Happy that I've been accepted to the Mekong Data Journalism Fellowship co-run by
@earthjournalism
@StimsonCenter
@EastWestCenter
. The experience will be very instructive to my continued reporting about the Mekong and hopefully helpful to y'all readers too! Let's go!
#Vietnamrep
Quy Nhon, a wonderful coastal town in south central
#Vietnam
. Pristine, photogenic, gentle but wild when need be. It was my 2nd visit & I'm eager to come back for more. Life isn't put on hold here & I've been travelling & learning so much abt my country more than I've ever be4 1/
I wrote about a rescue of a trafficked victim that I accidentally got involved. It gives you an inside look of what happens when a loved one begs to be rescued from a criminal den and a brother who suddenly became an organiser of a cross-border rescue.
Can every day be Vietnamese women's day? Proud to be one! I was raised by mostly women in my maternal side & I think they are pretty happy I still have the same signature grin that they love. They made my life possible. Won't share their photo here due to privacy. Cheers to them!
In another story about
#COVID19
victims that aren't obvious in official data, I followed informal waste pickers in
#Vietnam
many of them women who help to recycle waste that would otherwise become landfill. Huyen (pic) is one of them
There will be a lot of headlines like this to a point where they become a norm & therefore unreported. Last weekend was absolutely brutal in Ho Chi Minh City. Hot weather can really put you on edge. Indoor workers have got nothing on outdoor ones.
Typical
#Vietnam
brands in forms of shops! I only tasted my first sá xị when I moved to Saigon at 14. My favorite snack growing up is bánh mì dipping in condensed milk (I know, ridiculously delish). You can't call urself a Viet kid if you hadn't had Dutch Lady & duh Hảo Hảo!
The killing of 13 (15?) dogs who belonged to a migrant family fleeing home after lockdown in
#Vietnam
evokes powerful reactions & begs many questions. This thread tries to make sense of this incident reportedly done at a local commune level in the Mekong Delta (sources @ the end)
#Saigon
man needs no car bumper to show off his wisdom. Minutes after taking this pic, my bike died of gas hunger and a random mechanic gave me some for free. Don't you just love Saigon?
Reminded about this photo which I took years ago in Hanoi. And yes, I did chase them on my motorbike for a few minutes to snap this just to show you a glimpse of what is possible in
#Vietnam
.
One of the popular
#Tet
or Lunar New Year pastimes in
#Vietnam
is to put on our traditional attire and pose next to beautiful flowers for memories.
How it should look vs how I tried.
I wrote about Rohingya refugees & asylum seekers stuck between a rock & a hard place: bc of their statelessness/no paperwork, they rely on smugglers to leave abysmal conditions in Myanmar & Bangladesh but risking being trafficked & exploited. A thread👇
A French tourist got a lengthy, respectful feature on Vietnam's most-read newspaper for selling crepes on the street bc he doesn't want to go home. A reverse situation: Vnese working w a tourist visa in France getting the same attention is hard to fathom
The imminent mortality of all beings hit me like gentle sea breeze as I stood in the mid of a whale cemetery in a southern coastal town in
#Vietnam
. When fishermen find dead whales, they bring them to Lord Fish temple to carry out rituals similar to when a fam member dies.
I was raised to be a proud Hanoian and to carry the Vnese identity like a badge of honor. But I never knew about a universe where we are referred to as 'yuon', the equivalent of the N word. But life in Cambodia is more nuanced than the narratives of hate.
I directed, edited, produced & narrated this documentary about coconut nectar, now available on
@CNN
.
Bc of X's vid length req, here's the first 2 mins w the rest of the film below & a 🧵abt why coconut nectar could be a solution to saltwater intrusion.
Welcome to the dark side where stating facts is assumed to be a judgement. Is it bc ''party member'' has somehow become a slur that some feel so touchy about it? Unsure! But an undeniable fact is Oanh's impressive achievement & it shouldn't be mixed up in childish propaganda.
Mom was treating herself w a fresh batch of durian.
"Ma, do you know lots of Westerners say it smells like stinky feet?"
"Remember that time we ate cheese fondue with ur friends fr Switz? I thought that smelled like real stinky feet," she said as she devoured the yellow fruit.
My grandma was holding my mom's hands while holding my uncle in her arms while looking for a shelter. A neighbor dragged them to one different fr the one they were running to, which was later blown to pieces. A tremendous legacy of Nobel winner Kissinger.
Just as we near the time of the Christmas bombing, let me remind you that it was Henry Kissinger who advised President Richard Nixon to bomb Hanoi in 1972 to make the North Vietnamese "negotiate seriously". 2,400 Vietnamese lost their lives then.
I sorely miss this during lockdown: bike fixers! Unsung heroes for every biker with a burst tire or dead engine! These quinessential working class corners hv remained unchanged since I was little. Trà đá, folded chair & the controversial Phương Hằng's FB streaming Haha
#Vietnam
Doses of charm found by chance are guaranteed every time I return to my hometown, Hanoi. A resto neighborhood was recently turned into a food street near Truc Bach Lake, and the cozy lanterns beckon visitors. Of course one can also add a walk by the nearby West Lake to the mix 👇
Southeast Asian nations are failing to protect people from being trafficked into scam networks, according to a copy of a formal complaint to
@ASEAN
's main human rights institution shared exclusively shared w/ me. My latest, a thread 🧵
I wrote about Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia likely bearing the brunt of China's 2021 ban on all foreign waste imports & how they might/not be ready for more trash from Western countries. Will waste colonialism continue? With
@randymulyanto
and
@OThongnoi
Most Covid-19
#Vietnam
discussions hv understandably focused on epicenter Saigon. But nearby Binh Duong province, crucial to Vietnam's export-dependent economy & the global supply chain is struggling to maintain manufacturing operation. My latest. 1/
Everybody in Saigon today be like: "Chích chưa?" Vaccinated yet? It's a relief to live in
#Vietnam
with super high vax acceptance (even tho there's discrimination against certain types of vax). It'd been better if there's enough vax for residents in all cities and provinces.
#Vietnam
is the most pro-vaccine country in a pool of 32 countries, according to a recent study Tho only 600 urban Viets were polled in Hanoi and Saigon, it does reflect the reality that there seems to be no anti-vax movement overall in the country.
We wrote abt
#Vietnam
community initiatives that are helping prevent kids from drowning that's taking the lives of >2k kids under 16 each year. People like 64-yo Sau Thia in the Mekong Delta is a familiar champion of water safety at the heart of rural life.
Impressive artwork, one of the recent additions to
#Vietnam
National Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi! I think the nails attached to the frame represent the virus' protein spikes, do you? Only two 2020 art works in this contemporary arts section, incl. this one, the rest is much older.
Hey have you been doomscrolling? The world has been a bit much, let me show you what I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing in south
#Vietnam
since social distancing lifted. They aren't glam shots of sought-after tourist hotspots but I'm making my memories of things I love. First off:
#Vietnam
local media's (almost) radio silence on widespread protests in China while the news' been shared by Viet influential accounts & regular ppl on FB is an ex of why many Viets hv become fatigued of traditional local news while also explains state crackdown on social media.
Lễ Nguyên Tiêu, first full moon of the lunar NY at grandma's is always fulfilling even when it's been a tough year for my fam. We wait for the incense to finish burning then we can collect the food which grandma refers to as ''lộc''. ''Our ancestors eat it & bless it for us''
By now many of you've heard of
#Vietnam
health ministry's historical statement that LGBT isn't a disease. My latest feature explains its potential impact & the historical context and ongoing struggles for the LGBT's rights that the statement is situated in
This problem was already raised after the 1st semi-lockdown was imposed last April (pics). It's not only a digital gap but also a class divide btw urban & rural students & a divide within those communities. Inequalities mean we end up living separate ways & diff qualities of life
Covid exaggerates the digital divide in VN, as all schools move online. This Quang Ngai girl has to hike to hilltop, the only place where signal is available. Many unable to study b/c their parents can't afford a device.
(Pic: VnExpress)
A man who went outside to exercise and ignored policemen's requests to go home despite lockdown has become viral on
#Vietnam
FB. I lost it when he did a back bend in the vid in front of the police - it has been turned into a hysterical cartoon meme.
A daughter of Nguyễn Như Huy, a wellknown poet & artist, disclosed her father's long history of domestic violence that incl throwing a knife at his wife & a bowl at his daughter. The post's garnered massive reactions & opened a discussion about domestic violence in
#Vietnam
. 👇
In Ben Tre Province, the Mekong Delta's coconut land, you see a wonderful blend of lively colors, some semi-nudity of free-minded swimmers and taste absolutely heaven bánh canh (noodle soup) cooked with coconut milk and fresh shrimps. A craving for tourists is easily felt here.
Youth demand for accountability in women's safety and transparency in the education sector might make this an informative chapter in the history of
#Vietnam
's school-and military-related scandals, and if the assault is proven to be true, in the country's
#Metoo
records as well.
The casting for Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer-winning 'The Sympathizer' is happening - I like that they are seeking bilingual Vietnamese talents! The TV adaptation of the book is not surprising considering its success but I never expect Iron Man to be in it!
A fair & critical review of Bill Hayton's recent book A Brief History of Vietnam by Vu Minh Hoang, a historian at Fulbright University Vietnam: The book is encourged by its versatility & can be used in an introductory history class & useful for non-specialist visitors to Vietnam.
Interesting move in Thailand. One of the reasons why many Vietnamese can't afford to travel to lots of countries in Asia and the West is bc they must show proof they have thousands of dollars in their bank accs. For ex to travel to Korea I need to show I have $5K in my saving acc
This gay-themed comic by animation student Hoàng Tường Vy was also featured at
#Vietnam
National Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi when I was there last month! Glad to see increasingly more public spaces that diversity narratives and creative takes deserve here!
Sometimes I forget that the Mekong Delta doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so I nod to any opportunity that would take me to the depth of the greater Mekong.
I’ve recently returned from fieldwork in the Kok River, part of the Mekong River, which cuts through the Thai-Myanmar border. 👇
Ever since the Essex tragedy in the UK where 39 Vietnamese died at the back of a truck, 21 of whom from Nghe An province, I had wanted to invest properly in a long-form reportage about the province, one of the most important hotspots in
#Vietnam
's migration culture and policy.
My latest long-form for
@AJEnglish
abt one of
#Vietnam
's biggest emigration hubs, if not the biggest in certain situations. It hopefully explains the role Nghe An province has in the country's political economy. An overdue thread abt the story will follow
Today millions of students in
#Vietnam
go back to school online.
In a HCMC physical opening ceremony ystrd, few teachers, 10 students & city leaders spent a moment of silence to commemorate people who died of
#COVID19
. Quite a remarkable historical moment
Sài Gòn mấy bữa nay mưa quá! Nostalgia for a Saigon we all miss led me to the last photo walk I did before this hardcore lockdown. Kneeling in front of Maria for an angle while stopping to smell the lotus
#Vietnam
.