Do overseas Vietnamese enjoy happy life?

Overseas Vietnamese are mostly doing business. Among them, many well-educated people don’t have jobs that they want to do.

There is a thought that going abroad is very happy. Therefore, when talking about the happiness Vietnamese are always saying “as happy as being abroad”. But when being abroad we could really understand how happy overseas Vietnamese are!

Indeed, the Western countries are civilized, principled and have higher living-standards than Vietnam.  But to exist in foreign countries they have to overcome many difficulties. Especially, they don’t have the emotional support form family and friends.

The life of Vietnamese people in foreign countries, especially in European countries is still hard. When moving to Europe in 1980s, many Vietnamese people who were trained and educated very well in Vietnam, had to do business and other jobs which were not related to their specialty.

Vietnamese in Budapest, Hungary are mainly doing business. They have a big trade center here, the Asia trade center. In addition, Vietnamese also have a lot of small groceries and markets in Budapest.

Mrs. Bui Thi Bich Nhat, who owns an electronic components store in the Asia trade center said: “The life here is so hard, it is not like everyone in Vietnam thought. If I have choice, I’d prefer to stay in Vietnam.”

Mrs. Duong Thi Mai Huong have a small restaurant in the Asia trade center, which sells Vietnamese foods. She said that she is very proud of Pho, a special dish at her restaurant, customers who come from different countries really like it. Her restaurant opens from 7 am to 7 pm, serving 130 customers each day. Her busy work makes her have no time to be homesick. At the Tet time she even doesn’t dare to think about coming home because of losing her customer when closing the restaurant. All of Mrs. Huong’s family is in Vietnam, she moved to Budapest with her nephews.

Thang Long trade center is also a familiar address of Vietnamese people here. There is a pagoda in the center, named Tue Giac, this is the firs pagoda of Vietnamese people in Hungary. Mr. Vu Quy Duong, Director of Thang Long trade center, spent a part of the center square for everyone to build Tue Giac pagoda, a religious center for Vietnamese people. Mr. Duong said that in the hard time, to support everyone do business in the center, he didn’t raise the fees of ground and other services. “This is way to help Vietnamese sellers in the hard time”, he said.

In our trip to Hungary, we had an occasion to meet some Vietnamese women who have lived here for a long time. They were very happy to share with us stories about their struggle to exist in a new country. Despite the hardship of life, we could see in their eyes the trust among people and the hope for better future.

Talking about the difficulties of Vietnamese women in Hungary, the president of Vietnamese women Association in Hungary Mrs. Phan Bich Thien said that some women just go back and forth between the residence and the market, they don’t know other places. “So, in the Association’s activities, we try to help sisters to change their view of life, selling goods or earning money is not the only happiness” Mrs. Thien said.

The life of overseas Vietnamese are still difficult, but they all spend what they have to invest for their children’s education. The Vietnamese children have been well educated in universities and a lot of them are working for giant companies in the United Kingdom, France, the United States… making the names of the native countries and Vietnam brighter over the world./.