I’m a passionate writer – give me something I love and I’ll write you a novel.  Ask me to write about anything else and it’ll be like pulling teeth for me to even compose a sentence.  I can say without question that this article is the easiest one I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing.

I live and die by quotes, no matter how trivial they may seem.  You’ll understand what I mean by trivial when I tell you the phrase that inspired this whole article comes from the movie “Hitch.”

“You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”

Someone recently asked me, “Why OneVietnam, why now?”  Let’s just say that I’m the kind of flustered person that — when asked these types of questions — fall into a state of awkwardness: I stutter, fidget, get slightly red in the face and on occasions, you might just see a drop of sweat stream down my face.  Not this time.  This time, the answer flowed out of me in a way that surprised even me.

Why now?  It’s not something we think about often, but I truly believe that we stand at a pretty monumental time.  In this moment, we have a combination of groups that won’t be together for long.  There are our parents and grandparents who grew up in Vietnam, surrounded by the culture that people my age struggle to understand.  There are people like me, who came here at a young age, grasping on to that part of us as we try to not forget.  And then there were people who weren’t born in Vietnam, who never got to experience first hand the country that defines them.

I look at my grandparents, and as much as it hurts to think about, I know they won’t be around for much longer.  They’re the people where the Vietnamese culture is prominent — the people I look at when I struggle to understand why certain things are the way they are.  The  first hand experience of their generation is something that can’t ever be replaced, when it’s gone – it’s gone.  There have been more times than I can remember where I find myself wishing that there wasn’t a language barrier between us so that I could talk to them, so that they could explain to me the importance of things like a dam hoi or tell me about their lives in Vietnam while they still can.

I never thought it was important to know where I came from; the past is the past, right?  Maybe not so much.  While working on a project for OneVietnam a few months ago, I was faced with a shocking revelation.  While looking through pictures of Vietnam, I was shocked when I realized that I couldn’t even recognize my own country.  I know it seems inconsequential, but to not know where you’re from and not understand the culture that has a huge part in making you who you are – you feel a disconnect, a little bit like you don’t understand yourself.

So why OneVietnam?  The knowledge is there, experiences abound, but barriers come in all form. I truly believe that each person on this network can act as a bridge for someone else and help connect them to whatever it is they’re looking for – whatever it is they’re trying to understand. We’re Vietnamese.  We see that every day when we look in the mirror — and while your nationality doesn’t define you, your culture connects you.

OneVietnam.org is launching to the public on Monday, July 19

On Monday, July 19, you will be able to log onto OneVietnam.org and be connected with your community wherever you are in the world.  Meet friends, learn about the people and groups building your community, and champion a cause.  It’s free and simple to use.  It is free and simple to set up with your existing social media accounts.

Applications are due Friday, July 16.

The long awaited day has finally arrived: OneVietnam Network’s Beta Launch!  We invite you to log onto OneVietnam.org and connect with your local and global communities.  Make your voice heard, meet people who share your interests and goals, and become the champion of your cause!

By signing up early, you can get an exclusive preview of the site, gain leverage in learning the ropes, strengthen your own network, and provide feedback on what you liked or thought needed to be improved on the site.

Help build an online Vietnamese community, bonded across generation gaps and geographic barriers, united by philanthropic efforts.

We are excited to see you on OneVietnam.org–sign-up now for our exclusive beta preview!

Click here for our Press Release or Press Kit.

OneVietnam.org, an online network for Vietnamese across the globe, will launch its beta site on June 17 and open up a new door for community involvement.

Palo Alto, CA, 10 June 2010 – Vietnamese communities worldwide will soon have a unique platform for communication and connection with OneVietnam.org. Founded by 1st and 2nd generation Vietnamese-Americans, OneVietnam is an online network that acts as a nexus between individuals, communities, and philanthropic groups serving Vietnamese communities worldwide.  Its interface uses the latest in Web 2.0 technology for easy accessibility and instant connections to causes most relevant to its members. Starting June 17, those interested in reconnecting to and strengthening the community can log onto OneVietnam.org for an invitation to preview OneVietnam’s beta site.

OneVietnam came into being when a group of recent UC Berkeley and Harvard graduates perceived a growing disconnect between Vietnamese communities worldwide. Since the post 1960s Vietnamese diasporas, Vietnamese have spread out across over thirty countries around the globe. With generation gaps widening and geographic barriers present, cultural identification languishes and philanthropic organizations lose what should be a strong support system.

Using social media and Web 2.0, this group of college graduates developed OneVietnam with community, philanthropy, and online innovation in mind. Rather than creating another social network, the founders focused their network on cultivating ties between Vietnamese communities and providing an outlet for later Vietnamese future makers to get their voices heard.

OneVietnam has already managed to get the conversation flowing between individuals worldwide through its Facebook Page with 6,000 supporters and Vietnam Talking Points blog with over 200 original articles.

“OneVietnam Network is in a position to transform Vietnam’s philanthropic landscape by bridging organizations and the Vietnamese expatriate community in united efforts of unprecedented scale.” – Paul Pham

About OneVietnam Network

OneVietnam Network is an online network that connects you to millions of Vietnamese around the world. Within seconds, you can discover and take part in your community through OneVietnam’s one -click, search, find, and contribute system. Sign up to preview its beta site starting June 17 at OneVietnam.org.

For more information about the exciting features we’re building and the faces behind OneVietnam, click here to download our press kit. Vietnamese readers can also view Nguoi-Viet newspaper’s feature story on OneVietnam here.

Exclusive interview by Kristine Sa from SBTN’s Heart to Heart television show with OneVietnam’s co-founders:

Photo by Fernando Toucedo on Flickr

It’s 2:30 AM here in California.  While our team in Vietnam is about to wrap up their day, I’m surprisingly still wide awake.  I’m going to pay for it in 4 hours: 7:30AM Skype meeting with our developer in Europe.  But I can’t sleep.  An old engineering mantra runs through my head: “Quality, time, and money, pick two.” It’s the choice every project manager has to make.  This internal debate keeps me awake.

First, the choice I don’t have: money. Our problems would quickly be solved if we had the budget to walk into Google and pluck out an engineer or two.  Unfortunately for us, that’s not the case.  OneVietnam Network started about a year ago.  Since inception, every dime for the project has come out of our own savings.  A few of us forgo job offers to commit to the project full-time.  Just like any start-up, we’re strap for cash (Ramen, anyone?).  So, at least for now, we have no choice but to choose to save “money.”  Two more choices to make.

Second, the easy choice: quality. We cannot sacrifice quality.  The stereotype about Vietnamese people, in our own community, is that we take too many shortcuts.  We cannot finish a project.  We are fast and cheap, but sloppy.  Think about the last conversation with your parents: if you needed something fast and cheap, where do they recommend you go?  In the Vietnamese American community I grew up in, there is a marked difference between a “doctor” and a “Vietnamese doctor.”  Sadly, “Vietnamese” has become synonymous with low quality within our community.  We need to change that.

OneVietnam Network is more than a project to build a global network for the Vietnamese community.  It is a project that screams out our desire for change.  We are a generation that wants to be defined by our potential, not our past.  OneVietnam Network stands for the desire of our community to move forward, to be an example of quality and cohesion.  We want to redefine what it means to be “Vietnamese.”  We know it starts with us.  We will not sacrifice on quality.

Third, the only choice: sacrifice time. So we want a high quality project, and we don’t have a lot of money, that leaves only one choice: sacrifice time.  Usually, this means extend the deadline months and years into the future.  But we cannot push this project back.  It has been too long coming.  In the last 35 years, our community has dispersed around in globe in over 30 countries.  The sooner we come together, the sooner we can start making an impact.  With one of the most affluent, successful, and generous community in the world, imagine how great of an impact that will be!

So, we have to sacrifice another kind of time: our time. It’s worth it.  Our team knows it.  That’s why we are up until 3am and wake up at 7am.  That’s why we don’t make excuses about being too tired or too busy.  We know it’s worth it and we have no other choice.

It’s about 3:30AM now. I’m heading back to the codes, the Gantt chart, the PowerPoint.  Sleep is overrated anyways (though I think I might fall into hibernation when we launch this June).  It’s worth it.

© Geoff Oliver Bugbee/ORBIS International, http://www.flickr.com/photos/28816130@N06/

When I went to the Association for Vision in Research and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting–held in Fort Lauderdale, FL—I was amazed by the incredible research and advances occurring in the field of ophthalmology in the United States and other highly developed countries.  However, reading about the current situation of eye care in Vietnam, I am saddened by the reality that Vietnamese citizens face.

A few months back, I wrote an article entitled Seeing the Facts about Blindness in Vietnam.  Today’s article, I want to focus on a particular aspect of blindness: blindness due to corneal diseases and the necessity of corneal transplants.

Recently, Viet Nam News told of the story of Le Van Doang, a student suffering from a corneal disease.  Doanh noticed his decreasing eyesight at age twelve and was diagnosed with a genetic corneal defect.  While he passed his university entrance exam, he was unable to matriculate due to his vision problems.  However, upon receiving a corneal donation, he underwent surgery and now will be able to start school.  Yet, this is only one success story out of the thousands that are currently suffering in Vietnam.

A human eye that received a cornea transplant. This is after one year of healing, there are still two stiches left to be removed. Reference: Megor1 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cornea_Transplant.jpg

Cornea Donations

ORBIS, an international non-profit organization, was the main provider of donor corneas to the Eye Bank under the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology.  The Eye Bank opened in 2005 and has received help from ORBIS until 2009 when ORBIS suspended donations due to the economic regression.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Hoang reported that the Eye Bank now has to rely on in-country donations for corneas.  However, the waiting list to receive donor corneas is longer than the few donations they receive annually.

Lack of Corneal Donations due to Traditional Mindset

In Vietnam, 300,000 people go blind annually because they cannot receive transplants for their corneal disease, and 15,000 additional diagnoses are made every year.  The answer to this problem is simple: If there were more donations, then many people would not have to suffer from vision defects unnecessarily.

Yet, the difficulty is receiving corneas is the traditional practices that are deeply ingrained in the culture of Vietnam.  Family members want to see their love ones as a complete person even when they pass away.  The corneas, the eyes, are a very sacred part of a person, and many cannot bear to part with this or other parts of their bodies.

Addressing the Deficiencies in Corneal Donations

To address the current problem, the Eye Bank has teamed up with the Red Cross to organize a campaign to call upon people’s generosity to donate.  The Eye Bank realizes that it will take a lot to change cultural beliefs, but they have not given up.  The Eye Bank and Red Cross aim to collaborate with hospitals, schools, and healthcare sectors to bring awareness to this issues among the citizens so as to increase people’s openness to cornea and tissue donation.

Personal Comments

While some can argue that transplantation has occurred for thousands of years, the advances and technology capabilities have just recently emerged.  Therefore, the practice of organ transplantation worldwide is a very recent phenomenon.  In Vietnam, the first laws on human organ transplantation and regulations against commercialization of human organs have just been implemented in the year 2006.

Hence, it is understandable why there would be a shortage in organ donations.  Vietnam citizens are not open to the idea of giving a part of their bodies because of traditional beliefs.

While I believe donating your organs and your corneas is an act of altruism, I think that encouraging people to donate because of this reason is not the most effective.  There needs to be a reinvention of mindset in the country for this problem to be solved.

Furthermore, I am excited about the artificial cornea project being conducted at the Opthalmology Department of Stanford School of Medicine.  If this project to synthetically make a cornea substitute is successful, the need for donor corneas would be curbed, and we would be able to treat many more people!

Both changing people’s cultural perceptions and the invention of a man-made cornea will take years; however, I am hopeful and positive that the advancements in visual health of Vietnam will come.

Reference: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

While a commercially invented holiday, Mother’s Day has much significance.  I hope you all are doing something wonderful for your mother today.  Because we’re on this topic, I think it’s important to discuss the role of the female and mother in Vietnamese culture.  OneVietnam has covered many women and gender issues in numerous previous articles, and we hope to continue to hear your views on these aspects.  In this article, I will particularly focus on the matriarchal nature of Vietnamese culture.

Matriarchy and Vietnam History:

Matriarchy (or gynecocracy) refers to a gynecocentric form of society, in which the leading role is taken by the women and especially by the mothers of a community. (Reference: wiki)

In Vietnam, the role of the female in the family is very highly honored.  The strong matriarchal heritage of Vietnam dates back to early history.  It is thought that women in early Vietnam history often take leadership positions with little opposition.

The Trung Sisters and Trieu Thi Trinh are among famous women warriors that led the resistance against Chinese occupation of the country.  Trung Trac and Trung Nhi were the two Trung Sisters (also known as “Hai Ba Trung“).  Although their resistance against the Chinese Han Dynasty was short-lived, they are regarded and honored as Vietnamese heroines.  Trieu Thi Trinh is another heroine in Vietnamese history.  Regarded as the Vietnamese Joan of Arc, Lady Trieu (Ba Trieu) successful resisted the Kingdom of Wu for a brief period of time.  Due to the roles that these female leaders played in the preservation of the country, the impact that these women left made Vietnam more receptive and appreciative of the roles of women in society.

Before influences of the Chinese occupation and Confucius principles, Vietnam was a matriarchal society.  Remnants of the values of women and their leadership still remain to this very day in the home and in society.

I believe that females strongly influence occurrences in society in Vietnamese culture, as I see that my mom has much say in family issues.  At least at the level of the family unit, I observe the positive manifestation of the female roles.  What do you think?

Mother’s Day and Mua Vu Lan

As for Mother’s Day, is there such a thing in Vietnam?  As of recently, there has been an infiltration of American traditions into Vietnamese practices.  In an article by Dong Ngo at cnet, he reports the latest export of “Mother’s Day” to Vietnam.

Yet, even before the American influences, Vietnam already had a tradition called the Mua Vu Lan, celebrated on the seventh full moon of the lunar calendar.  This day is a time for the country to express their gratitude and filial piety to their parents, more particularly to mothers.

Reference: Gagan

Originally a Buddhist holiday and connected to the traditions of ancestor worship, Mua Vu Lan is now celebrated nationally.  On this day, it is believed that the gates of Heaven, Hell, and the Living are opened; and souls can travel between all realms.  People often hold ceremonies to offer food, clothing, money to their family members existing in other dimensions.  Others celebrate this day by praying and honoring their parents in pagodas, donned with roses in red (if their parents are alive) or white (if their parents have passed).

Happy Mother’s Day!

At OneVietnam Network, we know that women have an extremely significant role in Vietnamese culture, history, and heritage.  For that reason, we see Mother’s Day as an immensely important day, and all our team members love our mothers very dearly.  I surely love my mothers more than words can say

We hope that all of you have a wonderful Mother’s Day with your mothers and other positive female role models in your life!

I’ll finish this article with a youtube video of one of the most famous songs in Vietnamese culture: Long Me (A Mother’s Love)

This article will generalize my point of view about Vietnamese men, and you can have your own opinions as you like.  Just leave a comment. There are no haters here!

It is very questionable that the Vietnamese literature only highly regards Vietnamese women, but not men.  Whenever a piece of work mentions some noble Vietnamese man (e.g: a king, a hero, or a legendary character), the author only sugarcoats the characteristics and personalities of that particular individual.  I have yet to see or read any writing that praises Vietnamese males in general.  Are we really that bad?  Well, let’s dissect this topic together.

A Bunch of Lazy Bums…

Yes, on top of my list is laziness.  Whenever I ask a Vietnamese female about what they think of Vietnamese men or their own men, the most likely answer I would get is “Lazy bums! They never do anything!”  Wow!  Indeed!

However, I believe this is only true for most men in Vietnam who live in the cities.  The majority of them basically do nothing.  Their wives take care of almost everything in the house, from cooking, to cleaning, to taking care of children — even after long hours at work.  These men usually spend their lives drinking beer with their buddies and talking loudly about random topics all day long. Of course, there are exceptions; there are men who actually work hard and are goal-oriented.

There are two things to blame for the problem of men being lazy bums:  (1) Traditional Vietnamese culture has imprinted in their brains the idea that “Husband is the King, Wife is the Slave”.  This idea was formed when men used to be the main providers of the family, giving him all the powers in the house.  However, as society modernized, it is much more difficult for men to be the only providers in the family.  This has forced women into the workforce, but men are having problems adjusting their living style to share chores in the home. Basically, women have moved forward along with modern society while their men are lagging behind.  (2)  The second reason could be explained by the following characteristic.

Big, Big, Big Ego!

Having an ego and feelings of self-importance are actually a must for everybody. It keeps us striving for a better life and a higher status.  However, it could also be viewed as an Achilles’ heel.   A man with too big of an ego can never get over himself.  Vietnamese men usually regard themselves very highly and always think that they are superior to others.  They cannot easily accept the fact that their women are better than them.  They would rather spend their days outside of the house drinking beer than washing a basket of underwear for their wife and kids.  They want their friends to think that even though they are not the main providers of the household, they can still have the power; that power is being proven by the fact that they is out drinking with their buddies, and somebody else is doing the dirty work.  Their friends are probably on the same boat.  For that reason, they will all compete to see who can sit at the beer shop the longest to prove who is the most powerful man.

Gallant (Overdoing)

How many times do you go out with a Vietnamese man and he offers to pay for you?  How many times do you go out with that same Vietnamese man and he offers to pay for you again?  I don’t know how lucky you are, but I rarely had to pay for anything when I visited Vietnam.  Yes, I’m a guy, not a beautiful girl as you would imagine.  Most Vietnamese men won’t let you pay if you were to go out with them regardless of your gender, even if you have to throw a fist at them to pay for your own share.  A lot of people think that this is a very nice trait of a gentleman, but to me they are overdoing it.  Sometimes, they offer to cover your back when they don’t even have enough money for themselves!  Maybe we could link this trait to the big ego that I mentioned above and get a clearer picture of why Vietnamese men act like that.  Some people may say that Vietnamese men are more generous than other men.  That really depends on you.

Extraordinarily Smart

I think I have covered enough bad things about Vietnamese men in general.  Let’s go to some good stuff.  I have to admit that it is quite difficult to find a dumb Vietnamese man.  They are either very street-smart, academically intelligent, or sometimes both (the scary ones).  We have recently read about the infamous mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, who successfully proved the impossible Langlands’ Fundamental Lemma.  The world history has written about King Tran Hung Dao, who repeatedly defeated the unbeatable Mongol army under Kublai Khan by using clever military strategies.  The title of “the father of personal computer” belongs to Andre Truong Trong Thi, a Vietnamese engineer who invented the Micral microcomputer based on an Intel 8008 processor in 1973.  As you can see, our people are gifted with intelligent and powerful minds.  If Vietnamese men could get rid of their laziness, I believe that there will be even more famous people to name.

Dutiful

Whether it is a duty to protect his country from invasion or to take care of his aging parents, Vietnamese men will never shy away from their duties.  For more than 2,000 years, Vietnam has always gained back its land from the invaders regardless how powerful its enemies are.  Very different from European men, Vietnamese men will most likely live with their parents to take care of them as they age.  These familial values are explained by the Confucian ideas that have heavily influenced living standards in Vietnam.

Romantic

This trait can be well seen in almost many Vietnamese work of literature, from  poetry to music to novels.  Please keep in mind that most songwriters and composers in Vietnamese are males.  It is very difficult to find any Vietnamese song or poems that have upbeat and happy music, like R&B music.  The purpose of most songs or novels is to make the listeners cry as much as they can.  I’ll let you decide whether this is a good trait of the Vietnamese men.

Your thoughts…

The article is getting rather long, but I still have so many things to write about.  However, I would very love to hear what you have to say about Vietnamese men.  Let’s start a discussion!

Here is a recap on the questions we’ve asked and some great comments our friends left:

What is your favorite city in Vietnam? Why? (39 comments)

Name ONE Vietnamese noodle dish (66 comments)

What is your favorite Vietnamese word? (63 comments)

Describe Vietnam in ONE word (44 comments)

Vietnamese people are in at least 30 countries! Q: Where in the world are you? (34 comments)