Here is Saigon
FEBRUARY 22, 2023Return to Viet Nam, part 4
At the Hotel Continental, Ho Chi Minh City
I arrived in Saigon on Monday. All is well and strong and healthy. It’s dawn on my first morning. This is the sidewalk cafe of the Hotel Continental. Yes, that Continental.
We are a few days in Saigon before we fly to Danang in Central Viet Nam. A first event here was a panel discussion on women running nonprofits or foundations in Vietnam. Le Ly was on the panel, “Women Entrepreneurs & Social Impact,” at the American Center at the U.S. Embassy, and our small group all joined her.
Press Officer Bintu Musa-Harry, Le Ly who runs the Global Village Foundation, and Trang Nguyen, founder of Dear Our Community in Saigon speak 2-21 to a large gathering of young women leaders in Vietnam.
Le Ly had words of advice for the young women. “Don’t fall in love and have babies. Put on a backpack, and see reality. Go out in the world, and help people. When you say ‘yes,’ you open a door.” Trang was born when Vietnam was just opening to visitors and commerce after the 20-year U.S. embargo was lifted. “Have a mission, yes,” Trang said. “But learn what organizations and communities specifically need.”
Later, we went to a small restaurant up a flight of stairs on a backstreet beside a small museum in a small, narrow building. Beneath it was a tunnel where soldiers once stockpiled massive amounts of weapons and munitions. The museum honors the stealth and skill of the soldiers at this site beneath and beside a popular local cafe frequented by soldiers of the South and Americans. Everyone here has their own story about the American war in their country if you ask them. At the same time, I have heard GI slang, and they have the most wonderful French way to make a cup of coffee.