As a young adult, I was fascinated with Vietnam and wanted to visit. I couldn’t understand why a country halfway across the world where I knew nothing about it, would so enchant me. But I did know about it. A lot. The clues had been all around me since I was a child. The Têt offensive. The Mekong Delta. Ha Noi. These were words that were uttered every night on the news as journalists covered the Vietnam War. 

For a variety of reasons, I never managed to make it out to Southeast Asia, until earlier this month. I spent 10 days in Vietnam visiting my son, Cameron, who has lived in Ho Chi Minh City for little less than 3 years, working in the education space, developing English language curriculum. 

Overview:

A Haitian American tourist’s view of Vietnam’s success despite various military actions by foreigners.

Uh oh, it looks like you’ve hit a paywall! But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Here are a few ways you can access this story.

Garry Pierre-Pierre is a Pulitzer-prize winning, multimedia and entrepreneurial journalist. In 1999, he left the New York Times to launch the Haitian Times, a New York-based English-language publication serving the Haitian Diaspora. He is also the co-founder of the City University Graduate School of Journalism‘s Center for Community and Ethnic Media and a senior producer at CUNY TV.