Interview: Khanh Thanh Vu
Mr Khanh Thanh Vu. Photo: Tim Sullivan
Thirty years ago, thousands of Vietnamese refugees left their country to escape Communist-controlled Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975. Known as ‘boat people’, many of these refugees came to settle in Hackney, and are now a thriving and vibrant part of the borough’s community. With Vietnamese New Year, or ‘Tet’ taking place from 2-7 of this month, the community looks forward to a new year whilst commemorating the turbulent history of Vietnamese refugees.
The circumstances under which the first Vietnamese people came to Hackney were uncertain and perilous. Mr Khanh Thanh Vu, who travelled from Vietnam to Britain in 1979, is the founder and managing director of the An Viet foundation in Hackney which provides practical help for Vietnamese refugees. As one of the original ‘boat people’ Mr Vu explains the process of resettlement, “Unlike the South Vietnamese, who fled to the Philippines, Thailand, or Guam at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, those from the North, like myself, were forced from our homes after the 1979 border war between China and Vietnam.”
After an international conference designed to resolve the problem of South East Asia’s ‘boat people’ the British Government took responsibility for 30,000 Vietnamese refugees, “Only the boats picked up by British ships were allowed to come to Britain,” recalls Mr Vu, “and because of the war between Vietnam and China in 1979, most of the refugees coming to Britain were ethnic Chinese Vietnamese who were forced from their homes by the Vietnamese authorities who feared they would support China in the struggle”.
As Mr Vu describes the difficulties involved in the settlement of the British-based Vietnamese refugees, a delicate balancing act between social integration and cultural preservation is apparent: “In the wake of the Brixton riot in 1979, Mrs Thatcher didn’t allow the Vietnamese to settle in one area, but instead spread the refugees around the countryside. The British Government were averse to having concentrated numbers in one place. So even though English people were very welcoming, the feeling of isolation for refugees in the countryside was overwhelming.”
It was this policy of dispersing the ‘boat people’ throughout England that led to the eventual formation of the large Vietnamese community in Hackney, as Mr Vu describes, “Because at the time Hackney and Tower Hamlets were quite rough areas, there were plenty of empty flats and houses. The Vietnamese in the countryside moved down to London and squatted, whereupon Hackney council gave them tenancy agreements. The total number of refugees living in Hackney in the early 80’s was around 5,000 – the largest number of refugees in any one borough.”
From this point on, the Vietnamese contingent in Hackney has become a part of the borough’s varied make-up, although this process has not been an easy one, “The two main problems facing the refugees were language and employment. In general, skill levels were very low because in Vietnam most of the work centres around the field and the house. The refugees had no experience or understanding of how to work in a city, but we are also very quick learners and had no welfare system so we never minded hard work.”
To support the integration into Hackney, Mr Vu’s foundation An Viet, which means ‘well settled’ was set up in 1982 and has been dedicated to securing a brighter future for the Vietnamese refugees, “When I started the foundation, the main priority was with settling down – ensuring that the children had places at local schools, offering translation between parents and schools, working with the welfare system and the problems with squatters.”
From then, the foundation focused on encouraging employment within the community: “Although the clothes-making industry moved to Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, from 1982 to 1995 every single Vietnamese family had a sewing machine, worked in factories and would bring garments home to improve their skills and expertise,” describes Mr Vu.
“In our centre, we offered training in sewing and garment-making, gave the workers a year to run their own business from a room at the back of the building, and then encouraged them to move out on their own. In that period there were around 40-50 Vietnamese factories making clothes in Hackney alone.”
The evolution of the Vietnamese community in Hackney in relation to industry is remarkable. Moving from textiles into beauty parlours and restaurants, An Viet has worked to support and facilitate changing employment demands, “We now offer both food hygiene training and courses for those to set up hair and beauty salons. You only have to walk down the street to see the results – it’s been very successful, with new businesses opening all over East London.”
Mr Vu’s wife runs Huong-Viet, a restaurant in the An Viet centre itself, and his daughter runs the acclaimed Namo in Victoria Park. He expects his New Year’s celebrations to be as food-oriented as any other Vietnamese family, “The holiday is very much about traditional Vietnamese food. We have a huge meal on the day before visiting family and friends. No Vietnamese family will be without the traditional Vietnamese cakes, one is square-shaped and represents earth and family and another is round, which represents heaven. This is an important part of our heritage that will never die out.”
When asked to describe his other plans for the celebration, Mr Vu warns that’s it’s a very complicated process – and he’s right, “In Vietnam, we actually celebrate for one whole month, and is a chance to visit family and friends. It’s an intricate event, but the main elements are lessons to the younger generations on respect and worship, and parent and grandparents always give the children a gift with which to welcome in the New Year. There would be prayers at the church or temple, and gifts given to the priest or monk.”
In the wake of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, Mr Vu emphasises that his main priority is to keep the work of An Viet going: “Luckily all the activities can keep running because the income from our restaurant partially supports the centre and we receive funding from Hackney Council. We plan to extend our Oriental Studies centre; so far we have supported ten PhDs and hope to continue that.”
He muses on how the Vietnamese refugees have come full circle: “The first generation were so busy with their work, with settling down and integrating, but now the next generation of Vietnamese want to look back, to ask who they are, where they came from and learn about the history of South East Asia. We hope we can give them that.”