Huy Thang, an overseas Vietnamese in Germany, who left Vietnam more than 30 years ago, could not contain his excitement when he was able to return home after two years of the pandemic.

“We had also been worried before coming back, but then we found that our country’s anti-pandemic work was steady and orderly, while the public confidence was still great despite economic difficulties,” said Thang.

Emotional reunions after two years of Covid-19

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met overseas Vietnamese joining the Homeland Spring program. Photo: Huy Tuan/ Quan doi nhan dan

Returning to Vietnam on January 16, Thang said that everything went smoothly with thoughtful care for people like him. After the three-day quarantine in Phu Ly City, 50km south of Hanoi, he was allowed to head home to the capital.

“There is nothing to complain about at all”, according to the nearly 70-year-old expat.

Last year’s Tet, he had no choice but to stay in the host country due to the pandemic context. The yearning in his heart remained unrelenting.

“The situation at that time was inevitable, but everyone missed their homeland and wished to return,” he recalled.

Sharing the same feeling, Dr. Nguyen Duy Lan, an overseas Vietnamese in the US, realized that there were things missing when celebrating Tet abroad, such as the “flavors of Tet”, the scenes of people welcoming spring on the streets, festive atmosphere, typical dishes and most importantly, family and relatives.

In the US, year-end is said to be “the best time of the year”. “I hope to enjoy many of these best moments both in the US and in Vietnam,” said Lan excitedly.

The expat also thinks that this year’s Tet will be more vibrant since Vietnam implemented the campaign of living together with and adapting to the pandemic instead of Zero-Covid. New Year’s visits and greetings will still take place but in a more careful manner.

In the last two years, the government organized nearly 600 flights to bring home about 120,000 overseas Vietnamese in difficult circumstances and those who wished to return.

Addressing the meeting with overseas Vietnamese on the occasion of Tet 2022, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated that although everything was not perfect,  the efforts to care for and the love of the Motherland towards the away-from-home compatriots is tangible.

There are more than 5.3 million Vietnamese living, studying, and working in 130 countries and territories, including 4.3 million permanent residents and 0.6 million experts.

The Vietnamese spirit shines during the pandemic

Prime Minister Pham Chinh took a photo with overseas Vietnamese joining the Homeland Spring program. Photo: Huy Tuan/ Quan doi nhan dan

Leaving Vietnam in 1988 before settling in Berlin as a team leader managing Vietnamese laborers, Thang has had chances to interact with many Vietnamese in Germany.

According to him, during the intense period of the pandemic in 2020, Vietnamese people there took active actions to support the German government against the pandemic, help other Vietnamese expats in difficulty, as well as run charity campaigns to contribute to their homeland.

At the time the pandemic first broke out, face masks were in short supply in the European country, where they were only for the medical staff but not sold to the people. Therefore, the Vietnamese people became the only expat community in Germany that had a movement of sewing fabric masks that were donated to nursing homes, hospitals, police forces, and frontliners against the Covid-19.

The statistics are not complete, but according to Thang, the number of those handmade  masks may have reached hundreds of thousands of Germans. In addition, there was also a cooking movement to support the medical staff, another of donating disinfectants, and so on. “Perhaps our spirit and actions were also one of the motivations for Germany to donate over seven million doses of vaccine for Vietnam,” Thang remarked.

Among the Vietnamese community, there were also activities to help fellow countrymen with job difficulty due to anti-pandemic restrictions in Germany, or those who are not yet eligible for health insurance. In particular, the charity group in Berlin has distributed relief goods twice, with about 2,000 packages each time, according to Thang.

Confidence and new trends

In general, the overseas Vietnamese community feels that in the fight against the pandemic, before the vaccine became available, Vietnam implemented effective isolation and tracing, and succeeded in minimizing the impacts of the disease. In the later stage, the country “started late yet finished early” in the vaccine rollout.

“In the context of Covid-19 causing enormous damage to many countries, the situation in Vietnam is still under control, and we still remain strong in spite of economic difficulties,” Thang commented. Moreover, increasingly broader reopening also bolsters public confidence. “On the upcoming February 19, flights to Europe are going to resume, so we are very excited”, said Thang.

Dr. Nguyen Duy Lan spoke to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and participants joining 2022 Homeland Spring program. Photo: Tu Anh

Being a co-founder of the cybersecurity company Veramine - currently based in Seattle, USA - with a work history of nine years as a subcontractor to Microsoft Corporation, Dr. Nguyen Duy Lan said that besides big clients such as the United States Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and Air Force, his company cooperates with about 20 agencies and banks in Vietnam, providing free personnel training products, information about cyber-attacks, among others.

He also expressed his pleasure when realizing that in recent years, Vietnam has paid great attention to the issue of cybersecurity and aspires to become a power in this field.

In the coming new year, his intention is to further expand cooperation by collaborating with Vietnamese software integration companies, developing and bringing services and products to countries in the region, as well as continuing to work with the Ministries of Information and Communication, Public Security, and National Defence to develop the cybersecurity industry in Vietnam.

In the meeting with overseas Vietnamese on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc also quoted Uncle Ho's teachings “improving destiny with solidarity”, with the belief that a fresh and better destiny will definitely come to everyone in the year of the Tiger 2022.

According to Dr. Lan, ameliorating the country’s fortune requires enormous efforts of Vietnamese people in all parts of the world. On the other hand, the trend of overseas Vietnamese cooperating and returning to Vietnam is growing, with the volume of remittances increasing every year. “The country's further integration into the global economy also creates many good opportunities for overseas Vietnamese,” said Lan.

It should be noted the fact that localities have actively called for and developed policies to attract expatriates’ participation in domestic activities also reinforces this trend. “Vietnamese people everywhere want to contribute to their homeland within their capabilities,” Thang stated.