Yen is an Executive in our Hanoi office.

Yen lives in Hanoi with her architect husband and seven-year old daughter, San, in a modern, minimalist house with a roof-top garden.  It is not far from the city’s famous West Lake –and not far from Yen Thai Village, where Yen grew up.  And yet, in some ways it’s a world away.

Yen’s early life was difficult, but balanced by the fact that she grew up in a loving family.  Perhaps because of that, the difficulties seem to have enhanced her as a person - and ensured, or at least contributed to, her success.  She grew up in the 1980s, when Vietnam was struggling to recover from a war that had lasted for close to 20 years and not long ended.  In one sense she was fortunate because her father, being the youngest in his family, had not joined the army, but nevertheless life was difficult.  There was never enough money and food was always in short supply.

Then, when Yen was just five years old, her father had the opportunity to go to Russia to work and develop expertise in car manufacture.  It was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse, but it meant he was away from his family for five years and only able to return twice during that period.  Despite his absence, he was a loving father and developed a deep attachment to Yen and her younger sister.  Yen recalls his visits fondly, describing how he would arrive bearing fruits, chocolate, and even ice cream.  By the time he got through Customs the ice cream would have melted, but the girls regarded it as the greatest treat imaginable, partly because their father had brought it all that way for them.

While he was away, Yen’s mother had been working in a factory making rubber gloves and boots, but after several years the business was in decline as people were unable to afford the goods.  The company began laying off staff and from that point on, Yen’s family lived on money that her father was able to send back from Russia. 

Even before her father returned from Russia, however, Yen’s mother had begun to be unwell and a year after he returned, when Yen was only 12 and her younger sister nine, she died.  Both girls had been very close to their mother, so it was a very difficult time for them.  But they were close to their father and able to move in with loving grandparents in Yen Thai village.  That helped enormously.

Yen Thai village had been famous since the 15^th century for making traditional poonah or do paper -  a fine long-lasting paper, made from the bark of poonah trees and used for paintings, calligraphy and books. Although the industry has more or less died out now, Yen’s grandfather was a do paper maker and his house a traditional wooden house that had been built in the 18^th century and passed down from one generation to the next.  

From the outset, Yen did very well at school. She was always trying to be not only the best in the class, but also the best in the school.  She says it just came naturally, but also that you have to put it into context. She was motivated to learn because she knew that if you wanted a good life you needed a good job and that to have a good job you needed to be educated.  She also knew that her family was not rich and that the key to getting a good job was to perform well academically, get a scholarship and be recommended to future employers by professors.

And that is basically what happened.  She was accepted into the law school without needing to sit an entrance exam and on graduating obtained a job in a leading local IP firm.  She knew she wanted to study further, but decided that it was important to work first and gain some understanding of the working environment.  So, after working for several years, she applied for an Australian Government scholarship to Melbourne University. It was highly competitive, but  she managed to obtain a full scholarship, which meant that all her expenses were paid. Children from poorer families, she says, have to try harder.

Her time in Melbourne was successful – so much so that she says she now regards Melbourne as her second home – but she returned to Vietnam and Hanoi, which is still very much home for her.  She has travelled widely, but is still very deeply connected to Hanoi and her family there.

Yen met her husband during her first year at university and married just after she graduated.  When they came to think about where they would live in Hanoi, the obvious thing was to buy some land and for him to design a house for them.  And that is what happened.  Fortunately, they both like simplicity and the house he designed is both simple and environmentally friendly.

In many ways, it’s a world away from the 18^th century timber house in Yen Thai village that Yen grew up in, just as Yen’s current life is a long way from the life of her childhood.  And yet, perhaps because of her close family connection, and her links with the tradition of the area, in some ways it’s not so far at all.  Somehow everything seems to fit together.