Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
Readers who have information about a woman who gave birth at the age of 15 or 16 at Long Xuyen Hospital in the former An Giang Province in 1995 are encouraged to contact the VietNamNet hotline at 0923457788 or email Ambre at: ambre.cabrol@hotmail.fr.
Refusing to give up
As she stepped onto the plane, Ambre Martinod (born 1995, France) turned back for one last look at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Son Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, her heart heavy. Once again, she was leaving Vietnam without finding her biological parents.
Ambre was born on October 4, 1995 at Long Xuyen Hospital in the former An Giang Province. A few months after her birth, she was abandoned by her family and transferred to the Long Xuyen Town Social Protection Center for the Elderly and Orphans in the former An Giang Province.
At the center, she was issued a birth certificate under the name Duong Thi Ngoc Suong. Not long after, a French woman adopted her.
In France, she was given a new name, Ambre Martinod. She grew up surrounded by love and care from her adoptive parents. Yet from an early age, Ambre sensed that she was different from the other members of her family.
When she asked, her adoptive parents told her the truth - that she was adopted and had been abandoned by her birth parents as an infant. Though the revelation was painful, Ambre held on to the hope of finding her biological parents.
“Ever since I learned I was adopted, I have felt a deep void in my heart,” Ambre shared. “I have always wanted to find my roots to fill that emptiness.
“My life will only truly feel meaningful and whole when I can reconnect with my origins. My adoptive parents understand this longing. They sympathize and have supported me greatly in my search for my biological family.”
With their support, Ambre returned to Vietnam at the age of 13, hoping to find her birth parents. That first journey, however, yielded no information.
The setback did not discourage her. She continued her search in every way she could.
A flicker of hope
Over the years, Ambre has pursued numerous avenues to trace her biological family. She took a DNA test with MyHeritage, a global online platform that helps users build family trees, explore family history and conduct DNA testing to discover ancestral origins.
She has also spent extended periods in Vietnam, following every clue she believed might lead to information about her birth mother.
Ambre reached out to individuals, organizations and reputable programs in Vietnam specializing in tracing missing relatives, seeking assistance in locating her parents.
In 2025, with support from the community, Ambre managed to find two former caregivers who had looked after her at the Long Xuyen Town Social Protection Center. The two women, commonly known as Ngay and Thang, are now elderly.
According to Ambre, Ms. Thang recalled that Ambre had been brought to the center by her paternal grandmother.
At the time, the grandmother told staff that her son had been in a relationship with a girl about 15 or 16 years old. Not long after, the girl became pregnant unintentionally. Despite her pregnancy, the son continued drinking and abusing the young woman, ignoring his mother’s advice.
After giving birth, the girl left the baby with her “mother-in-law,” promising to find work and send money home to raise the child. A few months later, the baby fell ill and had to be hospitalized for treatment.
After the child was discharged, the grandmother, struggling financially, tried to arrange for the baby to be adopted but could not find a family willing to take her in.
Following guidance from others, she eventually brought her granddaughter to the Long Xuyen Town Social Protection Center and entrusted her to its care. There, she met the sisters Ngay and Thang, who received and looked after the baby.
Ms. Thang recounted: “At that time, the grandmother was crying as she explained why she was leaving her granddaughter. I did not have time to ask her full name or the names of the child’s parents. I only know that she lived somewhere in Chau Phu District or Chau Doc City in the former An Giang Province.
“I remember she was tall and thin. She said the baby’s mother was very beautiful. Later, when a French family came to adopt the baby, Ms. Ngay carried her to complete the paperwork and hand her over. After that, we lost contact.”
These fragments of information rekindled hope in Ambre’s heart. She extended her stay in Vietnam, worked hard to learn Vietnamese and even began procedures to apply for Vietnamese citizenship to facilitate her search for her biological parents.
In the past year alone, Ambre has undergone multiple DNA tests with several women in Vietnam. None of the results matched.
“To this day, I still do not have any concrete information about my biological parents,” she said. “Through MyHeritage, I have only found a few distant relatives living in different parts of the world, but that is not enough to identify my family.
“Every time I take a DNA test, I nurture hope, only to quietly confront disappointment again. That feeling is truly heartbreaking.
“Even so, I will never stop. I constantly think about my roots, about my mother. I sincerely hope that people will help me find my biological parents.”
Ha Nguyen
.svg){kind=icon}
