"What’s your biggest fear?"

"Being alone."

"When did you feel most alone?"

"On weekend nights in college, sometimes I’d sit by myself in the corner of my dorm room with nothing but a little light on, while all my friends went out."

"Why didn’t you go out with them?"

"It’s hard to say."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"What’s your favorite thing about your mom?""She’s hardworking.""In what way is she hardworking?" "She cooks food for her business all day. Then she comes home and cooks food for us."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"After my son was born, there was a period of several months when I couldn’t find a job. I looked everywhere. My mind was a mess. I felt angry toward everything. The lowest point was when my son got diagnosed with malnutrition. I hated myself."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"Do you remember the happiest moment of your life?"

"The first time I kissed her."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"The new recruits had to walk in front."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"Whenever my parents got mad, my sisters and I would climb into the branches of a tree behind our house. We’d play games up there and weave the leaves into our hair. Now whenever I have a bad customer or I’m getting yelled at by the boss, I try to imagine that tree."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"What are you thinking about?""I come here to not think."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"She’s our only child. She started college in Michigan this year. I took this photo on the day that I dropped her off at school. The morning I left, I walked into her dorm room, and saw a bundle under the covers. I said: ‘Sweetie, do you want to say bye to your dad?’ Then I saw that the bundle was shaking. I pulled back the covers, and her eyes were filled with tears. My heart was melting when I left. These days I stay at the office as long as possible, because my wife works late, and I don’t want to be at home with no one there."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"Our daughter was five months old when I got a scholarship to Johns Hopkins. My wife came with me to Baltimore so that our family could stay together. I will always be thankful for that sacrifice, because I know it was the toughest three years of her life. She didn’t speak a word of English. We lived in a tiny studio— so tiny that many times I did my studying in the bathroom. In Vietnam, she had a job where she was getting phone calls all day long. But in America, the phone never rang. She wasn’t allowed to work because of visa requirements. Vietnamese holidays were regular days in America, so I’d be in class during New Year and we could never be together. Sometimes when I’d come home from school during wintertime, she’d look at me with tears in her eyes and say: ‘Tuan, I want to go home.’ But she still stayed with me. When I finally got my degree, many of my friends asked if I’d look for a job in the US. But I wouldn’t do that to her. She had done enough for me. So I said: ‘We are going home immediately.’ And as soon as we got back to Vietnam, she was like a fish back in the pond."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"I wrote a comment. She liked the comment. I sent her a friend request."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"We’re gonna crash."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"Do you remember the happiest moment of your life?"

"Every day when I get home from work."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"The American jets were called Phantoms, because they appeared out of nowhere, and by the time you saw the plane, the rockets were already heading toward you. My friend and I were doing maintenance on the machinery when our factory was bombed. We heard the plane coming and tried to run toward the coal vault, but before we got there a missile tore him in half."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"When I pick him up from kindergarten, sometimes I stand quietly across the room, and watch him play with his friends. It just makes me so happy to know that I have a son and he is growing every day."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

"Who has had the greatest influence on you in life?"

"My father."

"What’s your favorite thing about your father?"

"He’s got a great heart."

"Do you remember the saddest moment of your life?"

"There was a short period of time when I was younger that my father would beat my mother. It made me very sad."

"Does that not affect your view of your father’s heart?"

"It was a period of high stress. My mother had very high expectations of him and he wasn’t making any money. I think she would mock him sometimes. I just want to leave it in the past. They’re much happier now."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"What’s your biggest goal in life?"

"To afford to live."

(Chi Linh, Vietnam)

"I have to leave the discipline to Mom. This one can feel that I’m about to yell at her before I say a word. So she runs up to me, gives me a hug, and starts crying right away. So how can I yell at her? And this one lets me yell at her, but her face turns very dark and resentful, and it’s scary. So what am I supposed to do then? So I let Mom do the yelling. They are very attached to me. Everyone sleeps in the same bed, and they won’t go to sleep unless they are resting their head on my shoulders. Dad’s shoulders only. And it’s hard to sleep. When I’m trying to sleep they, um, sometimes they, um, try to play with my nipples."

(Hanoi, Vietnam)

"We’d get advanced warning when the American B-52’s were going to bomb the enemy positions. These were the most frightening times of the war. We’d stuff cotton in our ears and our nose and shut our eyes tight and crouch down against the ground. The bombs didn’t drop in one place. They spread out like sand. And if you weren’t ready for them and happened to be standing up with your ears uncovered and your eyes open, the pressure alone could burst your heart or break a vessel in your brain. When they dropped their bombs, I don’t think those pilots knew what it was like on the ground."

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)