Vu Thi Dong (born in 1959, from Hung Yen) has five children, three of whom are daughters married to foreign nationals and currently residing in three different countries.

Friends and neighbors often playfully call her an "international mother-in-law" or a "wealthy lady." However, few know that as her daughters married foreign husbands one after another, Dong experienced immense anxiety and sorrow at the thought of her daughters living so far from home.

Ngo Thi Bich (born in 1982, currently living in Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand), Dong's daughter, said: "Our father passed away early, leaving our mother to raise five children all by herself. When we grew up, she really did not want her daughters to marry far away."

"In Vietnam, there's a saying: 'Marry your daughter nearby, and she'll still bring you a bowl of soup when you need it.' So, when each of us married a foreign husband, our mother felt heartbroken, worried and sad because she knew we would eventually settle overseas. 

"To reassure her, our whole family has always encouraged and supported one another. Only after seeing that all of us were living happy and stable lives did she gradually stop worrying so much." 

Dong's other two daughters have settled in Iceland and Australia. Whenever possible, they arrange time to return to Vietnam to visit their mother. 

Without a pension, Dong receives monthly financial support from her daughters. To ease her longing for her children and grandchildren, the family also stays connected through social media and talks with her almost every day. 

Whenever she misses them, her sons-in-law book flights so she can visit. Over the years, she has traveled to Australia several times to stay with her fourth daughter and has also reunited with Bich's family in New Zealand.

Wherever she goes, her sons-in-law treat her with great care and affection. They often travel with her, introduce her to local cuisine, and show her the culture, history and famous attractions of their home countries. 

Every time she visits her children overseas, Dong enjoys the clean air, blue skies, beautiful scenery and peaceful pace of life. 

Seeing how much she liked living abroad, Bich and her sisters repeatedly tried to persuade her to settle overseas so they could take better care of her. Their three foreign husbands also invited her many times, hoping she would stay with their families. 

Bich said: "My husband lived near my mother for some time while we were still in Vietnam, so he became very close to her and missed her a great deal. After we moved to New Zealand, he really wanted her to come and live with us.

"Knowing that my mother loves vegetables and gardening, my husband built a beautiful vegetable and flower garden for her. We planted all the vegetables she likes. We wanted to create a space that matched her interests and hoped she would stay longer. But after about three months, she wanted to return to Vietnam.

"The same thing happened in the other countries. My sisters and their husbands also did everything they could to persuade her to stay, but they weren't successful either. She only likes visiting her children and grandchildren for a while before returning to Vietnam." 

Dong said she has never planned to settle abroad because, to her, nowhere feels as familiar and peaceful as her homeland. Despite repeated invitations from her daughters and sons-in-law, she wants to spend the rest of her life in Vietnam.

She said: "I only want my children to live happy lives. Every time I visit and see that their families love and care for one another and that my grandchildren are healthy, I feel at peace. 

"Many people think that because I have several children living overseas, I must be very wealthy. In reality, that's not true. My children are ordinary working people. They have stable lives but are nowhere near as well-off as many people imagine. 

"What makes me happy isn't the country my children live in or how much money they have. What matters is that they live decent lives, that their marriages are happy, that my grandchildren are healthy, and that the whole family lives in peace."

Ha Nguyen