Phuc, 27, from Go Vap District, HCM City, recently was seen checking the addresses in documents sent by a girl from abroad. She had asked Phuc to help her biological mother that she lost 20 years ago.

Wearing a T-shirt, Phuc left home and roamed the streets and alleys, finding the address shown in the documents. He hoped he could find information related to that girl.

Phuc began taking the work of finding relatives and parents for those who lost their families in 2019. The idea came after he watched a TV program which said that many overseas Vietnamese wanted to find their biological relatives.

“I realized that there are many young overseas people want to find relatives in Vietnam. Most of them, for some reasons, were adopted by their parents in their childhood,” Phuc said.

“When they grow up, they yearn to find their ‘roots’ and learn more about their homeland. However, they face difficulties during the process because of language differences and little knowledge about geographical locations in Vietnam. I decided to help find their relatives,” he explained. 

Phuc has received many documents and information from  people living in France, the US and other countries over the last three years. Based on the information provided, Phuc and his friends look for people and use their own money.

Not only in HCM City, they also go to neighboring cities and provinces, such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria – Vung Tau and some Mekong Delta provinces. 

Phuc and his friends have found relatives for more than 10 individuals who had lost their families for two decades.

Lisa, who lives in France, is one. She was born in Vietnam, but was adopted by her French family in  1998. Lisa wanted to find her biological parents and asked for Phuc’s help.

Phuc found the address provided by her. That was the house where Lisa and her parents lived when she was born. But when he came, he was told that Lisa’s family members had left.

Phuc did not give up. After great efforts, she found a person who knew where the family moved. With his instructions, Phuc finally found Lisa’s biological parents. They had a meeting via social media after 22 years of separation.

However, other cases were more difficult. Phuc had to travel hundreds of kilometers to reach the addresses provided to him. He once had to travel between HCM City and Dong Nai province three or four times to search for information. 

It was when Phuc sought biological parents for three girls living in France. After they were born in Dong Nai, the trio were adopted by their parents to three French families.

When growing up, the three girls, in some magical way, found each other. Knowing that they are Vietnamese, one of the three contacted Phuc and asked for his help to find their parents.

“When the girls and their mother met via social media, they burst into tears,” Phuc said, adding that the girl has booked air tickets and will visit Vietnam in some days.

Most recently, on May 26, 2022, Phuc found the relatives of Kim Hoa, after 26 years of separation. Sadly, the girl's biological mother had passed away and only her grandparents are still living in HCM City.

More and more documents have been sent to Phuc recently. He spends all his weekends looking for people. The activity is not for profit. The expenses during the process of looking for people are paid by Phuc and his friends. They don’t receive any money and gifts for the activity.

“I consider this job as my passion, so I don't receive money or anything from people who need my help. My joy is to see people find each other, and see the bond of friendship reconnecting after many years apart,” Phuc, who is now an architect, said.

Ha Nguyen