Who am I?
My name is Van Nguyen. I am studying the first year of a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship at the University of Otago, New Zealand. I am a Vietnamese girl who loves adventures, social work, hanging out with friends, and singing songs.
Some of you might ask: where is Vietnam? In fact, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Our neighbouring countries are China, Laos and Cambodia. I love Vietnam through big mountains to beaches, from landscapes to rice fields, and from food to local people.
“I love Vietnam through big mountains to beaches, from landscapes to rice fields, and from food to local people”
Why am I now in New Zealand?
I was born into a poor family. Since I was a child, my life has always been a struggle to be on the path that I wanted. I understood the difficulty of my family. I knew that my parents were sad because they thought that they could not provide their children as good conditions as other parents.
My parents loved and tried super hard to save money for me to study a bachelor’s degree. Looking at other friends who could study overseas, I wanted but never intended to ask anything from my parents.
Motivating myself, I thought: “Well, you have to try!”
In Thach Lam’s literature, “Two Children”, it mentions that “noodles are a luxury food”. Then, to me, studying abroad was also a luxury dream that I used to dream and quit. If there were full scholarships for tuition, living expenses would prevent me from dreaming. However, I still hoped and still waited.
Full scholarship? I could only think of that in my dream, but the dream came true. Finally, the New Zealand Government and the University of Otago have given me an opportunity to be here, open a new chapter for my life, and provide me with such a wonderful studying environment.
Dear friends, dreams won’t be dreams anymore if you keep trying your best with a strong passion. Believe in yourself, believe in your ability, then one day, you can make your dream come true as I did. Keep looking, you will find.
What is my next dream?
I love social business. I dream to do something for people with disability and orphans. I used to sell some products made by women in rural areas of Vietnam.
At present, in New Zealand, I want to run my non-profit organization to sell products made by Vietnamese people with disabilities and orphans via online and direct sales. In my next blogs, I will share you each step I do to make it come true. I also hope to get your feedback, your sharing, and your support. That would be super meaningful to me.
Thank you so much and I wish you have a great time.
