Laotians experience Tet in Da Nang

Special Tet for Laotian students

Lita Manyvong, a senior at the Faculty of Information Technology in Da Nang University of Science and Technology, decided to stay in Vietnam this year for the traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebrations with her adoptive parents.

This is the third time she will be spending Tet in Vietnam. Two years ago, she could not go home due to COVID-19, but this year the Vietnamese holiday is particularly meaningful because it is likely to be her last as she graduates in 2023 and returns home.

Recalling her first year in Vietnam, Lita said she faced many difficulties learning to speak Vietnamese - the biggest obstacle for Laotian students studying and doing research in Vietnam. Now, she speaks it fluently and wrote her thesis in Vietnamese.

We met Lita while she was folding and trimming arrowroot leaves with which to wrap the sticky rice cakes typical of Tet, along with her adoptive mother Tran Thi Nguyen. “Vietnamese Tet activities are attractive, namely wrapping and cooking sticky rice square cakes, round cakes, and decorating the house,” she said.

Da Nang homestays for Lao students

Lita is one of thousands of Laotian students studying in Da Nang as part of a homestay program and the "Patron Mother" program initiated by city authorities. The program also encourages students to keep in touch with their Vietnamese hosts once they graduate. After three years, Lita is an official member of the Nguyen family and is sure to keep in touch with them.

Some 100 students participated in 2022 in the "Homestay for Laotian Students" program, launched in 2011. “We have an opportunity to interact, exchange and learn about the culture, customs and practices of the Vietnamese people and to practice the Vietnamese language. And especially, we have more wonderful fathers and mothers,” said Chanthasak Dalivanh, a student at Da Nang University of Economics.

Tran Thi Nguyen has adopted many Lao students over the years. She found that speaking and writing Vietnamese was the biggest obstacle for most of them. When she retired and joined the Women’s Union, she proposed the "Patron Mother" program to adopt and support Laotian students. The model was rolled out in 2019, and the women of Hoa Khanh Ward became patron mother for Laotian students.

“During the Tet holiday of the two years doomed by the pandemic, my house was busy because many Laotian students could not return home but stayed in Vietnam. Staying here, the students were treated as my children, going to the market, wrapping sticky rice cakes, decorating the house for Tet together. We stayed up late to welcome Lunar New Year's Eve together and wished each other Happy Lunar New Year,” Nguyen said with a smile.

Tightening Vietnam-Laos friendship

The Vice Chair of Da Nang City People's Committee, Ho Ky Minh, who serves as chair of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association in Da Nang, said the homestay program has been replicated throughout the country. “This is a nurturing of friendship program with profound political and humanistic identity, nurturing and developing the relationship between the two peoples of Vietnam and Laos,” Minh said.

According to Souphanh HadaoHeung, Consul General of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in Da Nang, the Lao Party, Government and people are confident about sending their children to study in Vietnam, especially in Da Nang. “We believe that the homestay program serves as a bridge for Lao students and provides them with second mothers and fathers and an additional loving family like biological parents. This will contribute to the special friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

Lita said that after graduation she would return home to dedicate herself to her country. But she will still wrap sticky rice cakes for the Tet holiday and would definitely go back to Vietnam to visit Nguyen Patron Mother and discover more of the country’s beauty.