massage therapist

Hello, I’m Phạm Ngọc Cung and I’m twenty nine years old. I work as a freelance massage therapist inHanoi. As you can see, I’m blind, but I can still work. Even though I can’t see, I don’t want to be useless. How did I become like this? It all started when I was three years…

ambulant weigher

My name is Nguyễn Thị Hằng, I’m from Hưng Yên, but now I’m staying at Ngã Tư Sở, Hà Nội.  At first when people hear about what I do, they think it’s a weird job: I’m a scale lady.  Actually, the name of my job is exactly what I do.  It’s simple!  Every day I…

knife sharpener

Hi everyone, I’m Thien. I’m 62 years old, and I’m a knife sharpener. My main “office” is the corner of a market in Ha Noi, but my hometown is in Xuan Thanh, Xuan Truong, Nam Dinh. I am living alone in Trung Kinh, where I rent a small room for 500,000 dong ($25.00) per month.…

security guard

My name is Hùng and I work as a security guard for the building CT4A/X2 Bắc Linh Đàm, under management of the Hanoi Urban Development company [or HUD, a company owned by the Hanoi People’s committee]. I can say that I have been through it all: grew up in Hưng Yên, went to Thái Nguyên for…

dentist

I’m Mai Chiều and I’m from Hải Dương.  I’m twenty-five years old, and I’m living in Cầu Diễn,Hanoi.  Is twenty-five years old too young to be a dentist?  But in fact, I’ve been working as a dentist for four years at a private office in Cầu Diễn.  People don’t respect dentists as much as doctors. …

laundromat owner

My name is Thế Trịnh and I adapted the name Sharon when I arrive in the states.  I am from Phan Thiết and I grew up with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. I’m the middle child. My mother and father were both Teo Chew, but they escaped China to live in Vietnam. One of my…

Tennis ball boys

“Kids from poor families, like us, don’t go to school.” In Vietnam as elsewhere, consumption of leisure time is an important marker of class.  Since it was first introduced to Vietnam by the French in the early twentieth century, tennis has been a sport associated with society’s elite. With the introduction of market reforms in…

electrical appliance repairman

In the front of a house in Gia Lâm is Nguyễn Hoàng Trung’s small shop filled with drawers and boxes of every tool and electrical component imaginable; wires, pliers, circuit boards, remotes, timers, and conductors are piled into different boxes, creating a sense of organized chaos. The back of the room is partitioned off by…

bank teller

Economic liberalization has resulted in a fast-growing banking industry involving international banks and financial institutions.  This has led to a demand for high-quality local banking officers who have both professional working capability and excellent foreign language skills. Cao Thanh Hiếu was a top student at the Hanoi Foreign Trade University and has been working for…