July 2016

We had to hide in the
reeds waiting for a signal
from the boat
few months they were moved to another refugee
camp, this time on Thorney Island in West Sussex,
where they lived for three years.
Linh’s father spoke fluent English and became the
interpreter and head social worker of the camp.
His important role meant that she was sent to an
English school in the local village where she easily
made friends. “In Thorney Island I felt a sense of
belonging,” she says. “Everyone was incredibly
empathetic towards Vietnamese refugees. The
people in the village even threw us a Christmas
party with presents.”
East life
When the camp closed they moved to a council
flat in Hackney. Linh’s dad set up the An Viet
community centre, dedicated to supporting
the Vietnamese immigrants, and when the rest
of the family moved to London he opened the
legendary Huong Viet restaurant there. Linh and
her husband Colin, whom she met while they
were both studying architecture, followed in her
parents’ footsteps. Until recently they owned
Namô (now Viet Vu) in Victoria Park village, before
passing it on to her brother, Toan.
Linh has been back to Vietnam to visit relatives
and retrace her family’s roots. Her parents have
never been back. “They have always said, ‘We left
for a reason and we’re not going back while the
country is still communist,’” she tells me. There
is also the worry that it would be unsafe for her
father to return to his village in North Vietnam.
“He left forty years ago but the people there don’t
forget and still bear grudges.”
Continued overleaf...
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