The first occasion was to attend her grandmother's funeral. But in Vietnam, I find that people are more concerned about living than politics. Pham works for a trade corporation with operations in Ho Chi Minh City. She develops demographic studies for the company. She points out what many fellow immigrants in Little Saigon already realize.
Overseas refugees send billions of dollars home to family members and friends in Vietnam.
Hundreds of thousands return to Vietnam each year for various purposes. More than 100,000 went to celebrate Tet, the lunar new year, in February alone. Still others make the trip to find a spouse. And some seniors have even gone back for good, relying on their Social Security checks to lead a nostalgic life in their ancestral towns and villages. In Little Saigon, every supermarket sells at least one item imported from Vietnam from jackfruit to rice to preserved tamarind.