In my early twenties I started to put my feelers out into the adoption communities. I didn’t really know where to start… so an internet search was my first port of call, as I’ve always been a “child of the Internet” anyway. Even early 2000’s social networks and online resources aren’t as wildly used as they are today, so to stubble across Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI) was quiet a find.
I tentatively emailed the founder, Indigo Willing, who was more then welcoming. She was the first real contact I’d had with another adult Vietnamese adoptee. For a few years after my initial contact, I kept in touch but I wasn’t as active in the group until, unsurprisingly, I got Facebook =P. And because of that I was in more regular contact with the VN adoptee community and in Feb. 2010 I was lucky enough to meet up with some of the UK Vietnamese adoptees for Tet (Vietnamese version of Chinese New Year).
In April 2010 it was the 35th university of the Fall of Saigon marking the end of the Vietnamese/USA War as well as Operation Baby Lift that air lifted many babies internationally from Vietnam. I contributed to other reflective writings by Vietnamese adoptees:
“To me the Vietnam War feels distance, just another war I learnt about in school. While I have no doubt that my adoption was the product of the Vietnam War, I feel that my adoption story is framed in the decade that followed…” (April 2010) Continue reading at AVI website →
In 2011 Indigo was looking for help to update the AVI website. As it had originally been made in 2000 and not fundamentally been changed in a technical sense, I felt this was the perfect time to contribute to the AVI & VN adoptee community in a way I’ve always wanted to. It wasn’t until I started to sort though the pages that I realised what a wealth of information there was that wasn’t easy to find from the original website interface and was determined not to allow it to be hidden any longer!!
I redesigned, organised & consolidated down the HUGE original website into roughly 150 pages and 100 news posts. I improved the navigation and co-edited 100s of pages & posts with Indigo. It was completely rebuilt from the ground up!
I am relived & proud to annonce it is now live!!!! =D
www.adoptedvietnamese.org
I can not recommend enough you check it out to see views of adult adoptees, VN information/roots tracing guides, info on orphanages and more… it’s just brill!!! I can’t take credit for the information, as it’s come from the very generous VN adoption community.
Related External Links:
Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI) website – www.adoptedvietnamese.org
AVI Facebook Community Page – www.facebook.com/AdoptedVietnameseInternational (Public)
AVI Facebook Group – www.facebook.com/groups/4501598968/ (Closed Group)
AVI Yahoo! email Group – groups.yahoo.com/group/adoptedvietnameseinternational/ (Closed Group)
