Vo Thi My Linh (Va Li)

Quit a well-paying job to travel to learn English

In a poor country like Vietnam, a lot of young people choose to conform to societal norms: going to university, finding a job, working from 8AM - 5PM and getting married. Linh is different. She chose to experience a different path of life. Before quitting her job to travel, Linh worked in Orient Commercial Bank. One day, when she went out with The Chairman of the Board of Management to meet some foreign partners, she realized she didn't know how to speak English. She replied in an interview that "I once had wished that I could study abroad like my friends but because my English was not good and my family was very poor, I had no chance. When I grew up, I just spent my time making money, and didn't care about how to improve my English. However, after I got money, I asked: money for what? I wanted to go outside my country to travel but I was scared since my English was so poor. I wanted to do business with foreigners but I still wasn't confident because of my English. I thought a lot and finally I decided to quit my job to travel and learn how to speak English."

What life do you want to live?

When she quit her job to travel, she only had 3000USD. She spent 1000USD to book tickets and buy luggage. She saved the remaining 2000USD to pay for food and accommodation. That was not too much. But Linh said, "With 2000USD, you can spend 2 hours if you go to a shop which sells brand clothes; 2 days if you travel and stay in Five Star Hotels; 2 weeks if you travel to a rich country. With that money, you also can stay for 6 months or more than that if you travel to a poor country, stay with locals and learn a lot of things from them. The important thing is not how much money you have. The important thing is what life you want to live."

The trekker who survived after a big avalanche in Nepal

When the avalanche happened in Nepal (which killed at least 43 people out of a total 168 trekkers on the Annapurna mountain), Linh was the only Vietnamese girl who survived. A lot of young people admired Linh because of her bravery and her kindness when she helped a porter to save his life. Linh said the reason that made everybody go trekking is, "Sometimes, life is a pile of shit. To find faith, somebody has to climb up the mountain to see a flower which blooms on stone and realize that life is still beautiful."

When young people admired her, Linh remind them "Climbing a mountain doesn't mean you are strong, climbing a mountain doesn't mean you are enduring. The women who stay at home and take care of their family everyday, those are really strong women."

The author of the letter for the Minister of Education

Being someone who was once poor at English, Linh knew the disadvantages facing people who can't speak English. When Linh went to Aruchour village – a remote area in Nepal to do volunteer work - she found out people over there speak English very well although they are very poor. Linh spent a whole day in the library of a primary school reading a Nepalese English textbook. Then, she made a comparison with the English textbooks in Vietnam and realized there was something wrong in the English textbooks for Vietnamese students. She then wrote a letter to the Minister of Education. After publishing it on Facebook, the letter received more than 24.000 "Like" clicks and more than 10.000 "Share" clicks. Linh said, "I still don't know why people appreciated me after that. I suppose that anybody can write a letter like me, to say anything they want to say. That was not bravery. That was a type of freedom of speech."

The Founder & CEO of Volunteer House Vietnam Project

Volunteer House Vietnam is a non-profit organization which provides free accommodations for foreign travelers in exchange for free English lessons for underprivileged children. VHV's goal is to set up at least one free English class in each province of Vietnam by 2020 for children, especially for disadvantaged ones from 9–12 years old, to be taught by our volunteers and travelers.

In explaining the reason why she chooses English as the focus of her project, Linh said, "English is very important." When Linh wrote a note on Facebook, saying that it was a letter to the Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training, she pointed out the unrealistic points of English textbooks in Vietnam after she read the books in Nepal. "If we see inadequacies, we point out inadequacies, and then we have to do something to fix them," she said. "If we keep complaining, things cannot get any better."

The girl who trekked the Thorung La Pass recalled her time in Nepal, saying people there were in deep poverty, living without the Internet, TV or phones but spoke English very well. "As a person who is not very good at English, I see those who are good at the language having the chance to land well-paid jobs in Vietnam," she added. "I don't want language to be a barrier for Vietnamese people." "Our target is not how many VHV students we teach but raising people's awareness of how important English is," Linh stated. "When people understand the language's importance, they will learn it voluntarily."

Volunteer House Vietnam has so far obtained significant results: Over 2000 volunteers from over the country have registered to be its members; 80 free accommodations from 20 provinces of Vietnam have been offered to Volunteer House Vietnam, 4 English classes in Ho Chi Minh City and 4 English classes in Hanoi were established.

With the growth of volunteers and the support from the community, Linh believes that Vietnamese children can confidently communicate in English - which is the key for them to open the door to the world in the near future.

The Writer of many book for teenagers

After being co-author of ten books of short stories for teenagers, Linh has recently published her first novel "Over the Hill" (Vietnamese: Bên kia đồi) This novel received good reviews from critics. This novel talks about a character named Nu. She is a special kid who always had a different perspective from the majority. Her house is nearby a hill. She wanted to climb on the hill to see something but many old folks in her village told her not to because a lot of souls of soldiers who died in the war were there. Nu was scared but she still kept the thought in her mind that she would go there one day. When Nu grew up, she saw most of people around her had a humdrum existence. They accepted what they had and did not want to change bad habits. She lost faith in people. Then she decided to quit her job to travel. She hoped she could find some good things in India. However, when she went to India, she met a monk who wanted to rape her. Nu run away and returned to Vietnam. At that time she knew why people in Vietnam were satisfied with their prosaic lives. She went back to the part of her village where she wanted to go when she was a child. She climbed to the top of the hill, looked over the hillside but didn't see anything, not even a ghost, nor tree there. She was so disappointed. However, at that time, when she looked back, she found out her village is very beautiful from that view. That was also the time Nu realized that she had grown up.

About the letter for the minister

Le Thanh Phong – a senior journalist in Vietnam said: "The letter which is from Linh attracted people because of the beauty inside her heart. That is her awareness about civic responsibility. A young girl quit her job to travel but not for sightseeing. She spent her time to study the English textbooks of another country to find the good things from there and told that to the Vietnamese people. There are many people who are more fluent in English than Linh but nobody promotes English the same way, because they didn't think it was their responsibility. Many people complain about a lack of patriotism. Nevertheless, they still wind up neglecting their country."

Dr. Nguyen Lan Dung – a professor who is studying biology said: "I agree with Linh's points about English in Vietnam. If Linh studied Biology, I would be willing to invite her for some type of collaboration."

Mr.Vu Khoan – the Deputy Prime Minister in Vietnam shared that "I really had a strong impression about Linh. When her letter became famous on the social network, somebody blamed the Minister of Education due to that. However, when she gave an interview, Linh said, "I don't want to blame the Minister because my English was not good. I blame myself first because I didn't try everything to learn it. Don't blame anyone if you can't take ownership over your own life. My father taught me "Your life is yours, not mine!"

About her novel: "Over the hill"

Mr. Phan Nhat Chieu – the literary critic – the researcher of literature and the translator wrote: "This novel is like the prelude of the piece of music which is full of excitement, strong personality, and experience along with the natural, deep-lying and profound tone of the book.

Ms. Ho Huong Giang - the book reviewer of the Vietnamnet Online Newspaper wrote: "The fascination of this novel is, everything from society truthfully appeared through the view of the kid like the kid who was in "The emperor's new clothes" of the Hans Christian Andersen. That kid is the only person to dare to speak out what he think in front of everybody. In this novel, Nu - a kid who has a lot of questions, found out many defects of the adults around her. That's why she left her country. However, finally she had to return and accepted those. And at that time she found out she was an adult."