Berlin (VNA) – For more than a decade, Nguyen Van Cuong, a Vietnamese expat living in Germany, has opened five family-owned apartments in Hanoi’s Linh Dam neighbourhood rent-free to the sons and daughters of soldiers stationed on Truong Sa (Spratly). For Cuong, it is a simple gesture of backing those who serve on distant seas.
The story starts more than 30 years ago. Cuong graduated from Hanoi Tourism College and moved to Germany to make a life. In 1996, he and his wife launched a family supermarket in central Berlin. Almost three decades of steady business later, he poured cash into a residential building with about 80 rental units in Linh Dam. He carved out five of those flats, not for income, but for the children of Truong Sa’s officers and soldiers.
Cuong grew up in a family steeped in Vietnam’s revolutionary tradition, so deep patriotism was second nature. In 2014, he joined other Vietnamese in Germany in initiatives supporting the country’s seas and islands. Learning about the daily grind of soldiers on Truong Sa, the father in him kicked in. He thought that if their kids had a stable roof over their heads and could focus on school, parents serving far offshore would have one less thing to worry about.
He and his wife decided to hand over the five flats at no charge as long as the students needed them through their university years in Hanoi. Cuong runs his life and business in Germany, so he doesn’t manage the properties directly. Instead, his sister in Vietnam watches over the units and helps the students with whatever comes up. From Berlin, he keeps tabs from afar and flies home regularly to check on the apartments and fix anything that’s broken.
Word spread through journalist circles, and soon university students whose parents serve on Truong Sa learned about the apartments and moved in. Cuong’s family outfitted each unit with beds, wardrobes, a kitchen, a TV, internet and daily essentials. When the young arrivals showed up, the family also handed them electric kettles, rice cookers, notebooks and pens.
Over the last 10 years, about 20-30 students have cycled through the apartments. Cuong doesn’t dwell on the numbers. What sticks with him are the visits from parents who journeyed all the way from Truong Sa to the mainland just to see their children in Linh Dam. “Seeing those families reunited makes me very happy,” he says.
In 2015, Cuong travelled to Da Lon island in Truong Sa. Seeing up close the punishing conditions sailors endure there gave him an even deeper respect for their mission.
Back in Berlin, he joined the Truong Sa Club in Germany. Even with a crammed schedule, he makes time to support the club, donating money, gathering documents and photos, helping put together exhibitions about Vietnam’s seas and islands that travel to cities across Germany.
His wife, Nguyen Bich Thuy, has backed him throughout. The couple’s love for Vietnam has quietly passed to their children, too. Every trip home, their two daughters pack little gifts for the students and kids living in the apartment complex.
Bui Thi Thu Minh, Chairwoman of the Truong Sa Club in Germany, said Cuong is one of the club’s most devoted members and has made remarkable contributions in both cash and kind. Whenever the club needs an extra hand, he’s always ready to step up.
Looking ahead, Cuong said his family will keep offering the accommodation. If possible, he wants to reserve the five apartments for Truong Sa soldiers’ children not just for now, but permanently.
“Vietnamese people all love their country, and we just show it in different ways. I believe what we give will live on”, Cuong said./.
