It’s quiet in this room, just as it was a year ago as you lay fighting for your last breaths.
It’s easy to put my mind back to that time when the whole city was locked down. Even now, the sound of the traffic is distant enough to imagine the streets are as empty as they were then. We were all trapped in our homes, not knowing when things would ever change. You were still here at Cho Ray, not so far away from where I sit now, surrounded by doctors struggling to help you live.
Today the book we wrote about your life story and sacrifice is officially released, so that readers everywhere will have the chance to know you. You may be gone, but your story will remain, just as your music remains for those who have the heart to listen.
I may not be Vietnamese, but I’m still one of the people who got his shot in this country at a time when vaccines were precious. You’re the one who refused to be immunised, because you believed your life was no more precious than anyone else’s. You’re the one who set out on these emptied streets to bring hope to the suffering, even though you knew it would put you at terrible risk.
Even as a foreigner in this country, I should thank you too. What you did helped me as much as it does everyone else in this place.
If I could sit with you now, Phi Nhung, I’d want to tell you that people are starting to buy and read your book already. I’d want you to know that it has already hit the bestseller list in the US, that it has already begun to generate new funding to continue your charity work. I hope that the news would make you smile, it’s a smile I wish I could see. As writers, this is our tribute to you out of respect for your fight.
You were so close then, on that final day. Somehow after a year has passed, you’re still near. You’ll always be close to those who love you, now that your fight is over.
Thank you for your service, and thank you for your story. Thank you for the opportunity to write your biography. Rest in peace, Nhung. Don’t keep your distance from me.
For those who want to read Phi Nhung’s life story and support her charity work, go to https://amzn.to/3S2tsDN (international) or to order from SaigonBooks call 0902551818 (within Vietnam).