http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/index/ en U.S. Department of State 2009-11-20T23:01:01+00:00 Secretary Clinton's 4th of July Message

About the Author: Angela Aggeler serves as Assistant Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Just say Fourth of July to many of us in the Foreign Service and our first thought is of an official reception. I immediately imagine standing in the backyard of the Ambassador’s Residence (could be anywhere), heels sinking into rapidly degrading lawn, sweating fiercely (usually), clutching an empty glass and trying to make myself understood in the local language. All to say these events can be, at a minimum, hazardous to one’s wardrobe.

This year seems different though, and I feel quite moved to be here in Vietnam for our Embassy event. For starters it’s in a hotel with air conditioning and good solid flooring. But even more compelling is the grand echo of history reverberating around us. Ambassador Michalak wrote a statement for this year’s Independence Day, invoking what has been called the most famous sentence in the English language: “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Yet in 1852, in a famous Fourth of July speech Frederick Douglass demanded to know what the meaning of Independence Day was for our nation’s slaves. Today, 233 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and 157 years after Frederick Douglass’ speech against slavery in the U.S., we have an African American President, who took office in our 43rd peaceful transfer of power of our nations office – watched by millions of people here in Vietnam.

Many Americans are surprised to learn that these moving words were evoked here in Vietnam as well, in 1945 by Ho Chi Minh. Quoting that famous sentence verbatim, he added, “This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.”

It was only 14 years ago this month that President Clinton announced the normalization of bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam - again, reverberations of history: a sad, shared history of tragic loss of beloved life on both sides. And though, as with race in the United States, we have much work ahead of us, there is so much that is good that is moving briskly forward. We are cooperating on education, security, trade, health, climate change, governance and myriad other issues. And at our Independence Day reception, Ambassador Michalak and a Senior Vietnamese Minister will raise a toast to our two countries, with genuine wishes for the prosperity, security and a deepening friendship. Reconciliation is an extraordinary force for change.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/vietnam_july_fourth/ 2009-07-03T18:38:23+00:00 About the Author: Angela Aggeler serves as Assistant Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

It takes nerves of steel just to navigate your motorbike through Hanoi’s terrifying traffic scene, let alone struggle to fulfill the accepted role of a woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister while trying to expand your new role as a professional and a career person in this wonderful but tradition-bound country. A couple weeks ago, I interviewed a brilliant young female candidate for one of our exchange programs. This 23 year old law student had lost both parents as an infant and been raised by grandparents who struggled to feed themselves. Through sheer determination and hard work, she received scholarships to an elite high school and then university. She described to me the regularity with which she was told – by family, teachers, colleagues and friends – that women shouldn’t be attorneys. But she was having none of that and had committed herself not only to graduating from one of Vietnam’s top law schools at the head of her class, but working to create more legal aid clinics for the underprivileged.

Women of courage abound here. An extraordinary alumnus of our International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) started the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women, Adolescents (CSAGA.) It’s a cumbersome acronym but an inspiringly efficient and active NGO. CSAGA started Vietnam’s first domestic violence help line and developed a number of programs to support and protect this country’s most vulnerable citizens. As with many countries around the globe, domestic violence is sadly common in Vietnam and crosses all economic and social boundaries. CSAGA was instrumental in pushing the first Vietnamese law ever to combat this scourge, though each day the phones continue to ring on their help line.

So CSAGA’s founder, an active participant in the year-old Vietnam Alumni Association, took advantage of one of the alumni grant opportunities, got a couple other women’s groups together, and drafted a proposal to take this issue further down into the grass roots. The Proposal, which was happily (and unsurprisingly) accepted, includes the organization of a series of provincial workshops and seminars on combating Domestic Violence and – a first for Vietnam – the importance of volunteerism in addressing these issues. The workshops, which started in November 2008 and will continue through this April, will include hundreds of local commune and provincial leaders. The alumni are also working with local television to create a panel discussion on empowering women and protecting all citizens from violence in the home. And there’s a victims’ art exhibition planned, and a new clinic, and more seminars and, as they tell me each time we meet, so much more to do.

In Vietnam, every day is women of courage day.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/women_navigate/ 2009-03-11T17:33:45+00:00