Both Carole and I were shocked and saddened to hear about Mr Thanh’s illness and then his passing away last Friday.  He has been very much in our thoughts over recent weeks, and today we are thinking especially about his family, his friends and all the people who have known him and worked with him.  We feel very fortunate to have known him during our 7 years here in Da Nang.

We first arrived in October 2007 as English teachers.  I was the manager of a language centre and, in that role, I was asked to meet with the very important city official Mr Nguyen Ba Thanh.  The meeting took place in his office in the People’s Council building and we immediately struck up a friendship although the situation seemed quite intimidating at the time.  By the end of the meeting, I had agreed to teach English to Mr Thanh, with Carole teaching his wife.

For the next year, on two evenings each week, we went to Mr Thanh’s home to teach them.  We were always made very welcome by the family and staff, and there was always food items and drinks available for refreshment in case we had not had time for a meal.  Sometimes Mr Thanh was delayed at his work, and he quite often seemed very tired after the rigours of his day.  Nevertheless, he was always determined to go ahead with his English lesson for the sake of bettering his communication with overseas guests and officials visiting Da Nang.

For an English teacher, he was not the ideal student!  He said he didn’t want to learn grammar, didn’t want any homework, wouldn’t do exercises in class, and only wanted to learn the English translation of key words he would use in his job!  I tried to explain that knowing the words, for example ‘socio-economic development’, was useless without being able to put them in a sentence, or indeed understand a reply from his guest, but Mr Thanh was resolute.  However, he had a weakness - he loved football, especially Da Nang and Manchester United.  This was the breakthrough.  Every lesson I could easily get him to chat about recent football news and, through this, he gradually improved his grammar and vocabulary without realising!

Mr Thanh and his delightful wife Quy became our good friends and we were able to enjoy each others’ company and hospitality.  We even returned the favour - on 2 occasions Mr Thanh visited our home.  The first time was very memorable for us because he spent 2 hours sampling all the Western food we had prepared, and he left saying that he felt privileged to have met such ‘normal people’!!  We took that as a compliment!

In April of 2008 we found out that his birthday was coming soon.  What on earth could we buy him?  Then we had a brainwave.  We took advantage of his profound love of Da Nang Football Club and asked our tailor to make a dressing gown in the team’s orange, with his name and number 1 on the back.  He was thrilled with this unique and unusual gift, especially as he had apparently been a goalkeeper in his playing days – another link to the number 1.

After finishing our teaching year with him, and especially after his job move to Ha Noi, we had little contact with Mr Thanh but we still have very fond memories of the way he and his family made us feel very welcome in ‘his’ city in our early days.  He showed us kindness and care at a time when we needed it.

As we say goodbye to a committed son of Da Nang, we send our deep condolences to Quy and her family.  We hope that these words will help them through this terrible time:

“There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, and people we can’t live without but have to let go.  What we have enjoyed we can never lose, because all that we love deeply becomes part of us.”

Written by Ian Lister and Carole Kendal - English Editors for Danang Today