Book Excerpt

Tourists to Vietnam often visit the beaches south of Da Nang, and many of them wander into the famously lush coconut groves. It’s easy to become disoriented and lost if you’re not paying attention.

Binh Rybacki was one such wanderer. In 1994, she was working as a mid-level database technology manager at Hewlett Packard. She used her vacation time that year to return to Vietnam after an 18-year absence. She volunteered as a translator for a group of American doctors who were teaching their Vietnamese counterparts the latest techniques in open-heart surgery. “I was an information technologist, but I thought the mission would look good on my resume,” she offers mischievously. The trip was her first to Vietnam since her family’s escape.

Binh had grown up in a privileged family. In Saigon, her father was a professor of Vietnamese history and literature, and the author of several textbooks, including a tome on the development of modern Vietnamese from the ancient Chinese character-based language. The revered Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh, studied in their home with her father. Thich was later nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

To read Bihn’s full story, get a copy of Changing Lanes.