Vietnamese teacher devotes life to Angola’s education

Teacher Nguyen Lan Phuong, married to one scientist and mother to two, has spent 10 years devoting her life to the education of Angola.

Although living abroad, she is always proud of her efforts and support in nurturing the talents of her husband and two sons.

Phuong (R) attended a meeting with General Secretary Nong Duc Manh when she returned home on the occasion of 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi

Teacher Phuong was born in Hanoi and grew up with 6 siblings in her family. Her father joined the army during the war and was often away from home. Her mother struggled to raise Phuong and her siblings.

Phuong made a promise to herself that she had to study hard in order to honour the love and hardships of her parents. Her continuous efforts had helped her to gain fruitful results.

Despite a difficult life during the war, Phuong always achieved excellent study results and was sent to attend a the Mathematics Competition of the North in 1966. One year later, she was sent to study the major of theoretical physics at a university in Romania.

In 1971, after graduating, she returned home with a bachelor’s receiving excellent merit and began working at the Hanoi Teacher Training College.

In 1977, Phuong was one of the first teachers holding a master’s degree issued by the Hanoi National University of Education.

During nearly 20 years of teaching at the Hanoi Teacher Training College, she was recognised as an excellent teacher of Hanoi.

1996 marked a turning point in her life when she was selected to work in Angola and help the country improve their education system.

While she was living in Angola, her two sons tried to study well so that she would not have to worry about them and could make all efforts to fulfill her duties there.

In 2006, only when her health started declining, she worked as a consultant for Pedrinho Producoes company in Angola, after having made major contribution to the country's education.

The woman behind 3 scientists

Teacher Nguyen Lan Phuong

Living away from home for 14 years, her biggest happiness has been to be a mother and wife who supports and sacrifices for the career of three scientists in her family.

She cannot hide her pride when she talks about her husband, Le Phuc Quoc, who is an architect and a professional translator. She admires him a lot for what he has accomplished. She said that he was a very talented and dedicated scientist and showed off his latest work which include an encyclopedia of architecture, painting, sculpture, graphic arts and decoration. It has nearly 1,300 pages and was published in 2010. It contains rich knowledge of different cultures in the world.

Quoc is one of the first translators who was sent to study Russian in Moscow. He has translated 15 Russian books and many other documents on architecture from English, French, German, Spanish or Chinese into Vietnamese.

Her two sons, Le Thanh Ha and Le Quoc Cuong also make her proud. Both studied a major of Information & Technology at Hanoi University of Science & Technology. Ha holds a master’s issued in Sydney, Australia and is working for IBM in Vietnam. Cuong holds a PhD degree issued in Paris, France and is working for Panasonic Corporation.

Additionally, Phuong often helps Vietnamese people working in Angola when they have any trouble with the local authorities because of the language barrier. She is President of Vietnamese Association in Fapa, Angola.