Holding Heritage

Meet the amazing Nina Le! Nina is currently the communication coordinator for Montreal’s Concordia University’s TESL Resource Centre and a Master's student in Applied Linguistics at the University. She's focusing on heritage language maintenance and critical pedagogy. Nina was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam until she was 15, when she received a scholarship to study A-level in Cambrid...

In Part 3 of this 3 part series with Sinh Ha, you’ll hear about my dad’s memories of the day his family left down to the beach to board their refugee boat to Hong Kong. Be sure to visit holdingheritage.com for show notes and more information. Music by Blue Wednesday - be sure to check him out! As always, head over to holdingheritage.com to check out the episode show notes! Intro & Outro Music...

This episode is Part 2 of a 3 part series with Sinh Ha - My Dad. In this episode you’ll hear about how and why my grandfather and eldest uncle were put in jail, and my dad’s memories and experiences around these events leading up to their boat journey to Hong Kong. Be sure to visit holdingheritage.com for show notes and more information. Music by Blue Wednesday - be sure to check him out! As alway...

If you’ve listened to episode 2, you’ll have already briefly met my dad and heard a few of his memories, but in this coming 3 part series with him, I’ll guide you through a more detailed account of his early past and experiences.  In Part 1 - you’ll see into what it was like for my dad growing up in North Vietnam as a young boy, and a few of his major childhood memories and experiences. Including...

This episode, I introduce you to my mom, Phuong Ly! She recalls some stories from her childhood  and growing up in Vietnam as well as a few from her family's refugee experiences in China and Hong Kong. We touch on the relationship between my grandmother and great grandmother, and hear a couple touching stories about their incredible love for family.  We also shed a little light on the power o...

Exploring my cultural identity as a 2nd gen Chinese Canadian is a huge part of why I started Holding Heritage and why I'm so passionate about it. Journey to Freedom Day is a national day of commemoration here in Canada of the exodus of Vietnamese refugees. In this episode, I share some of my personal experiences and struggles of growing up and navigating the many layers of my cultural identit...

We take a glimpse into how to approach the daunting task of opening conversation with our parents and how simple connection with them can potentially be. If we’re wanting to learn more about them, our culture, our families, even ourselves - it may not have to be any grand emotional moment, super long conversation or heart shattering interaction. Oftentimes the opening up of even tiny glimpses and...

My name is Hollie! I am a second generation Chinese Canadian. Which means my ethnic background is Chinese and I was born and raised here in Canada - however, my parents and their families were born and raised in Vietnam. In the 1970s after the Vietnam war, my parents' families became one of hundreds of thousands of refugee families fleeing during the enormous refugee  diaspora. These refugees...