What comes to mind when you think of Vietnamese people living in the UK? Vietnamese restaurants, hardworking students, nail bars, undocumented migrants, Vietnamese women married to British guys?
The first major influx of Vietnamese people to the UK followed the 1979 border war with China. Most of those ‘boat people’ were Chinese Vietnamese. Accepted by the UK as refugees, many eventually settled in Deptford in London.
Today more than 50,000 Vietnamese people can be found in different parts of the UK, with the largest number in London followed by Birmingham, and then a few hundred in some of our other big cities. Much smaller than the number of people of Chinese origin, many British people find them hard to distinguish.
A small evangelical Vietnamese fellowship meets in Deptford. It started in 2013 at the request of someone who came to faith through the ministry of an OMF worker who had returned to the UK. He partnered with a Vietnamese studying at a Bible College here, to visit Vietnamese community centres.
With the growth of the middle class in Vietnam and the value families place on education, those who can afford to increasingly send their children overseas for some part of their university studies. Some come to the UK. Quieter and fewer than their Chinese counterparts, they are often unnoticed. But it’s not unusual to find them in groups run by Friends International or churches reaching out to international students.
Many people were shocked when 39 young Vietnamese people were found dead in the back of a lorry in October 2019. Now some cross the channel in small boats. In Vietnam, gangs organising routes to the UK tell the success stories. Those who have died are forgotten except by their families. These migrants hope to find work to help their families financially, as most come from the poorest regions of Vietnam. Many end up in nail bars and cannabis farms, undocumented, and struggling with the debt that has been incurred to get here.
A few Vietnamese people who come to the UK are Christians already, others have found faith during their time in the UK and have been discipled. A few of those who have started their Christian journey here have returned to Vietnam to tell family and friends of riches they weren’t even thinking of when they came to the UK to improve their career opportunities.
Anne-Marie Prescott
Beyond Borders worker
With co-authors
