By Arjen IJff
Last September, I participated in a logo design contest organised by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Hanoi and the Consulate-General in Ho Chi Minh City, on the occasion of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Vietnam 1973–2023. At the beginning of October I received the news that I was selected as the winner. I was completely overwhelmed, because for me this is not merely a logo – it reflects my dual identity.
In January 1975, 48 years ago, I was born in the Mekong Delta, in the Vĩnh Long province. As a new born baby, only a few days old, I have been abandoned without any note at the Good Shephed Convent & Orphanage at the To Thi Huynh Street in the city of Vĩnh Long. This orphanage was run by Roman Catholic nuns.
After a few days, I was brought to the residence of the Dutch Embassy in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, through Father Aarts, a Dutch priest and missionary of the Roman Catholic organization of Don Bosco, who worked in Vietnam and was a friend of the Dutch Embassy. He drove a van and brought some children to the Friends of the Children of Vietnam. This was a large orphanage in Go Vap District, also run by nuns. From there, the orphans were distributed to several adoption agencies and embassies. Father Aarts had good contacts with orphanages, especially the Sisters of the Good Shephard in Vĩnh Long.
Orphans with mixed background were ‘in demand’ at the time, partly because babies with lighter skin were favored, but partly also because these children would have a hard time growing up in Vietnam. You could be discriminated or banned from your family because of the tight and hierarchic family culture. My skin was lighter and the blue ‘birth mark’ above my buttocks – the so-called Mongolian spot that is visible in almost all Asian babies at birth – was absent.
For the first months of my life, therefore, I was taken care of in the residence of the Dutch Embassy in Saigon by Mrs. Carolina van Roijen, wife of the Dutch Chargé d’Affaires Jan Herman van Roijen.
In April 1975, just two weeks before the end of the war, Mrs Van Roijen transferred me – together with 26 other orphans – to the Netherlands. We were adopted by lovely parents and built up a good life.
I grew up on the countryside of Beemster Polder, a green and low lying land area below sea level, which has similarities with the Mekong Delta. That’s why the tulip and Lotus flower, which I used in the logo, not only connects both countries, but also my both backgrounds – respectively Beemster and the Mekong Delta. I always feel like a child of both countries.
Now, after almost 50 years, I have created a visual identity for the Netherlands Embassy in Vietnam. It was meant to be, the circle is almost complete. In this 50 years of ties between the Netherlands and Vietnam – and in the Year of the Cat, my Vietnamese zodiac sign – it feels like this is the ultimate chance to find my biological relatives.
Unfortunately the orphanage in Vĩnh Long was demolished after the war. A large square has replaced it. Only a tamarind tree, between the square and the Mekong River, reminds me of the orphanage, my ‘place of birth’. This tamarind tree has now a symbolic meaning for me: it is – so far – the only witness left of my early existence.
To be continued. Chúc mừng năm mới!
www.arjenijff.nl
instagram.com/ijffoto
www.arjenijff.nl
instagram.com/ijffoto
