Together with 22 others in a fishing boat, Thu Hue Vo Juven had been six days at sea when she was picked up by a Norwegian ship in 1978. She was 21 years old and fleeing from South Viet Nam because it was impossible for her to go to school and get an education there.
- I was not afraid of the travel, but afraid that we should be discovered and taken in by the Vietnamese police, told Thu Hue. Since 1982 she has lived in the town of Gjøvik where she works today as a housing consultant at NAV (the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration).

After some months in Singapore the young Vietnamese woman came to Norway in July 1978.
- It was a big surprise when we saw people in shorts and dresses. We knew that Norway was a cold land, but we thought if others could live here, so could we manage.
Attending a folk high school was the key to the Norwegian language, friends, and a social life. Thu Hue met her future husband Odd Juven in 1979 and they married in 1982. After 14 years she traveled for the first time back to Viet Nam to visit, alone (and afraid). In 1996 the whole family traveled there and since then the trip has become regular.
- At the beginning I longed for home, I didn’t know when I would ever see my family again. In the first visits it was very hard to leave my relatives again. Now that we know we can travel if we have money and time, the missing isn’t so great.

Thu Hue and Odd Juven have two grown children who have good contact with the Vietnamese half of the family. They speak Vietnamese and Thu Hue is proud that she taught them the language. When she and the children are home alone, they speak Vietnamese together.

Thu Hue thinks she has it good I Norway, but isn’t so pleased with the snow and cold. - When the children were small, I thought that my husband and I should move to Viet Nam as retirees. But if we become grandparents, we don’t want to be so far from family in Norway…

At first there was one Vietnamese business in Gjøvik, but that doesn’t exist any longer. Regardless of that, Thu Hue has good contact with others from her homeland. For example, everyone is invited when they celebrate a Vietnamese wedding.

Thu Hue Vo Juven feels she has been lucky.
- But I also have worked hard. I try to guide my children forward with the principle that if you give, you get back.