Pham Khanh Nam is editor-in-chief of a magazine for Vietnamese people living in Germany at the age of 28 thanks to his profound love for journalism as well as the hope of promoting Vietnam to the world.

Nam, a design student who was born in 1987, said he likes the sharing ability, quickness and timeliness of the media and wants to become a bridge that connects Vietnamese living in Germany with his native land.

He insisted on establishing a newspaper and released the first edition of his Huong Viet (Vietnamese Taste) magazine on January 24, 2009.

“The family tradition always reminds me of the homeland as well as the middle region where I was born, although I left Vietnam when I was young,” Nam said.

Nam added that he has had the chance to meet Vietnamese leaders who visited Germany and shared with them the hope of being a bridge that connects compatriots via his magazine.

“I understand that the media can be used as a way to promote the beauty of Vietnam and good characteristics of Vietnamese people to the world as well as my friends in Germany,” Nam said.

Besides its print edition, Huong Viet also has an online radio edition. When print started running into trouble, the magazine was transformed into a news website to be able to provide information in the fastest way.

Five years have passed and Nam and his colleagues are very happy when they talk about the things that they have done so far.

Another motivation is that well-known news agencies in Vietnam often support Nam’s magazine by sharing and publishing stories by Huong Viet.

In 2013, Nam came back to Vietnam and visited the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

“I was among two Vietnamese people living in Germany who had been selected to visit Truong Sa. I was really happy to be a representative who took part in that journey. There’s no word that could describe my happiness and pride, but this feeling followed me until the end of the trip,” he said.

Nam elaborated that the trip helped him learn more about the difficulties that Vietnamese soldiers have to face to protect the country’s sovereignty.

“As a Vietnamese living overseas and coming back from Truong Sa, I told myself to try harder and do more helpful things for the country,” the young editor-in-chief expressed.

After the trip, Huong Viet magazine’s staff cooperated with the Vietnam Business Association in Germany to hold an exhibition which displayed all of the photos taken during the 12-day journey to the Vietnamese island. At the event, the organizers also established a fund to support Truong Sa.

Nam said it is not a temporary program, but he and his colleagues would try their best to connect Vietnam with compatriots living overseas as well as protect the country’s sovereignty.

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