Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong is the first Vietnamese servicewoman to serve as the military observer at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and during her term of office, she was considered a “herald of peace” at the mission.
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Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong |
In 2001, Phuong passed the entrance exam to Thai Nguyen University of Education and majored in English. However, she had always hoped to become a soldier ever since young age as her grandfather used to be a soldier. She, therefore, applied for a job vacancy at the Army Officer Training School No.1 after graduating from university. She was then admitted and worked as an instructor of English at the school.
Phuong may be a military instructor for her whole life if it had not been for an opportunity that came in 2016 when she attended a workshop on English teaching held in Australia. There, she came to know about the peacekeeping force and started to nurture her dream of becoming a peacekeeper. In 2018, she was recruited to the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations (VNDPKO) and officially became a Vietnamese peacekeeper.
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South Sudan Minister of Defense and Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong |
It is not easy to meet all the strict requirements to become a peacekeeper, as it requires not only fitness and a good command of English, but also the abilities to operate signal equipment, work independently in the multinational and multicultural environment of conflict and adapt to any working conditions. Those requirements are already hard for servicemen, not to mention servicewomen. However, Phuong passed all the exams and became a peacekeeper, leaving her family to start working as a military observer in South Sudan in November 2019.
At the UNIMISS, as the military observer of the mission, Phuong usually conducted brief and long-day patrols both by road and by air. During her term of office, she joined four patrol sessions together with military and civilian forces of the UNMISS prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, she was sent to work at the UNMISS Headquarters and joined seven other patrol sessions together with the mission’s force commander and deputy force commander.
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Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong visiting and presenting gifts to women and children |
Apart from taking on patrol missions, Phuong often met and negotiated with leaders of military units of both the government and opposition forces at checkpoints, ensuring safety for the U.N. force while working. She also joined meetings with local officials to grasp the real local political, security and humanitarian situations. As a results, a lot of people in South Sudan knew her and called her “the steel rose,” mild but strong and brave.
For more than a year working in South Sudan, Phuong made a lot of contact with local governments and people to learn more about poverty that is ravaging the country. In her first long-day patrol to Lobonok and Kapeto, she met a young girl just around 16 or 18 years old, but already became the mother of twins. The girl brought her children to meet Phuong and confided in Phuong her misery and hardships. The patrol mission then provided her with food and reported the case to higher levels.
After that patrol trip, Phuong started to better understand the significance and importance of the job she was doing and often tried to meet local women and children to learn more about their hardships, aspirations and hopes. She came to learn that life in South Sudan is still full of challenges and difficulties, as violence, poverty and hunger are still lingering on around them. Most of the girls in this country cannot attend school and have to get married at young ages.
As she often met them, local women and girls were eager to meet her to listen to her stories and receive her small gifts. They gradually reserved increasingly bigger love for her. Every time when they met Phuong, they showed joy and welcomed her heartily. The sentiments of the locals made Phuong feel proud to be a Vietnamese peacekeeper.
After finishing her term of office in South Sudan, Phuong was awarded with various medals and certificates of merit of the missions for her outstanding accomplishment of duties. Returning to Vietnam, Phuong still keeps on working hard to be “the herald of peace,” promoting the virtues of Uncle Ho’s soldiers, contributing to safeguarding the Fatherland and building a nation of peace, stability and happiness.
Translate by Huu Duong