Vietnamese Community in Great Britain – THIRTY YEARS ON

THE Vietnamese Community in Great Britain – THIRTY YEARS ON A RUNNYMEDE COMMUNITY STUDY BY JESSICA MAI SIMS THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN - THIRTY YEARS ON About Runnymede Community Studies In reflecting on the changing nature of ethnic diversity in Britain, it becomes increasingly clear that we have to move beyond binary notions of white and non-white to explain the ways in which racisms operate, identities are formed and people live out their lives. The societies in which we live are becoming more diverse and will continue to diversify as migration patterns change, and the impacts of globalisation are reflected in labour markets as well as in transnational movement of capital. This series of community studies aims to promote understanding of the diversity within and between different ethnic groups. Our intention is to build up a collection of studies which focus on communities; their demography, links to civil society, and key political and social issues. We hope that over time this will provide a rich resource for understanding how diversity is lived and experienced away from the necessarily crude ethnic monitoring form, in a vital and dynamic multi-ethnic society. Published by Runnymede in January 2007 in electronic version only, this document is copyright © 2007 the Runnymede Trust. Reproduction of this report by printing, photocopying or electronic means for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Otherwise, it is not permitted to store or transmit the electronic version of this report, nor to print, scan or photocopy any paper version for dissemination or commercial use, without the prior permission of the publisher. Researchers and commentators may quote from this document without charge provided they cite the author, title and the publishers when they acknowledge the source of the material quoted. The publisher would prefer that no individual quotation should exceed 400 words, and that the total material quoted should not exceed 800 words. THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN - THIRTY YEARS ON Vietnamese Community in Great Britain – Thirty Years On JESSICA MAI SIMS The Vietnamese at a Glance Population and Geography Housing • As of the 2001 Census there were 22,954 people born •Astudy by Refugee Action highlighted during the in Vietnam in England and Wales; however since years up to 1993 Vietnamese people were there is no explicit Vietnamese category, information concentrated in overcrowded Local Authority about Vietnamese born in Britain is unknown housing • Community organisations estimate there are at least •Amore recent study on housing cited overcrowding, 55,000 Vietnamese in England and Wales, 20,000 of ‘told to leave home’, ‘health/medical’ and whom are undocumented migrants and at least 5,000 ‘relationship breakdown’ as commonly stated reasons overseas students for housing associations to house people from South • In England and Wales, 60% of the people born in East Asian backgrounds Vietnam live in London; over 1/3 of whom live in the boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark and Hackney Health •APRIAE (2005) study of BME elderly showed there Employment were high incidences of osteoporosis and memory • Among the first refugees, most were uneducated, had problems among Chinese/Vietnamese elderly few transferable skills and did not speak English surveyed • Over the last 5 years the nail industry has become the • In 2004, the most commonly requested language for fastest growing UK Vietnamese business sector, interpretation in Lewisham PCTs was Vietnamese accounting for over half of all Vietnamese businesses • The Vietnamese Mental Health Services have in London identified inability to speak English or understand its • The nail industry and catering are speculated to be written form, unfamiliarity with the complex British the largest employment sectors of Vietnamese workers health and social services system, lack of knowledge •Within London, people born in Vietnam between the about relevant social welfare allowances, Vietnamese ages of 16 to 64 were among the groups with the cultural beliefs, mainstream approach of services, lack highest unemployment rates (23.5%); however, in of sympathy and support from professionals, and Lewisham the unemployment rate of Vietnamese financial difficulties all as obstacles to Vietnamese people is estimated to be as high as 60% gaining access to health services Education Immigration • Among the first refugees, it was estimated that 76% • First refugees came between the years of 1975 and received education below secondary school level 1981. Most of these refugees were from North • There is no Vietnamese category for ethnic monitoring Vietnam and ethnically Chinese purposes so educational achievement across the • Family reunification during the 1980s accounted for country is unknown the second migration movement from Vietnam to the • The 2001 Census reported among people born in UK Vietnam within greater London, 18.7% had higher level • More recently migrants from Vietnam have come in qualifications, 15% lower than the London average the form of asylum seekers, undocumented migrants •Within the London Borough of Lambeth Vietnamese and overseas students pupils, along with Indian and Chinese pupils, achieved higher results than other ethnic groups in Religion the borough, with Vietnamese girls outperforming • Buddhism and Christianity are the two main faiths Vietnamese boys followed by the Vietnamese i THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN - THIRTY YEARS ON Relevant Organisations and Websites Abbeyfield Cambridge Greenwich Vietnam Community Vietnamese Development Centre Vietnamese Society 3-4 Bereford Street 34 Holyhead Road An Lac House Woolwich SE18 6BB Handsworth 280 Coldham Lane Tel: 020 8854 9907 Birmingham B21 0LT Cambridge CB1 3HN Email: Vietnam_greenwich@ Tel: 0121 551 7751 Tel: 012 2350 1019 yahoo.co.uk Web: http://www.vdc.org.uk An-Viet Foundation Greenwich Vietnamese Vietnamese Education Network An Viet House Women’s Group 28 The Heights 12-14 Englefied Road c/o Community Centre London SE7 8JH London N1 4LS 16 Leslie Smith Square Tel: 020 8858 3729 Tele: 0171 275 7780 Woolwich SE18 4DW Web: http://members.aol.com/ Vietnamese Mental Health Services anvietuk Lien Viet Housing Association Thomas Calton Centre 100 Morning Lane Alpha Street Bexley Vietnamese Community London E9 6LH SE 15 4NX 11 Marran Way Tel: 020 8986 6123 Tel: 020 7639 2288 Thamesmead Web: http://www.lienviet.org.uk Website: http://www.vmhs.org.uk Erith Kent DA18 4BP Midlands Vietnamese Refugees The Vietnamese Tel: 020 8310 0138 Community Association Professional Society 8 Charleville Road 60 Hurstbourne Road Bristol & District Handsworth London SE23 2AB Vietnamese Refugees Community Birmingham B19 1DA Web: www.vps-uk.org Ujima House Tel: 012 1554 9685 97-107 Wilder Street Vietnamese Refugee Bristol BS1 8QU Nottingham Vietnamese Centre Community in Croydon Tel: 011 7944 5657 30 Wiverton Road Cornerstone House Forest Field 14 Willis Road Community Centre for Refugees Nottingham NG7 6NP Croydon CR0 2XX from Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia Tel: 011 5969 1288 Tel: 020 8665 0713 151 Whiston Road London E2 8BN Portsmouth Vietnamese Association Vietnamese Refugees Tel: 020 7739 3650 Friendship House Community in Northampton Elm Grove Farm House Community of Refugees from Southsea Rectory Farm Vietnam – East London Portsmouth PO5 1JT Olden 119 East India Dock Road Tel: 023 9275 5727 Northampton NN3 5DD London E14 6DE Tel: 020 7538 4986 Southwest London Vietnamese Vietnamese Women Group – Email: [email protected] Community Association Southwark 44 Church Road Top Floor Deptford Vietnamese Project Teddington Bellenden Old School Lind Clinic Middlesex TW11 8PB Bellenden Road James Lind House Tel: 020 8943 4842 London SE15 4DG Grove Street Tel: 020 7277 8642 London SE8 3QF Southwark Social Services Tel: 020 8692 8830 Family Resource Team-South West & Northwest London Vietnamese Family Support Project Vietnamese Association Federation of Refugees Sumner House 58b Bulwer Street from Vietnam in Lewisham Sumner Road London W12 8AP Evelyn Community Centre London SE15 5QS Tel: 020 8742 9745 Wotton Road Tel: 020 7525 0598 Deptford SE8 5TQ Tel: 020 8694 0952 ii THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN - THIRTY YEARS ON Introduction The Vietnamese are just one of the many ethnic unfavourable economic conditions. Most of them groups in the United Kingdom that never quite were from rural backgrounds, challenging social make it into the public consciousness. Unlike the conditions and were largely completely new to Chinese community, their perceived cultural ally, the English language and British society and the Vietnamese community is very small. Despite culture. Once in the UK, these refugees were the majority of refugees from Vietnam being in forcibly dispersed around the country into what fact ethnically Chinese, there is a definite were effectively pockets of isolation. distinction between people of the Vietnamese Existing research of the Vietnamese in Britain community and Chinese community in the UK. has concentrated on the first large wave of The reality of the Vietnamese flight from Vietnam immigration, or the first refugees. This information as political refugees is just one reason why the gives us a picture of the Vietnamese as poorly two communities might not see eye to eye. Mr educated, with few transferable employment skills Lê, who works in a Vietnamese community and a debilitating lack of English-language organisation, puts it this way: competence – but the information largely stops there. From accounts

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