Family happiness is about love and understanding.

PV:Ms. Nguyen Thi Le, Distinguished Artisan, we understand that you and your husband, Mr. Le Xuan Hien, have been together for over 40 years, experiencing countless joys, sorrows, happiness, and hardships… Could you share a little about your journey together up to the present day?

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le:My husband and I are both from Van Tap village, Dien Binh commune, now Minh Chau commune, Dien Chau district. Our houses are only a few dozen meters apart, so we've known each other since we were children. As we grew up, we participated in community activities and movements together, and we fell in love. After nearly seven years of dating, in 1979, Hien and I officially got married. At that time, Hien was working in the education sector, and I was a community leader in the commune.

Two months after our wedding, Mr. Hien was assigned by the Education Department to reinforce the Central Highlands provinces, while I returned to work as a book distributor at a bookstore in Dien Chau district. Three years later, when my husband completed his assignment and returned, I finally experienced the joy of motherhood. After having our first son in 1982, and eight years later, my husband and I had a daughter.

After my husband returned from the Central Highlands, we moved to Dien Ky commune, near Dien Chau town. Mr. Hien continued working in the district's education sector for a while before transferring to the District Political Center, then the Dien Chau District Party Committee, while I remained in my job as a book distributor until 2009 when I retired. Six years later, in 2015, after Mr. Hien retired, we returned to our hometown in Van Tap village, Minh Chau commune.

After retiring and returning to our hometown, my husband and I, with our love for and enthusiasm for community activities, continued to be involved in local community work. I participated in women's association activities, while Mr. Hien was an exemplary village official, dedicated to his work. One of the achievements we are most proud of is our revival of the Dien Binh Commune's Folk Arts and Sports Club, which was famous in the 1980s, bringing the local culture, arts, and sports movement back to life. In 2018, with over 10 active members who shared a passion and knowledge of folk songs, we established the Dien Binh Commune Folk Song Club, now the Minh Chau Commune Folk Song Club, and I have served as its chairman ever since.

It's worth adding that, even during my time participating in local movements, I was already a renowned folk singer. During my years in the district, although working in book publishing, I was also one of the key figures in the district's arts scene, frequently performing with the district's amateur arts troupe in the province and many other cities. There, besides performing, I also wrote scripts and composed new lyrics for folk songs and traditional performances.

Regarding the Minh Chau Commune Folk Song Club, it currently has nearly 30 members from various professions, ranging from farmers, construction workers, and small traders to civil servants and teachers. The club holds meetings at least once a month at the commune's cultural center and in the hamlets, primarily focusing on practicing traditional Nghe Tinh folk songs, collecting, compiling, and writing new lyrics, and organizing training sessions for members and those who love folk songs in the area.

In addition, the club participates in performances at local cultural events such as festivals, new rural development celebrations, clan conventions, etc., and especially organizes exchanges with many folk song clubs in the province as well as in neighboring provinces such as Thai Binh and Hoa Binh. For my contributions to the preservation and dissemination of the Vi and Giam folk songs, in 2022, I was honored to be awarded the title of Outstanding Artisan by the President of Vietnam.

PV:Behind that title of Distinguished Artisan, there must surely be the silent contribution of her husband, Mr. Le Xuan Hien?

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le:That's right! As I said, we were both involved together and became key figures in the local cultural and artistic movement from a very young age. During our years working in the district, although in different fields, Mr. Hien always encouraged and facilitated my participation in the district's cultural and artistic activities.

After retiring and returning to our hometown, we resumed participating in village and commune activities together, just like when we were young. Mr. Hien is also an active member of the Arts and Sports Club and the Folk Song and Traditional Music Club of Minh Chau commune. His companionship has given me added motivation and inspiration in organizing activities to spread folk songs and traditional music.

PV:After more than 40 years together, have you and your spouse ever faced any challenges in your married life, and how did you overcome them?

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le:My wife and I are very fortunate to have known each other since childhood, and to have gradually come to understand each other through participating in local community activities before getting married. Therefore, overall, we have had a harmonious family life.

However, in our married life, there were sometimes small waves. As I mentioned, I'm an extrovert, a key member of the Dien Chau district's amateur performing arts group, quite popular with girls in my youth, and I often performed far from home. Therefore, it was inevitable that I would be subjected to flirtatious remarks and gossip... When Hien found out about these things, he couldn't help but show signs of jealousy and anger. But being a loving and understanding husband, he quickly regained his composure, frankly shared his feelings, expressed his trust in me, and encouraged me to continue participating in performing arts activities.

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My husband's love and trust have earned my admiration, and they have been a "fortress" that has helped me avoid temptations and overcome criticism, leading to a happy family life to this day.

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le - Head of the Folk Song Club of Minh Chau commune (Dien Chau).

PV:I also learned that, in their family life, my grandparents had also experienced a great loss, a very deep pain...

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le:In 2007, a major tragedy struck my family when our eldest and only son passed away at the age of 25 in a traffic accident, leaving behind his young wife and a 7-month-old daughter. Prior to that, he had graduated from the Political Science Department of the Institute of Journalism and Communication (now the Academy of Journalism and Communication), married a classmate from Bac Giang province, and brought his wife back to his hometown. At that time, our son was working at the District Political Center, while his wife was selling goods in Dien Ky commune.

Losing our only son was an irreplaceable loss for my wife and me. However, our biggest worry afterwards was the future of our daughter-in-law and grandson. My daughter-in-law became a widow at only 25, and our grandson no longer had his father's presence. Therefore, my wife and I poured all our love into the two of them, treating our daughter-in-law like our own daughter, spending time with her and talking to her to help her overcome her grief. We also found her a government job so she could have a more stable income.

However, as a woman, I understood that my daughter-in-law would eventually need a man to rely on, so after the memorial service for my son, I advised her to go to the temple to perform a ritual to sever her ties with her previous marriage so she could remarry. After that, several men approached her, but what was special was that she confided everything to me, and then decided, "I won't remarry because I'm afraid of being separated from my parents, and I'm afraid no in-laws will love me more than my parents!" Later, during her career, she strived and matured, becoming a District Party Committee member, a representative of the District People's Council, and the Party Secretary of a commune in Dien Chau district. My granddaughter is an outstanding student at Nguyen Xuan On High School.

Furthermore, my daughter also has a warm and loving family, with two grandsons who are both well-behaved and excellent students. Compared to many other couples, I don't have many children and grandchildren, but there is always a strong bond between my wife and me and our children, grandchildren, and in-laws. In our locality, my family has been voted a model cultural family for many consecutive years.

PV:According to her, what is the "secret" to her family's happiness and strong bond?

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le:A happy family isn't just about material comfort; it's about everyone being healthy, having stable jobs, living together harmoniously, and caring for one another. Certainly, each family will have effective ways to balance work and family life, striving to maintain these values ​​of happiness. For my family, happiness is simply being loved, understood, and shared with.

To achieve the peaceful and harmonious life we ​​have now, my wife and I have overcome many difficulties. These included financial hardship, the initial distance between us, unavoidable conflicts and disagreements, and even losses as I've mentioned. But we've always believed that love and sharing are the core of family happiness, and that each member must truly be a builder of the home. Everyone has flaws, and I firmly believe that with love, understanding, and sharing, only family members possess the compassion, tolerance, and patience to help each other improve and become better.

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Whenever we face difficulties in life, whether we are sad or happy, our family is the first place my wife and I want to return to, and my husband and I are the first people we each want to share our feelings with.

Distinguished Artisan Nguyen Thi Le - Head of the Folk Song Club of Minh Chau commune (Dien Chau district)

From there, empathy, understanding, and trust between husband and wife increase, and only when trust in each other is complete will happiness be abundant. My wife and I have had that trust for over 40 years, and we always strive to spread it to our children and grandchildren, always working to make our family "exemplary grandparents and parents, and filial children and grandchildren."

PV:CThank you for this conversation!