Frenchman spends near-decade looking for Vietnamese mother

He hasn’t found her yet. But he also has no intention of giving up.

“There hasn’t been a day that’s passed by without me thinking about my biological mother,” the 29-year-old man says. “I wonder to myself how she looks and how she is living.”

Clement Cuong Herissard at a cafe in District 10, HCMC, on June 4, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Ngan

Clement Cuong Herissard was born in 1994 at Hung Vuong Hospital in District 5, HCMC. He only knows two things about his mother: Her name is Le Thi Hong Van, and she was only 18 at that time.

After the delivery, she asked the hospital to find someone to adopt her son. She told the staff that she couldn’t raise a child because she was unmarried and her family would disapprove of the baby.

Her son was then named Le Tuan Cuong and transferred to the Go Vap Orphanage. That same year, a French couple from the western coastal region of Brittany came to Vietnam to adopt a child.

Pierre and Laurence Herissard were following a Herissard family tradition. “My father always encouraged us to help orphans have the chance at complete and happy family lives,” said Pierre Herissard.

Upon their arrival in Vietnam, Laurence and Pierre were introduced to the Go Vap Orphanage. The infant Le Tuan Cuong was one of the first people they met in this new land.

For Laurence, it was love at first sight. “I fell in love with him the moment I held him in my arms,” she said.

Laurence Herissard during her first encounter with Clement Cuong Herissard in October, 1994. Photo courtesy of Laurence Herissard

The Vietnamese infant became the Herissards’ third child. His adopted parents named him Clement Cuong, as a way to remind him of his Vietnamese origin.

There were not many children of Asian heritage in Binic, the French town in which the Herissards lived, which made Clement Cuong feel isolated.

At around nine years old, he started hiding himself in his bedroom and not talking to anyone. “I felt that I didn’t belong there,” said Cuong in a recent VnExpress interview.

Things got better when more Vietnamese families immigrated to the town, and some had children Cuong’s age. When he visited these families, he was taught how to use chopsticks and even learned how to make spring rolls. Although he didn’t understand Vietnamese, he still thought of it as an “interesting” language and felt a strange connection with it.

At home, his adopted father made him a shelf filled with books and images of Vietnam. “Read about your country,” he said.

When Clement Cuong turned 12, his adopted parents gave him his birth certificate and told him the few things they knew about his biological mother.

And he has dreamed of seeing his mother’s face ever since. “The children around me grew up wondering whether they took after their fathers or their mothers,” he said. “I was the only one that wasn’t able to do that little thing.”

When he turned 18, Cuong decided to relocate to Paris to work instead of attending a university. Two years later, he first visited Vietnam with his father.

Cuong started searching for his biological mother during the trip by showing an old photo of the hospital where he was born to taxi motorbike drivers he met. None of them recognized the place, as a lot of things had changed after 20 years.

He gradually lost hope and instead focused on enjoying Vietnam with his father as a tourist.

But his last day in the country, just before he caught his returning flight to France, Cuong got a call from one of the motorbike taxi drivers he had met.

The driver said he found Clement Cuong’s birthplace thanks to an embossment of a mother holding her child. It was Hung Vuong Hospital in District 5.

He and Pierre Laurence rushed to the hospital.

But their hopes soon dwindled again because most people who had worked at the hospital in 1994 had retired. However, then they showed a middle-aged doctor a photograph of Cuong being cared for as an infant by one of the hospital staff.

The doctor recognized the woman. Her name was Bich Nga. “The tables turned at the last minute…I felt fortunate,” Clement Cuong said.

However, Nga didn’t know anything more about Clement Cuong’s biological mother. Still, she invited the young man to her place and prepared a meal for him. He at least felt comforted.

Then it was time to leave again for France with his father. He hesitated for a while before asking Pierre: “Can I stay?”

Pierre nodded immediately, supporting his adopted son’s decision. Clement Cuong completed everything needed to extend his visa in the same afternoon.

Feeling a special bond with his home country now, and knowing his stay might be a long one, Clement Cuong applied for a job in Vietnam working for a French company.

Clement Cuong Herissard’s birth certificate, given to Laurence Herissard when she applied to adopt him in 1994. Photo courtesy of Clement Cuong Herissard

He has been looking for his biological mother ever since.

The address given by her to the hospital when she gave birth was in Nha Be District, now part of District 7. Clement Cuong managed to drop by the place, but many different people had moved in and out of the house over the years, and no one knew anything about his mother. Not even another clue.

The acquaintances he got to know after settling in Vietnam also assisted his search for his mother. They have introduced three women the same age as his biological mother, but after connecting the dots, he knew none of them was his.

He also searched for his mother’s information online, including her name, age, and address. A friend of his found out that his mother was from Tan Quy Tay Commune, Nha Be District. So they suggested that he should start with visiting middle and high schools in the neighborhood in case there were records of her childhood that could lead to who and where she is now.

“I did [start looking through local school records], and based on my mother’s handwriting, people guessed she was an educated woman.”

Every time Cuong posted his story on social media and online forums, tens of strangers offered to help him contact and verify the information.

He said he has never blamed his biological mother. “If she didn’t love me, she might have left me on the sidewalk,” he explained. “Still, she hoped someone could adopt me, which means she wanted me to have a better life.”

Though all of his efforts have not given him the answer he wants, Clement Cuong still believes that he will be able to find his mother someday.

Nga cried when she saw Clement’s post on an online forum earlier this month. She has been by his side supporting him in finding his biological mother. She’s never seen him come close to giving up, despite constant failures.

“Clement is now like my own son,” she said. “I hope he can hug his real mother one day.”