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Orlando's "Little Vietnam" Preserves Its History To Enrich Its Future

Father Chau Nguyen during the recent Easter service at Orlando's Saint Philip Phan Van Minh Catholic Church
Father Chau Nguyen during the recent Easter service at Orlando's Saint Philip Phan Van Minh Catholic Church

It’s been 40 years since the fall of Saigon and all week we’re looking at Orlando’s Vietnamese community in a series we’re calling “What Is Little Vietnam?” To kick off the series, 90.7's Nicole Creston spoke to Father Chau Nguyen of Saint Philip Phan Van Minh Catholic Church for a brief history of Orlando’s Vietnamese community, and an overview of how it’s changing. Nguyen was a child when he left Saigon by boat, fleeing violence and communist rule. Now, his church is a gathering place for much of the community.

 

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined Central Florida Public Media in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.