People can find over twenty newspapers and magazines from Viet Nam at her news kiosk at 107 Bueng Prolit Street, January 7 District, next to the building of the Association of Vietnamese in Cambodia.
At first, Ms. Nguyet imported only a few hundred of famous newspapers. But afterwards, they became a big hit among overseas Vietnamese. Ms. Nguyet said, “At present, I daily import about 2,000 copies to sell and distribute to some retail news kiosks in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap province.”
For best seller newspapers, she can sell more than 100 copies each.
A surprise is that newspapers arrive at her kiosk not much later than in Viet Nam. They are available around noon of the publication day.
The newspaper price is rather high, about four times higher than that in Viet Nam, due to transport and handling cost. It costs about US$50 for one bag of newspapers from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh.
Ms. Nguyet, aged 61 and born in Kompong Cham province, Cambodia, is one of the founders of the Association of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Almost all Vietnamese in Phnom Penh Capital know about her not only because of her news kiosk but also because of her 10-year campaign for the construction of the Tan Tien Viet Nam-Khmer primary school. This school has taught Vietnamese to thousands of overseas Vietnamese children.
In the middle of her news kiosk hangs solemnly a picture of her taken with General Vo Nguyen Giap and other Vietnamese leaders on her visit to Ha Noi last year. She would proudly show off the picture to visitors with excitement whenever she gets a chance.
Ms.Nguyet and her husband has got a house in Ho Chi Minh City with the money she has saved for almost all her working life in Cambodia. “When I am old, I will leave the news kiosk for my eldest child and return to Viet Nam to enjoy the rest of my life in the homeland like any overseas Vietnamese’s dream,” said Ms. Nguyet.
