The programme culminated in a visit to the cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a particularly memorable and emotional experience for Ngan Ha. She believes that hearing the stories does not compare to being in Hiroshima in person. “You have to see it,” she says. “You have to see how the peace culture was integrated into the everyday living and planning of the Hiroshima people and city.”

Hiroshima’s resilience resonated with Ngan Ha, coming from a country devastated by war. In Hiroshima, she found a new perspective on the challenges in her home country.

Even though the war ended in Vietnam 50-60 years ago, to this day, we still have thousands of people affected by [its] remnants… [Going] to a place that suffered the same challenges [as] Vietnam, I saw how the people there were very creative, very resilient.” — Ngan Ha Mai, Vietnamese diplomat and UNITAR alumna

Ngan Ha is eager to apply what she learned from her UNITAR experience to future endeavours. She hopes to look at her work more systematically, informed by the broader perspective she gained by stepping outside her comfort zone with the UNITAR programme.

We don’t look at the past with hostility or resentment. But we look back at the past [as] a lesson that we need to learn and pass on to other people. We need to keep telling the story, we need to emphasize the importance of peace, and emphasize that mistakes must not be made again.”  — Ngan Ha Mai, Vietnamese diplomat and UNITAR alumna