Hello everyone! My name is Annie (Hien) King and I am an international adoptee from Vietnam. For a year and a half, I had been searching for my birth mother. After working with a Vietnamese DNA lab and going on Vietnamese broadcasts, I received the news that I had a match! Serendipitously, I was given this news just a mere 2 days before my 26th birthday. I got to call my birth mother and extended family on my birthday, a moment that I never thought would happen. All these years of wondering and longing have transformed into a future of reunion and peace.

(Pictured: Baby Hien at the adoption center in Vinh, Vietnam)

For the last 26 years, I've spent my life in the United States with a loving family and many wonderful friends. I studied biomedical engineering and public health for my undergraduate degree and am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Industrial & Systems engineering. But the thing I love doing the most is to write.

(Pictured: my adoptive mom, dad, & I during my graduation ceremony)

The thing I have written the most about is my birth mother. Though I've examined my life from many different angles, the theme that remained most consistent was my longing for my birth mother. Though I've experienced a great life in the US, I always wondered about my beginning and the woman who gave birth to me.

So I decided it was time to search. I had very little information to start with. The only "concrete" info I had was my birthday and the hospital name I was born in. I tried many different things: private investigators, major DNA databases, and talking to the nurse that signed my paperwork. Nothing came from it and I was starting to think that the ocean and time would really keep us apart.

But now she's only one Facebook message away. She wishes me good morning and good night every day, asking if I ate and if I am taking care of myself. I recently sent her pictures of myself as a baby, specifically ones that the hospital took for the adoption agency. She replied (translated) , "My beloved daughter, I am so heartbroken because our circumstances. When I saw these photos, my heart started to pound and my hands and feet began to tremble. I can't stop crying,".

I learned that the doctor refused to let her hold me after she gave birth. In her words, she didn't even get to see my face. Since our first call, she has repeatedly asked for my forgiveness and that she regrets not being able to raise me for even a single day. I told her that I've never been angry at her, that I understood that some things were out of her control. Our story together started as something tragic and so much time was lost, but now we have the rest of our lives to getting to know each other.

This fundraiser was created to help financially support me in getting to Vietnam to meet my birth mother (and extended family) in person. In the event that there is excess funds, I will directly give to my birth mother. She is a factory worker with very little monetary stability, yet she expressed she would take time off (and thus, not receive a paycheck) when I come to see her. I would like to assure that she does not have to worry about finances during that time.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read a little bit of my story. Thank you especially to my family, my friends, and the community that has been following along since the beginning of my journey. I am sincerely grateful for the support I've received across the globe and am excited to take on this new chapter in my life!