Citizen Diplomacy Trips
Our Citizen Diplomacy Trips provide a group travel experience that reaches beyond simplistic views and provides a chance for people to experience Vietnam from a unique and rewarding perspective that is rarely offered. PeaceTrees' Citizen Diplomats participate in activities that foster mutual understanding, shared learning, reconciliation, peacebuilding, and friendship among those impacted by the U.S.-Vietnam War and its legacies. We have offered trips since the mid-1990s and currently offer around 3-5 trips a year.
Citizen Diplomacy Trips offer opportunities to:
- Learn about U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations
- Engage in the organization's war legacy work
- Meet our in-country partners
- Participate in reconciliation, peacebuilding, and building friendships
- Experience the country and culture in a meaningful way
Citizen Diplomacy has made it possible to create the strong trust and partnership PeaceTrees shares with local communities and Vietnamese leadership. This trust allows us to facilitate genuine opportunities for connection and provides a new perspective on U.S.-Vietnamese relations.
We invite anyone who is interested in becoming a Citizen Diplomat to reach out to us. We especially encourage those who have been directly and indirectly impacted by the U.S.-Vietnam War or who have a connection to the country to apply. This includes but is not limited to refugees, immigrants, veterans, and descendants of those affected by the war. Those who do not have ties to the U.S.-Vietnam war personally, but have been impacted by other conflict and want to learn about rebuilding from war, reconciliation, and peacebuilding are also encouraged to apply.
Submit a general Trip Application if you are interested in traveling with us. Contact our Citizen Diplomacy Manager, Kimberly Hoàng, by email at kimberly@peacetreesvietnam.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
Upcoming Trips
Autumn: September 21 - October 4, 2025 led by Thoa Nguyễn and Kimberly Hoàng
This trip's leaders are Thoa Nguyễn, a Vietnamese refugee, artist, retired restauranteur, and former board member and Kimberly Hoàng, the Citizen Diplomacy Manager at PeaceTrees and a second-generation Vietnamese American.
Both Thoa and Kimberly’s perspectives, life experiences, knowledge of PeaceTrees’ work, and understanding of Vietnamese culture will make this a very meaningful trip. With their mutual passion for Vietnamese food and Thoa’s culinary background, this trip will also highlight the nation’s cuisine as a platform to explore the culture, history, and modern day lives of the people of Vietnam.
Heritage Citizen Diplomacy Trip: COMING SOON!
These trips offer young Vietnamese Americans a way to experience Vietnam with their peers in a meaningful way. Throughout the itinerary, travelers enjoy diving into Vietnamese culture, history, and modern day Vietnam as a comprehensive approach to understanding the past, present, and future of the nation and its people. Trip leaders and staff create a supportive group experience with a focus on exploring identity, heritage, and language in order to preserve culture as well as nurture the relationship between Vietnamese Americans and their ancestral country.
Additionally, the trip focuses on building stronger people-to-people ties between Vietnamese and Vietnamese American individuals. We foster activities and discussions on reconciliation for these two groups to engage in peer-to-peer dialogue and shared learning. Through intentional connections, the trip cultivates friendship and peace in the aftermath of war between young citizens of Vietnamese heritage from Vietnam and her diaspora.
The program also emphasizes immersion in PeaceTrees' work in Vietnam. Space is provided for Citizen Diplomats to deepen their knowledge and of the history and current legacies of the war that is tied to their family histories. Support is given to help process and navigate wherever folks are in their own personal journeys. See our Heritage Circle to learn more about how PeaceTrees is supporting younger generations facing the ongoing legacies of the U.S.-Vietnam war.
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