Her pre-adolescent upbringing took place on an international stage. Her native Laos was a French colony until it gained independence after World War II. She recalls family stories about her father’s involvement with the Laotian nationalists’ struggle for autonomy. Because he was a diplomat from 1950 to 1973, Vasna and her four siblings were born in three different countries before her father was assigned to the Laotian Mission to the United Nations in New York City from 1960-64. She remembers the grief that enveloped the nation when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, followed by the thrill of the Beatles’ first visit to the United States. Although she was young, she believes being in the U.S. during that tumultuous time probably provided a strong undercurrent to shape her beliefs.
Vasna lived in Vientiane, Laos, from 1964-71, where she attended the American School of Vientiane until grade 10. She completed high school at The Grier School in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Studies from Bradford College in Bradford, Massachusetts.
Returning to the initial question of where she grew up, her answer is: “all over.”
When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, her father, as a former Laotian government official, was sent to “re-education camps” in northern Laos. He did not flee the country as many of his colleagues did. She said, “It took a lot of courage for him to stay, and I would attribute that to his nationalist core.” Her family was powerless to get him justice and unfortunately, an Amnesty International campaign to get him released failed. Two years prior to his death, her family celebrated when they received word that he would be freed. But just before his scheduled release in 1987, they were told he died at the camp of a “stomach ailment.” That seemed highly unlikely and hit hard, Vasna recalled.
Vasna’s first job after college was working as an assistant to the deans at the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. The husband-and-wife civil rights attorneys, Edgar S. and Jean Camper Cahn, started the school with the goal of training law students to represent various disenfranchised communities. These early mentors and the legal aid environment provided her with an infusion of activist energy that lay dormant until her elder years.
She changed her career after having her second child, returning to school for a degree in medical laboratory technology at Montgomery College in Takoma Park. After 10 years as a clinical microbiologist at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, her antennas were primed for a new journey. As she puts it, “I believe that in life, you have to be open and ready to grab new possibilities when you send requests out to the universe.”
Timing was perfect when she was offered an academic position. She joined the microbiology department at Georgetown University Medical School as an academic coordinator/research assistant. The job at the university allowed her to earn another degree, a Master’s in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She transitioned to the biotechnology program as a laboratory instructor and retired during the pandemic as associate director.
“Teaching and mentoring young adults were highly rewarding,” she recalled, “especially when they returned and shared how well they had done in their career paths.”
When not organizing get-togethers with friends, tending her native plant garden or traveling, she enjoys making floral arrangements. On a recent trip to Kauai, she learned to make a lei of which she is very proud (see photo).
Vasna said she is grateful to have found Third Act, as it has given her many opportunities to be in solidarity with other activists. She has protested fossil fuel financing by big banks, hosted a postcard writing party in Kensington and canvassed to get folks to vote. New members may get a call from her as a volunteer with the Third Act Maryland Welcome Call Crew.
This community has also provided her with an outlet to release residual rage and powerlessness over her father’s unjust imprisonment, she said. Now she is doing her part in safeguarding democracy in the U.S. for her grandchildren.