I started thinking deeply about the word heritage after I became a father.

Like all parents, I asked myself what my children would learn from me, what I could pass down to them.

Before coming to Vietnam, I couldn’t imagine a country where so many languages, traditions and separate cultural identities could exist side by side.

I met people from different cultures who expressed regrets that their children were no longer learning their ancestral languages or handicrafts. The more I discovered about these tribal groups, the more I realized how fleeting heritage can be.

Unwritten languages cannot survive if no-one speaks them. Songs that are not sung are eventually forgotten. I realized how important it is to try to keep some of this precious heritage alive.

In many areas of Vietnam, the cultural costumes that are unique to each ethnic minority tribe are no longer being made. The age-old traditions of harvesting hemp and hand-dying with indigo dye take time and patience and this type of craftsmanship is losing its place in our world.

This is why I started The Precious Heritage Project. To preserve a part of this beautiful culture for future generations.

~ Réhahn, photographer