A dedication to Vietnamese victims of agent orange

Pains - By Ngũ Cung (The Pentatonic) Band

2011-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

This Video Clip of Ngu Cung (The Pentatonic), a Vietnamese Rockband, is a rock ballad about the Pains of Agent Orange that Vietnamese victims are suffering... some scenes are shot in Friendship Village....

Justice has been done for American veteran. When will it be done for Vietnamese victims?

2011-05-30T00:55:00.000-07:00

Vietnamese people struggle with agent orange

2011-05-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

US photographer raises money for Agent Orange victim -

2011-05-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

from: TUOI TRE (WWW.TUOITRE.VN) Updated : Mon, May 16, 2011,4:01 PM (GMT+0700)

A photo exhibition showcasing the painful life of a Vietnamese child suffering from disabilities caused by Agent Orange took place at 28 Tong Duy Tan in Hanoi on Sunday.

Titled “Nu’s pain,” the exhibition featured 20 black and white photos about the life of Nu—an autistic child with hearing and visual impairments—taken over four years by American photographer Justin Mott.

Agent Orange is a defoliant that was sprayed extensively in Vietnam and Cambodia by U.S. forces during the war with America. The dioxins, which experts say are still in the soil of heavily sprayed areas, are suspected of effecting millions of Vietnamese and causing hundreds of thousands of birth defects.

Money from auctioning photos and ticket sales will be used for Nu’s physiotherapy treatment and medical care at the dioxin victims support center, Friendship Village.

Nu cannot hear, speak or see, and is autistic. Agent Orange is thought to have caused the mental illness of Nu's father, and she now lives with her grandparents.

Mott met Nu in 2007. He was born in Rhode Island, and now lives in Hanoi and is working throughout Southeast Asia. In 2008, his work on Agent Orange orphans won the annual photo contest from the America-based PDN magazine and he was awarded the Morty Forscher Fellowship for humanistic photography from the Parson’s school of Design in New York City.

CHARITY EXHIBITION: SUNDAY MAY 15TH AT SOUTHGATE IN HANOI

2011-05-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

By Justin Mott
I met Nu 3 years ago while I was researching a story about 3rd generation Agent Orange victims in Vietnam. With the help of my dear friend Mrs. Thuy from Trung Vuong school I visited the Friendship Village 30 minutes outside of central Hanoi. I was greeted by a bunch of joyous children tugging at my hand and proudly firing off all the English words they knew at me.
After the novelty of a foreign visitor wore off the children went back to playing soccer, skipping rope, and joking around on the playground. I wandered inside one of the large plain buildings labeled simply T5. The building was dark inside and as I closed the door the laughter of the children faded and I was drawn to a soft consistent humming.
Underneath a staircase, alone in the darkness, a little girl sat with her head buried in her chest, humming a tune over and over again, unaware that I was there. That was the first time I saw the girl named Nu who was to become an important part of my life.
I found out she was autistic, blind, mostly deaf, and mute. Seeing this child in complete isolation left me empty. I knew that moment I wanted to tell Nu’s story and I was certain doing so would somehow ease her suffering.
I’ve been documenting Nu’s life for 5 years on and off. Last year her time at the Friendship Village came to an end and she had to go back to live with her grandparents.
Her grandparents are extremely poor and elderly and they aren’t able to take care of her properly. They have reached out for help and want her to go back to live in the Friendship village where she can received physical therapy, medical treatment, and more intimate care.
With the help of Mrs. Thuy and Truong Vuong School, we are trying to fund Nu to return to her life at the Friendship Village. And for that we need your help.

Please join us at Southgate restaurant on Sunday May 15th at 4pm for a photography exhibition of Nu’s story along with an auction of my personal work photographing SE Asia for numerous international publications throughout SE Asia for over 6 years.
All proceeds from the event will go towards funding a better life for Nu at the Friendship Village.

Here is a direct link to Nu's story:
NU'S STORY
Please RSVP to me by email justinmott@mottvisuals.com so I can gauge how many people are coming and thanks so much for your help.

For those of you not in Hanoi and who can't attend don't worry you're not off the hook :). I'm going to sell a small number of editioned prints that will be available to be purchased directly online.

Thanks again,

Justin
___________

From Tuan

This is another photo of Nu that I took 6 years ago.
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1317391316049678589PhTCaY
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/2883/1317391316049678589S425x425Q85.jpg

Crawling children (re-post)

2007-07-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

(This post has gone down for too long, and I would like to draw your attention to it)

This is Huy (in red) 18, and Hanh, 15 . They are brothers in a poor family in Nam Dinh.
Huy and Hanh can not walk. All the time, they crawl around a small yard in front of their house. Hanh and Huy can understand a bit.
Here in this photo, Hanh and Huy are nervous of the visitors. They are crawling to hide from Ngoc, a representative of Vietnamese Red Cross and www.chatdocdacam.info

My friends,
I was shocked when I saw this photo. Yes, they were crawling on the ground and they looked ugly, but I was surprised that they were conscious. They reacted like any typical Vietnamese child, timid and shy when strangers approach, and this made me remember the Humpedback of NotraDame!

Do we sometime look down or mistreat a real human being because of their appearance?!

I love you kids!

“I WILL LIVE”, SHE SAID

2007-07-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Her letters, with its careful handwriting, arrive almost every month. I met Hai when pursuing a story on Agent Orange victims in Thai Binh province in July 2004. Ever since, the letters have told me a lot about her. A young woman’s confession on her efforts at “self-reformation”.
“Sometimes I wish I were blind, deaf or mute. So I don’t have to think and suffer anymore from the pains that Agent Orange has caused to my family.” Ha Thi Hai was born in 1976 in Thai Binh prvince, Northern Vietnam. She is the second daughter in the family. The only one who, until recently, was still able to go to school. Her father, a veteran, had no inkling that the fog which fell down from the planes in Quang Tri was going to contaminate his body. Agent Orange has accomplished its “mission” of silent destruction. It has been sown and grown into the bodies of his three children.

Hai had to quit school after 7th grade. Her health couldn’t keep up. She also felt bad about her deformed body. Ever since, she stays at home, spending her days trying to move her half-paralized hands and feet. She cooks and waits patiently for her father, brother and sister to come home.

“Daddy takes them to the fields with him to keep an eye on them. They look allright physically but they have absolutely no memory. Once they missed the path leading home and walked to the next hamlet. Little Ba cannot even re-plant the young paddy. Sometimes when she has her crises she rolls on the ground and even stomps on the stalks.

As to my brother his eyes start rolling when he’s about to have an attack. Then he chases me to hit me, all the while cursing. He has hit me many times but I only feel compassion for him. When the attack is over he takes me in his arms and we cry together. “

Of them all, Hai’s mother is the better off. That is, her health is the least shaky of all. She helps by selling vegetables on and off. Everything for her children.

Hai continues: “I have just learned what the doctors think of my case. They say that Agent Orange has affected my marrow and atrophied my muscles. It is inoperable and incurable. I am going to lose little by little the use of my limbs and not be able to move.” Convinced that it will relieve the family’s burden, Hai tried to kill herself. She swallowed some tablets, a lot of them. After her attempt at closure, the family has been helping her “reform herself”.

In her last letter, Hai wrote that, along with her brother and sister, she has been admitted to a physical rehabilitation center. “ We have had a lot of visitors. They told me I should make an effort to live.” Period. And a last sentence: “ I will.”

Le Thanh Thuy
(Suc khoe va Doi song)

The little girl's hands

2007-06-20T07:55:00.001-07:00

“Hai ban tay em
Nhu hoa dau canh
Hoa hong hong nu
Canh tron ngon xinh…”

"The little girl’s hands
Like two little flowers
Chubby and rosy..."

This is quoted from a poem by a famous Vietnamese poet named Huy Can. His poem describes a lovely little girl in her dance. I couldn't help but feel sorrow when I whispered to myself the rhymes upon seeing the picture of this little girl trying to write with her deformed hands.

Dear friends,
Every little child deserves to be born equal. Every little child deserves to have their hands normal, with chubby and rosy fingers, to reach for their parents' faces and to be kissed.

And that goes without question!

The determination of an armless boy

2006-03-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

The boy in this picture is Tran Ton Trung Son. His father used to be a soldier fighting in Laos, and his family was from the South Bank of Ben Hai river, an area highly intoxicated by agent orange.

the day Son was born was a very sad day for his family. Son's left hand was abnormally short, and his right arm did not have an elbow. A pitiful baby!

The parents, recognizing the consequences of the war inflicting on their family, tried their best to get rid of poverty and to get ennough money to help their son.

Going to Hochiminh City empty-handed, Son's parents sent him into Hoa Binh Village in Tu Du Hospital, in which Son was cared by the nurses.

With some more spared time, the parents worked as hired labours and apprentices. At night, they had to sleep in the park. With all the money earned, they tried to afforded Son's study.

The parents' endeavors were well-paid. Son came first in the examination into the Secondary School Nguyen Gia Thieu (in Tan Binh District). Later on, he became one of the top 5 students of the Tan Binh district, also the distinctive student in Mathematics and Vietnamese Grammar of the City. Son was awarded the tittle " A Distinctive student who has overcome difficulties" Now, he is still among the best students of the School with an English mark of 9/10, Math 9/10 and Literature 8,5/10.

Beside school works, Son is keen on programing, practicing taekwondo, and reading.

(adapted from http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/)

FALLING TO PIECES

2006-01-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

This article is quoted from The Guardian

Nearly 30 years after the Vietnam war, a chemical weapon used by US troops is still exacting a hideous toll on each new generation.

Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report
Saturday March
29, 2003

Hong Hanh is falling to pieces. She has been poisoned by the most toxic molecule known to science; it was sprayed during a prolonged military campaign. The contamination persists. No redress has been offered, no compensation. The superpower that spread the toxin has done nothing to combat the medical and environmental catastrophe that is overwhelming her country. This is not northern Iraq, where Saddam Hussein gassed 5,000 Kurds in 1988. Nor the trenches of first world war France. Hong Hanh's story, and that of many more like her, is quietly unfolding in Vietnam today. Her declining half-life is spent unseen, in her home, an unremarkable concrete box in Ho Chi Minh City, filled with photographs, family plaques and yellow enamel stars, a place where the best is made of the worst.

Hong Hanh is both surprising and terrifying. Here is a 19-year-old who lives in a 10-year-old's body. She clatters around with disjointed spidery strides which leave her soaked in sweat. When she cannot stop crying, soothing creams and iodine are rubbed into her back, which is a lunar collage of septic blisters and scabs. "My daughter is dying," her mother says. "My youngest daughter is 11 and she has the same symptoms. What should we do? Their fingers and toes stick together before they drop off. Their hands wear down to stumps. Every day they lose a little more skin. And this is not leprosy. The doctors say it is connected to American chemical weapons we were exposed to during the Vietnam war."

There are an estimated 650,000 like Hong Hanh in Vietnam, suffering from an array of baffling chronic conditions. Another 500,000 have already died. The thread that weaves through all their case histories is defoliants deployed by the US military during the war. Some of the victims are veterans who were doused in these chemicals during the war, others are farmers who lived off land that was sprayed. The second generation are the sons and daughters of war veterans, or children born to parents who lived on contaminated land. Now there is a third generation, the grandchildren of the war and its victims...

GO TO SCHOOL IN BASKETS….

2006-01-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

For eight years, Mr Le Van Nhan carried his children to school in baskets

One day in May, the sandy region of Duy Nghia, Duy Xuyen is burning in the heat of the noon. A man tied his two children onto his bicycle and forced it through the sandy road without a shade, their backs were soaked with sweats. A fairy tale in life!

"For me this is much better now. A few years ago, I used to carry them in baskets …" The man is Mr Le Van Nhan, father of two agent orange children named Le Van Anh and Le Van Trang. Leaning himself against the bicycle to wipe out sweats on his face, Nhan said he had carried his sons to school for the past nine years

"During the war, I lived in the area toxicated by the American but I was unaware of the consequences. After the war, I returned to my homeland and get married in 1985. For two years, we had two deformed babies. We took them from hospital to hospital but the doctors could not help, they said that the boys were infected by agent orange" Nhan said.

The two deformed sons were a heavy burden on the shoulder of the young parents. Living from hand to mounth, they tried to bring up the sons with a little hope one day they can find a cure for their children.

When the two boys turned 8, despite their withered hands and legs and their deformed body, they both asked to go to school. Feeling pity for them, Nhan, tearfully, carried his sons to schools. "Those days, I and my wife took turns to carry them to school in baskets. Fortunately, they are both smart and hard working, so they have been studying well for seven years" Nhan said.

When his children reached grade 8, a concrete road was built. The parents decided to buy an old bicycle, and tied their children onto the bicycle to carry them through the 3-kilometre road to school. Now their children have just finished the graduation examination from secondary school, and are preparing for the next entrance exam into high school….

2.
…On the tortous and rocky road in a mountainous area of Tien Son, Tien Phuoc, I found Mr Pham Viet Canh who carried on his back his deformed son Pham Viet Tuong to school. Rain or shine, Canh has carried his son through 3 kilometre rocky road to school for the past 5 years. In return to his father's endeavour, Tuong has always been the distintive pupil of the Primary school Nguyen Ba Ngoc. However, his father is still worried: " Next year, my son will move to secondary school, which is 6 kilometres away from home, he can not stay in a dorm, and I am afraid I can not carry him that far. If only I had a bicycle…"

…Dai Hong village, on a small road skirting a mountain, there was a little girl helping her friend go to school. For the last 6 years, the journey from home to school have been an embody of a fairy friendship in life. The two girls are Tran Thi Thu Dung and Truong Thi Thuong, pupil of class 6/3 in the Secondary School Phu Dong.
Mrs Luong Thi Hue, mom of Thuong , recalled " After giving birth to Thuong, I was so shocked, I got fainted again and again. After that, despite of our poverty, I tried to find a medical treatment for her, but all hospital people were unable to help, they said my daughter was infected by agent orange…"

Thuong, now 16, is only half a metre tall. She can only sit, she can not walk. Without the help of her friend, Dung, Thuong could have dropped class long time ago. Up to now, the little Dung has been carrying Thuong to school for 6 years. Many people of Dong Phuong Village said, at first, they thought that the two girls were beggars because they looked so pitiful. But they now know that the two girls have just been awarded the certificates of merit for their achievement at school…

In many regions of Vietnam, thousands of agent orange children are going to school with the help of parents and friends. Despite their physical disadvantages, they all share the same aspiration to live, to study, and to better themselves.

(Translated from www.tuoitre.com.vn)

STORY WRITTEN BY AN A/O VICTIM

2005-12-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

The story below is written by Giap Thi Giang, a 23 years old girl, living in the Van Canh Friendship Village. Except for her withered legs, Giang is a lovely girl with a good looking face. She is wellread, and like many million children in the world, she is reading Harry Potter...

Giang wrote this story in both Vietnamese and English. I have made some minor grammar and spelling checks for her.
If you read this story carefully, you will find behind the story is a delicate and sensitive soul that needs much caring...

THE SEA'S ECHOES FROM A SHELL

“A boy dreams of becoming a painter,
but he is blind.
A girl dreams of becoming a student,
but she is mentally insufficient.
A young girl dreams of becoming a model,
but her face is deformed.
…………………………………….”.

Along time ago, in a beautiful Kingdom with green countryside and busy towns and endless glittering sand beaches. The people lived in happiness and harmony there.

However, in a village, there was an unfortunate girl who fell sick. Even though her parents invited all the best doctors in that Kingdom to their home to cure her sickness, all of they came and left with a same words: “Sorry, I can’t help your daughter”.

The girl’s sickness got worse day by day, and her world was only a room with four walls, and a piece of sky through the window.

To comfort the girl, her parents bought many toys for her, and they read stories for her every day.

One of the stories was about the sea. Even though she never saw the sea, but in her mind the sea was a beautiful and wonderful place with the glittering sand beach, the soft blue water and the melodious sound of the waves rushing to shore, the rustle of the casuarina trees in wind.

Since then, she dreamed of a day when she would go to the sea to see waves lapping the beach, run on the glittering sand, and hear the the mellodious sound of the waves, the rustle of the casuarina trees in wind.

Her parent really wanted to help her realise her dream but they couldnot. However, they thought of a way so that the girl still in her room can feel like standing in front of the sea.

On the walls they hang the pictures of the sea with heaving waves like real, they lit glitering lanterns in the room, they even tried to mimick the sound of the waves, and the sound of the casuarina trees rustling in wind.

However, the girl still said:
“No. That is not the sea.
The sea is beautiful and wonderful.
The sea is not like this”.

An the girl still longed for her dream, but her parents couldn’t do anything further.
One day, there was a traveler passing by that village. He called at her house to ask for some water, he by chance learned about the girl and her dream. The traveler gave the girl a glittering shell of a sea snail and said: “Before you sleep, put this shell the next to your ear, and then close your eyes, it will help you realize your dream”.

That night, the girl followed the traveler’s advice, then fell sleep and dream…
In the dream, the girl saw herself running on the glittering sand beach between the casuarina trees rustling in the wind and the waves singing to comfort the golden beach....

Andexen once said: “The best fairy tale is the tale written by real
life”.
Like the little girl in the story, we (AO victims) have many dreams. We believe that the fairies will make our dream come true. And like the little girl in the story we make them come true by the “fairy of imagination”

--------

And I just want to tell Giang: Come on, my little sister. Let your imagination be the wings to flutter you to the sky of dreams and wishes. If only I can do anything for you....

MILLIONS OF HANDSTEPS TO SCHOOL

2005-12-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God the New Year bring to you happiness, health, and good lucks. For those who are expecting, may your babies are all as beautiful as angels.

Now, I am thinking about my weblog. Should I continue to write about those AO victims as "victims", miserable, pitiful?

Perhaps yes, because the plights are there, and I just simply reflect them on this weblog. I do not try to emphasise the trauma of AO parents of whom many have become mentally ill due to the suffering of their children.

But I also would like to tell you that among them there are many heroes and heroins, because of their persistence, their desire of study, and their struggles to overcome illnesses and physical disadvantages.

Here is one:

MILLIONS OF HANDSTEPS TO SCHOOL

Yes, you are not reading wrong, and I am not mis-spelling....

Truong Thi Sen, 16 years old, is the youngest daughter of Mr Truong Thanh Hai, a veteran from North Quang Tri front, and Mrs Le Thi Y. Sen was born with a beautiful face but her legs are withered. Since Sen turned 7, her father died of many illnesses due to the consequences of agent orange in the Vietnam war.

Sen was brought up in the love of her mother and her eldest sister. Everyday she would drag herself to a kindergarten nearby. Upon seeing that, her mother decided to apply her to the kindergarten with the hope that she would find some comfort there.

Since then, Sen began her journey to school. The school was not far away, but the road was really a challenge for her. The little girl used her hands in turn to drag herself forwards, handstep by handstep. The bumpy road to school is mainly basalt soil (red soil) and cobbles. On rainny days, the road was like a porridge of red mud, her mother and her sister would carry Sen to school on their backs. But on a dry day, Sen went by herself.

In 1996, her eldest sister got married and moved away, Sen still got support from her mother to continue studying. With the love and help from her mother, teachers, and friends, Sen made her best in studying and advanced class every years. In school year 2002-2003, she was selected as a representative of Nghia Mai Secondary School to take part in a student’s competition of the district.

From class 1 to class 9, everyday, Sen wore a pairs of plastic slippers to her hands and dragged herself over the one-kilometre road to school. For nine years up to now, Sen probably has made a record of travelling thousands of kilometres by hands.

Sen is one of the moving examples of a little girl whose braveness, persistence, and her desire of study worthed to be told to the world!
(Adapted from Vietnamnet)

I am writing to you

2005-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

Today, I am not writing about the Vietnamese victims of agent orange, although there are more and more stories of them will be told here...

Today, I spare some time and some space on this weblog to write to you and about you.
I placed a counter on my weblog a few days ago, and I am happy to find out that there is an average of 20 visitors to my web per day.

Yes, the counter is fair and objective. It simply counts and tells me how many of you have come. This means my website is being known, and being read. And this is what I want! I don't want to be known for doing the "good work" so I have hidden my profile ( but I have yet known how to hide my name at the end of each post). On the other hand, I really want the stories I told to be known to more and more to the kind-hearted people in the world, like you!

So far, the number in the counter has been growing, which telling me that you are here, or have been here, or have just gone....

Dear friends,

Your visits are highly appreciate! I know that it is not easy to go to the internet just to see some images of deformed children, read the stories of badluck parents. This is NOT at all interesting. There are plenty of lovely things on the internet: beautiful ecards, sports news, music, movies, celebrity gossips, etc....

My website is not for entertainment. It requires a strong heart filled with compassion and humanity. And by visiting my web, you may gain nothing but sadness. But let the sadness beautify your soul, make you feel much luckier to be born normal, make you think more of how to help the people who are less lucky than you.

Dear friends,

You are my silent supporters.
Collecting stories of the victims of agent orange takes time and always makes me feel sad. But I am so happy that I have been backed up by you. But you can also make your voice heard by writing to me or leave your comments on my web.

Please help me by telling your friends about this web, read the HOW TO HELP and do something!

Thank you and I wish you all lucks and happiness!
Please come back!

VIETNAMESE AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS TOUR US SEEKING JUSTICE

2005-11-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

Quote from http://www.vn-agentorange.org/2005tourview.html

Đặng Thị Hồng Nhựt (68) – a woman from Hồ Chí Minh City with multiple miscarriages between 1973 and 1980 after exposure to Agent Orange around May 1965.

Nguyễn Mười (22) – the son of a veteran of the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) from Huế who has spina bifida as a result of his 59 year old father’s exposure to Agent Orange in 1970. His mother had two miscarriages in 1974 and 1976. His visa was denied by the U.S. government.

Hồ Sỹ Hải (61) – an army truck driver from Thái Bình who suffers from chronic hepatitis, gastro-duodenal ulcer, enterolitis, unstable blood pressure, and enlargement of prostate as a result of his exposure in Atopo, and Quang Tri between 1965 and 1973.

Something you can enjoy this week

2005-11-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

From: WWW.DANANGQUANGNAMFUND.ORG

SOMETHING YOU CAN ENJOY
THIS WEEK…………

• DINNER WITH FRIENDS IN A RESTAURANT = $100.00
(OR FOOD FOR 300 FAMILIES FOR ONE DAY IN
VIETNAM)

• 100 MILE CAR TRIP = $6.59 FOR GAS (OR MEDICINE FOR
ONE SICK CHILD FOR SEVERAL DAYS IN VIETNAM)

• A NEW COMPUTER FOR A FEW YEARS, MAYBE = $2,000
(OR FOUR NEW HOMES FOR FAMILIES FOR SEVERAL
GENERATIONS IN VIETNAM)

• RENT MOVIES FOR THE WEEK = $45.00 (OR SCHOOL
FOR A CHILD FOR ONE YEAR IN VIETNAM)

• BUY NEW CLOTHES = $200.00 (OR PURCHASE MEDICINE
FOR A LEPER COLONY IN VIETNAM)

• STOCK UP ON COMPUTER GAMES = $300.00 (OR
PURCHASE NEEDED MEDICAL EQUIPMENT FOR A
CLINIC IN VIETNAM)

• PURCHASE A NEW CARPET TO SPRUCE UP THE ROOM =
$400.00 (OR FEED A NURSING HOME FOR THREE
MONTHS IN VIETNAM)

HOW YOU CAN HELP

2005-11-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

(Copyright Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum)

Dear friends,
I set up this website with the only aim to raise international awareness of the terrible consequences of agent orange in Vietnam. Therefore, I will not work as a mediator to transfer your money. But some friends did ask me about how to help, so I will show you some methods of contribution:

1. The best method that I whole-heartedly recommend to you is to visit the families of the victims, talk with them and hug them if you can, and offer them your gift (can be money, wheelchairs, a buffalo, medicine, food, clothes, blankets, or books, stationery for the children...). You can feel their happiness right away, and you will be sure that your gift is helpful to them. Your gift may be modest in value, but it is very significant if you can come and talk with them, show them your love and compassion!

In Vietnamese, we say "your gift worths one , but your travelling worths a thousand" to appreciate the endeavor of the gift bearer.

2. Vietnam Association for Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange
11/41 Linh Lang, Cong Vi, Ba Đinh, Ha Noi

www.vava.portal.vinacomm.com.vn
email: nhandaovietnam@fpt.vn

3. Fund for Victims of Agent Orange or Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange Association - Vietnamese RedCross
82 Nguyen Du - Ha Noi

Individuals help ease Agent Orange victims' pains

2005-11-02T00:31:00.000-08:00

(This little boy is from House T5 at Mr Hung's Friendship village - He is dumb and deaf, mentally retarded. He is always locked in this special wheel chair because he can not sit by himself - He is one of the most illustrative example of how destructive agent orange can be to Vietnamese people)

Ha Noi, Mar. 23 (VNA)
...Many organisations and individuals have helped Agent Orange victims ease their spiritual and physical pains. They include Nguyen Khai Hung, Director of the Viet Nam Friendship Village in Van Canh commune of northern Ha Tay province. Although Hung can rest at the age of 69, he is deeply attached to Agent Orange victims: war veterans, young volunteers and their children. Based on a list of Agent Orange victims nationwide, Hung travelled far and wide to take children to the village. Since the establishment of the village in 1998, he has brought here more than 200 children from 34 provinces and cities from Quang Nam province northwards. He knows by heart every child's name, family background, and medical condition. The children, on their part, love him dearly. They loudly greet him from afar. A blind 8-year-old girl, hearing his voice, clung to him wanting to be hugged. She only let him go after a lot of sweet talk.

Ho`a (left) and Luong (right) are the two kids of the class one. Ho`a has a deformed face, and Luong has a big head due to his swelling brain. Their teacher said both of them can not advance to class two because of their intellectual deficiency. However, in terms of social contact, they are very sweet and friendly. They like shaking hand and holding your hand to show you around the village.

Not only director Hung but many others at the village are devoted to child victims of Agent Orange. They are teachers and nurses, who spend up to 20 hours a day caring for the children, feeding them and helping them learn and play. Most of them have retired, but still accept the hard work at the village out of the compassion for the innocent children.

Tran Thi Hong, who volunteered to work for the village since it was founded, said the village initially received eight kids with various mental and physical deformities. During the time, such nurses like Hong had to live with these kids and took dual jobs - looking after and teaching them. As a former teacher at the Xuan Phuong primary school at Ha Noi's outlying district of Tu Liem, Hong cannot hold back her tears while talking "I love those kids. They are suffering from illnesses." ...

SUCH A FAMILY!

2005-11-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

(Photo from www.photo.nl Copyright Jan Banning)
Tran Dinh Ca (boy, centre) is 6 years old. His mother: "Ca can't understand, speak, hear nor walk or stand. He can't eat by himself. He just lies in bed all the time. Ca has no feeling of pain, or cold and heat. He just shales his head and grinds his teeth all the time. He doesn't react to noise, and his hands and legs are always in slight convulsions."

To Vietnamese people, children is the most important treasure of parents. Most parents consider the growing and success of their children to be their life-long achievement. They rank each other by the health, intelligence, and good behaviours of their children, they envy with eachothers because of their children. The parents of the agent orange children therefore, have a low social status because many people still maintain backward thinking that only "unblessed" people give birth to the deformed children.

In this photo, the most miserable are the parents, who have to bear the pain of their children the most.

As you look around in the photo, you will find nothing of value, except for a wheelchair donated by a certain charity group. The house is unsafe with tiled roof, unpainted wall. All the family are on one bed. Taking care of the sicked children takes away all the money and the time for the parents to do business. Thus the family is desperately drowned in the quagmire of poverty.

CRAWLING CHILDREN

2005-11-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

This is Huy (in red) 18, and Hanh, 15 . They are brothers in a poor family in Nam Dinh.
Huy and Hanh can not walk. All the time, they crawl around a small yard in front of their house. Hanh and Huy can understand a bit.
Here in this photo, Hanh and Huy are nervous of the visitors. They are crawling to hide from Ngoc, a representative of Vietnamese Red Cross and www.chatdocdacam.info

My friends,
I was shocked when I saw this photo. Yes, they were crawling on the ground and they looked ugly, but I am surprised that they are conscious. hey react like any typical Vietnamese child, timid and shy when strangers approach, and this made me remember the Humpedback of NotraDame!

Do we sometime mistreat a real human being because of their appearance?!

I love you kids!

A sad Grand Father

2005-10-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

(From www.chatdocdacam.info © by Adrian Brown )

An old Grand Father is sadly holding the hand of his little grand daughter, the third generation of agent orange victims

In Vietnamese, there is an old saying "When mature bamboo trees grow old, new bamboo shoots grow up" which implies the circle of life and the expectations of the old people for their children to grow up and finish their unfulfilled dreams.

In Vietnam, children is the source of happiness for old people. The old considers the children both as the console and as the hope for future. An old man will be happy with healthy grand children because he knows that the family tree will keep growing long after his death.

In this photo, the old man bears a sad look to the future because he sees no brighter prospect for the family, and my heart feels pain when I see his white hair and his sad eyes.

HOW DO THEY STRIKE YOU?

2005-10-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

(Photo from www.photo.nl Copyright Jan Banning)
Their father Le Huu Dong (57) says: "Nhon (right, 27) and Hoa (14) have the same problem. People call them monsters, but their brains are normal. They can understand, speak and walk." As a soldier in the South-Vietnamese army, Dong was in contact with Agent Orange. A third child with the same syndrome died.
Photo Jan Banning.

My friends,
Please don't call them monsters.

They are human being suffered from the vicious chemical named agent orange.

Please call them sisters (or daughters if they are at your daughters' age)

When you see them, let love and compassion be pumped out from your heart like your blood! Let them be seen through your teary eyes.

If you come to Vietnam, let you hug them, and warm them with your love and your compassion!

You may not bring money, bring love!

Please don't call them monsters. My friends!

The legacy of Agent Orange

2005-10-24T01:42:00.000-07:00

(From www.chatdocdacam.info © by Adrian Brown )

(This article is quoted from the BBC)

Thirty years after hostilities ended between the US and Vietnam, relations remain strained by one of America's most notorious actions, the use of the chemical Agent Orange.
The Vietnamese believe that the powerful weed killer - the use of which was intended to destroy crops and jungle providing cover for the Vietcong - is responsible for massively high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed.
Nguyen Trong Nhan, from the Vietnam Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange and a former president of Vietnamese Red Cross, believes the use of Agent Orange was a "war crime".
He told BBC World Service's One Planet programme that Vietnam's poverty was a direct result of the use of Agent Orange.
"They are the poorest and the most vulnerable people - and that is why Vietnam is a very poor country," he said.
"We help the people who are victims of the Agent Orange and the dioxins, but the capacity of our government is very limited."
Contaminated areas
Campaigners such as Mr Nguyen believe they have been left with little choice but to resort to legal action, and in 2004 took the chemical companies that produced Agent Orange to court in the US.
But last month an American Federal District Judge dismissed the case on the grounds that use of the defoliant did not violate international law at the time. An appeal has been lodged against this decision.
The US sprayed 80m litres of poisonous chemicals during Operation Ranchhand. There were many Agents used, including Pink, Green and White, but Agent Orange was used the most - 45m litres sprayed over a 10th of Vietnam.
It was also used - mostly in secret - over parts of neighbouring Cambodia.

But Agent Orange in particular was laced with dioxins - extremely toxic to humans. Dioxins accumulate in the body to cause cancers. Anyone eating or drinking in contaminated areas then receives an even higher dose.
Spraying stopped in 1971, after more than 6,000 missions and growing public disquiet.
But the ground in many areas of Vietnam remains contaminated by Agent Orange. A number of people in these areas believe they are victims of the chemical.
One woman said the herbicide had caused a skin disease which gave her "great suffering".
"If the US and Vietnamese governments could care for people like me, that would be comforting," she added.
Another man said his legs have "wasted away" as a result of Agent Orange.
"When I realise I have been contaminated with poisonous chemicals, and the US government hasn't done anything to help, I feel very sad, and it makes me cry," he added.
"Now I always get severe headaches. My first child has just died - he had physical deformities. The second one is having headaches like me."
Cancers and disease
Food and supplies are still delivered to victims of Agent Orange. Many were not born when the US sprayed the area - but there is strong evidence the chemicals are still having an effect.
A disproportionately large number of children in the areas affected are born with defects, both mental and physical. Many are highly susceptible to cancers and disease.
And Vietnamese doctors are convinced Agent Orange is to blame.

"This is due to the US sprayings," said Dr Hong Tien Dong, village doctor who has lived in the area all his life.
"Before, in this area, the environment was quite clean.
"Now it has become like this."
In the late 1990s, a Canadian study tested soil, pond water, fish and duck tissue, as well as human blood samples, and found dangerously high levels of dioxin travelling up the food chain to humans.
Dioxin concentrations have been found to be 13 times higher than average in the soil of affected areas, and, in human fat tissue, 20 times as high.
A Japanese study, comparing areas sprayed with those that were not, found children were three times more likely to be born with cleft palates, or extra fingers and toes.
There are eight times as many hernias in such children, and three times as many born with mental disabilities.
In 2001, scientists found that people living in an Agent Orange "hotspot" at Binh-Hoa near Ho Chi Minh City have 200 times the background amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams.
Humanitarian opportunity
America "normalised" relations with Vietnam 10 years ago, and the country has now embraced the free market.
No representative of the US government in Vietnam would talk to One Planet about Agent Orange.
However, in 1984, chemical companies that manufactured the Agent paid $180m into a fund for United States veterans following a lawsuit. They did not, however, admit any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile in 2004 - at the same time Mr Nguyen first brought his lawsuit - a joint-US-Vietnamese project to examine the long-term genetic impact of Agent Orange was cancelled.

Some Americans in Vietnam fear that the legacy of Agent Orange is overshadowing the new friendship between the two countries.
"Many of the other obstacles have been dealt with - trade and exchange and diplomatic relations," said Andrew Wells-Dang, from the Fund For Reconciliation And Development - an American organisation set up in the 1980s with the aim of improving relations between the countries.
He pointed out that the US has provided funding for clearing mines that it dropped on Vietnam during the war.
"We think the US should do the same with Agent Orange," he added.
"It's not going to go away, because it affects a huge number of people in Vietnam. "We would see this as an opportunity for the US to take humanitarian action so that it doesn't become an obstacle between the countries."