My Post-Sabbatical Year(s) in Asia (or wherever): 5/2: Peace Trees and 4 personal stories

About an hour and a half north of Hue is the office of Peace Trees Vietnam, in Quan Tri province. Quang Tri province is the northern most province of what was once South Vietnam, just south of the demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel, the dividing line of North and South Vietnam. Some of the heaviest American bombing in all of the American War occurred there - an average of seven tons of explosives per person was dropped in this province. Quang Tri province is still affected by explosive remnants of the war, where over 7,000 people had been killed or injured since 1975.

"Items" found in Quang Tri province

Information about Peace Trees Vietnam from Michelle M's report:
Peace Trees Vietnam was founded in 1995 by the family of a helicopter pilot killed in the American War in 1969. It's motto is: Plant a tree where a mine used to be. Its mission is to remove land mines and other unexploded ordnance and reforest those areas. Peace Trees Vietnam has two teams working to remove unexploded ordnance and land mines. They have supported the area by building schools, housing, and a library. Peace Trees Vietnam has also helped to support land mine victims with housing, money for medical support and family support, scholarships for education, and conduct community education about land mines.

The students met four land mine victims, who shared their stories, and then answered questions.

Tran Thi Be

In 1973, when Tran Thi Be was five years old in 1973 when the land mine accident occurred. Her mother and five siblings were killed. TranBe lost both her legs. She then lived with her dad only. She now has two children - a nine year old girl and a six year old boy. She runs a little shop selling beverages to high school students, earning about three dollars a day. She told us it was her children who gave her more language and strength to continue.

Le Van Hong

Le Van Hong is 17 years old. It was in 2004, at the age of twelve, when his accident occurred. He was very curious about a strange object, and picked up and played with it. He was alone, so no one else was hurt, but Hong lost his left arm. He was in the hospital for one and a half months, but it took about a year to regain his balance. He lives with his mother, who is a farmer. Hong can no longer help in the farming, but he can still help out around the house. When asked what he wants to do when he grows up, Le said that he loves to paint and wants to go to art school and become a painter. When asked about plans for an artificial arm, it was explained to us that this is a very rare occurrence in Vietnam. Peace Trees Vietnam bought Hong a bicycle because he lives very far from his school, and they bought his mother a cow to help out with the family finances. Land mine victims get no support from the Vietnamese government.

Nguyen Thi Cuc

Nguyen Thi Cuc is now 50 years old and lives in Peace Trees village. Late one afternoon in 1986, Cuc was out with her dad when she picked something up. Her dad was lightly injured, but Cuc lost both of her legs and seriously injured her stomach. Her family took her home, thinking she would die, but her husband took her to the hospital, where it took two and a half months to recuperate. At first she only wanted to die, but her little boy, only several months old at the time, was the reason she fought to live. For ten years she stayed inside of her house, afraid to go outside and meet other people. After some time she got a job at a toothpick and incense packing plant. When asked if something changed after ten years to get her to leave her house, she said it was the Para Games. Other people in the dame situation convinced her to join the team. She is now a decorated athlete, competing in weight lifting and shot put, though she was not an athlete before her accident. Last year, competing against athletes half her age, she won the gold medal for shot put.

Cuc used to be a sewer and knitter, but after her accident, with no legs she could no longer run a sewing machine. Some years ago an NGO bought her a hand-crank sewing machine, but now it is old and broken. Peace Trees Vietnam provides scholarship money for her children. Her daughter just graduated university as an accountant, and her son is in the 9th grade. (Her first born son, the reason for her continuing to live at the time of her accident, tragically died in a traffic accident in 2002). In 2009 Cuc left Vietnam for the first time, flying to Seattle for a Peace Trees Vietnam fund raiser. When asked if it was difficult to tell her story to Americans, she smiled and said, "No, not at all."

Ho Van Lai

Ho Van Lai is 20 years old. He is still studying, and first in his class. The accident occurred ten years ago. He was playing with his siblings - two sisters and one brother, at his grandmother's house, when he heard the explosion. He felt very hot. One brother and one sister died. He lost both legs, one arm, and badly burned his other hand. He was in the hospital for four months. One year later Lai returned to school, but found it very difficult to integrate back into the community, so he left school for some time. He went to the city, where he received two artificial legs, and went to a special school. When asked about what he wants to do in the future, Lai said he is still not sure. He worries if people will accept him.

After meeting these four people, students planted 37 trees. They were once again given the opportunity to give some of their spending money to help, and donated $270. We gave each person the money directly, and also gave Cuc the money to buy her sewing machine. We then took our four new friends and their family out to lunch.