Port of Call LAST UPDATE February 5, 2009
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January 21, 2009 Da Nang, Viet Nam – Exploring Today’s Effects of the Viet Nam War
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Peace Boat is greeted by Vietnamese women dancing in traditional dress
As Peace Boat moored at the port of Da Nang, Viet Nam, the ship was greeted by both a beautiful sunrise and a warm welcome. Vietnamese women on shore performed several dances as participants watched from the ship’s decks. Though the city had been experiencing a rainy spell just days before, the participants of Peace Boat were lucky enough to have sunshine and low humidity the entire day.
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Participant Okada Misako, 65, talks with a 79-year-old Vietnamese woman
Participants were offered opportunities to exchange culture with youth in the city, learn about Vietnamese cooking, visit the old town of Hoi An and much more. One group embarked on a mission to learn more about the trauma of the Viet Nam War, from which the country is still recovering. The first stop in the journey was K-20, a secret tunnel built during the war by Hyunh Trung when he was 45 years old. The dirt tunnel, barely the circumference of a human body, begins under Trung’s house and travels underground, ending at the edge of a rice paddy. Participants listened as Trung told stories of hiding in the humid, dark tunnel, or using it to escape to the fields when US soldiers came to raid the house. Afterward, participants had the opportunity to walk around the area and talk to local people, most of whom were elderly survivors of the war.
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A child aided by the Center for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin and Disadvantaged Children. This young man was one of the liveliest of the children, eager to show off his singing and dancing skills for the participants, later examining all of the participants’ cameras with extreme curiosity
To learn more about the war’s history, participants visited a museum focusing on Ho Chi Minh, the fearless father of Communism in Viet Nam and the number one enemy of the United States during the war. Ho Chi Minh is still so loved by Vietnamese that he is known by everyone as “Uncle Ho Chi,” and his picture appears on Vietnamese money in every denomination. Participants learned that altogether, 3 to 4 million Vietnamese died in the war, along with 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians and 58,159 Americans. After learning about the war, participants then visited the Center for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin and Disadvantaged Children, where they saw firsthand the war’s lingering effects.
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A nursery for children affected by Agent Orange and other unfortunate situations
The Center for Victims undoubtedly houses some of the friendliest, most welcoming children in the world. Participants first visited the branch that takes care of infants and newborns, where gentle women rocked babies to sleep. The babies, some only a few days old, were mostly abandoned children. Their parents were unable to take care of them for many reasons, ranging from poverty to disabilities inflicted by Agent Orange. Though two babies shared each small crib and were wrapped with mere cloths for diapers, the caretakers managed to coax a smile from each and every one as participants waved hello.
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Participant Tomine Tadao, from Tokyo, receives excited hugs from the center’s children
At the next location, participants were rushed by a flurry of excited children as the kids eagerly shook hands, hugged, and practiced their few English words: “Hello,” “Happy New Year!” The center, headed by Nguyen Thi Hien, works to raise money and awareness for victims of Agent Orange and other unfortunate children in Viet Nam. Hundreds of kilograms of Agent Orange, a known carcinogen, were sprayed onto Vietnamese and Laotian land by US troops to destroy the forest and crops. The purpose was both to destroy the tall grass that the Viet Cong used as cover, and destroy the soldiers’ and villagers’ food resources. The toxin continues to perpetuate deformities and disabilities in Vietnamese children, who are sometimes born with genetic mutations inherited from grandparents affected by the dioxin during the war. Despite this, the center holds no malice toward the United States. In a letter to the people of the US, the center states, “We affirm that Vietnamese people have no hatred toward American people—they have the same historic pages about the struggle for independence and freedom.” Instead, the center merely asks that the US takes responsibility by contributing toward the research and caretaking for those still affected by the poison.
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The children crowd around a young participant for their picture
After the Center for Victims of Agent Orange hosted a delicious lunch of fresh seafood and traditional meat soup for participants, participants mingled with the children. Though there was no common verbal language, there was no problem communicating through smiles and eager hugs. One participant, Tomine Tadao of Tokyo, expressed surprise at the children’s friendliness: “Everyone is so happy!” he said. “It really feels like a family here.” Afterward, the children put on a talent show, singing karaoke and dancing. At the end, both children and participants joined together on stage to dance together, and the pleasure was returned as participants sang a traditional Japanese song for the children.
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A young boy sells fruit in the Han Market, an open street market along the river in Da Nang
As the day wrapped up, there was one more surprise: Peace Boat’s Watanabe Rika, International Director for the 64th Voyage, presented the center’s children a bag full of crayons, paper, and pencils. On previous visits to the center, the children had wished for crayons for colouring and drawing. Furthermore, through the onboard fundraising of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese-American guest educator, several books will be donated to the center as part of the Global Village Foundation mobile libraries program. The mobile library will be inscribed with Peace Boat’s name, and participants are welcome any time to return to the center to see the books being used. There’s no doubt the children would be thrilled to see them again.