Sunday, October 17, 2010

AO: The Disabled Young Vietnamese

Young Vietnamese disabled cope in Ho Chi Minh City


Le Quang Nhat / Le Quang Nhat: Tran Vuhoai Phuong, who uses crutches after having had polio as a child, says each day is a struggle to get around the city.

October 17, 2010 - Le Van Lieu's 4-foot, 5-inch frame lies on a sofa next to a glass display case that contains a red beaded Santa Claus, a bejeweled wallet and other hand-made artwork. His knees are bent inward, giving him a cross-legged appearance - a disability that he believes is the result of his father's exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

In an adjacent kitchen, another young man named Dau Van Lam wipes down a dining table while cupping a feeble right hand with his other arm.

"My mother didn't want me to leave my village," said Lam, 20, who contracted polio when he was 3 years old. "But I felt that I could take some of the burden off of her by coming here."

Lieu, 27, and Lam live at the YMCA Vocational Orientation Club for Disabled Youth, a small two-story building at the end of a muddy alley that offers free room and board, and job training sponsored by a German nongovernmental organization called Bread for the War. They represent a growing number of young Vietnamese disabled by disease, accidents or exposure to Agent Orange who have left their rural homes in search of jobs, education and acceptance in the nation's booming urban centers. While some find work and independence, most are forced to cope with a society of which many see them as useless, bearers of bad luck and a financial drain.

"People look at us like aliens," Lam said. "Or they ignore us because they feel that we can't do anything."

Rights for disabled {read rest}

VAORRC, Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign


French concert supports Vietnamese dioxin victims


10/17/2010 - Le Perreux-sur-Marne in the suburbs of Paris hosted a solidarity concert on October 16 in support of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange/dioxin.

The event, co-hosted by Jazz Bond Association, Orange Dihoxyn and Orange Fleurs d’espoir, involved both Vietnamese and French amateur composers and singers, who performed soulfully for Vietnam and its dioxin victims. {read rest}

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