A triple amputee who overcame tragedy and built a new life

landmines.org.vn – Trieu Phong, Quang Tri Province, 10 September 2015 – On the road that leads to Ai Tu Village of Trieu Ai Commune, a man is hurrying home on his three-wheel bike.  He has finished tending his cows, and now he’s coming home to have lunch with his family.  He’s bringing fruit he just bought at the market.

As his wife prepares lunch, 44-year-old Hoang Than talks with his two children, 9-year-old son Hoang Anh and 6-year-old daughter Hoang Thi Dieu Anh, about their first day at school. The kids just started school after their summer break. The photo above is a picture of happiness, father and children together.

However, it was not always this way.  Than has overcome much tragedy in his life. Tiếp tục đọc “A triple amputee who overcame tragedy and built a new life”

When the U.S. dropped barrel bombs in war

Washington Post
By Ishaan Tharoor February 16

People inspect damage at a site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo’s district of al-Sukari on March 7, 2014. (Hosam Katan/Reuters)

“It’s a childish story that keeps repeating in the West,” smiled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an interview with the BBC last week. He was dismissing allegations that his regime is attacking Syrian civilians with barrel bombs, crude devices packed with fuel and shrapnel that inflict brutal, indiscriminate damage. Tiếp tục đọc “When the U.S. dropped barrel bombs in war”

Young woman, big responsibility

 

Eight months ago Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh was promoted to Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) Operations Manager at Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province.  The 32-year-old is the first woman to be selected for this position in Vietnam.  Linh now manages 160 technicians and support staff who make up 26 teams that are deployed every day.  Team members map confirmed hazardous areas for clearance and provide EOD response to safely dispose of cluster munitions and unexploded ordnance throughout the province. Linh spoke with Ngo Xuan Hien and Chuck Searcy.   Tiếp tục đọc “Young woman, big responsibility”

The Lethal Legacy of the Vietnam War

Fifty years after the first US troops came ashore at Da Nang, the Vietnamese are still coping with unexploded bombs and Agent Orange.

By George Black
The Nation
February 25, 2015

On a mild, sunny morning last November, Chuck Searcy and I drove out along a spur of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail to the former Marine base at Khe Sanh, which sits in a bowl of green mountains and coffee plantations in Vietnam’s Quang Tri province, hard on the border with Laos. The seventy-seven-day siege of Khe Sanh in early 1968, coinciding with the Tet Offensive, was the longest battle of what Vietnamese call the American War and a pivotal event in the conflict. By the off-kilter logic of Saigon and Washington, unleashing enough technology and firepower to produce a ten-to-one kill ratio was a metric of success, but the televised carnage of 1968, in which 16,592 Americans died, was too much for audiences back home. After Tet and Khe Sanh, the war was no longer America’s to win, only to avoid losing. Tiếp tục đọc “The Lethal Legacy of the Vietnam War”

VEF – Quỹ Giáo dục Việt Nam lấy tiền từ đâu?

Mark Ashwill là nhà giáo dục người Mỹ, tiến sĩ, và cựu giám đốc của Học viện Giáo dục Quốc tế – International Institute for Education (IIE) – , trước khi ông và vợ ông sáng lập Capstone Việt Nam vào năm 2009, một cơ sở tư vấn giáo dục đặt tại Hà Nội. Khi Mark diễn thuyết tại một Diễn đàn Giáo dục cấp cao Việt Nam – Hoa Kỳ tại Hà Nội, ông rất ngạc nhiên khi thấy gần như không ai trong số 150 thính giả biết rằng một chương trình học bổng rất nhiều danh tiếng – Quỹ Giáo dục Việt Nam (VEF) – được cho rằng được bảo trợ bởi Chính phủ Hoa Kỳ – thực ra là chính do Chính phủ Việt Nam gây quỹ bằng một thỏa thuận hoán đổi nợ. Chính phủ Việt Nam đã đồng ý, như một phần của tiến trình bình thường hóa quan hệ 20 năm trước, để trả lại khoản nợ 146 triệu USD trong nông nghiệp và các khoản nợ khác mà Mỹ đã cấp cho bên bại trận – Chính quyền Sài Gòn. Với khoản nợ và khủng hoảng của Hy Lạp gần đây, chi tiết của điều khoản Việt Nam trả nợ cho Mỹ dưới đây do Mark Ashwill đưa ra có thể khiến nhiều người Mỹ cũng như người Việt Nam bất ngờ.

11-29-2010 http://markashwill.com/2010/11/25/vef-from-vietnam-with-money/

VEF: Tiền đến từ Việt Nam Tiếp tục đọc “VEF – Quỹ Giáo dục Việt Nam lấy tiền từ đâu?”

Mine Action Alert: Wartime ordnance explosion kills farmer, father of three, near the former DMZ

Project RENEW
Gio Linh, Quang Tri (25 June 2015)

An explosion of wartime ordnance on Tuesday afternoon killed a 42-year-old farmer and father of three young children in Trung Son Commune of Gio Linh District, Quang Tri Province.  The exact circumstances of the tragedy are unknown.

Tiếp tục đọc “Mine Action Alert: Wartime ordnance explosion kills farmer, father of three, near the former DMZ”