It is strangely silent in the cafeteria of the Vietnam Friendship Village Project. Though several dozen children are in the room, they make little noise and virtually no conversation.
Located in Van Canh Village, Hoai Duc District in Ha Tay Province, 11km west of Hanoi, Vietnam Friendship Village was inaugurated in 1998 by an American war veteran, and is under the jurisdiction of the Veteran’s Association of Vietnam (VAVA).Built on a rice paddy, the Friendship Village stands not only as a symbol of peace and reconciliation, but as a testament to the potential for all people to come to terms with the past, heal the wounds of war, and create a better world.

The village is built to care of victims of the American war: recuperative holidays for war veterans and take of children with disabilities.

With the support of other veterans from all over the world, including Germany, America, Japan and France, Friendship Village is expanding. A new school has just completed, and there are plans for a hospital.

In some cases, these children are just one of several children in a family with similar abnormalities.

Learning simple skills such as flower making and embroidery can enable them to help their families once they return home.

There are also classes at Friendship Village for other students who are not disabled. The sewing skills class is a good choice for the nation’s major clothing manufacturers.



Phan The Hai, 24, is the first resident of the village. She can say and understand nothing.
The village's founder, George Mizo, an American veteran, took his experiences of war to the birth of his remarkable village.

In 1968, Mr Mizo and other veterans from the USA, Vietnam, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain and Australia attempted to mitigate the ongoing effects of the toxic herbicide sprayed during the war.

Thirty-five years ago, more than two million Vietnamese people were killed in the American War. The US and their allies dumped more bombs on Vietnam than they did during all of World War II.

Thousands of tons of Dioxin commonly known as "Agent Orange" were dumped onto the jungles of Vietnam.

A long time has passed, and the second and third generation of Vietnamese are still being affected by the chemical.

According to an estimate report of the VAV, Vietnam has about four million victims of Agent Orange nationwide. Among them, 10% are children who live in poor conditions.

Researchers say that exposure to the dioxins in Agent Orange causes a variety of lymphomas and cancers including Hodgkin’s disease, and birth defects.

Same roof, same pain

The residents of Friendship Village are named simply into two categories: children or veteran, while some of the “children