At a summit on Agent Orange held by UNICEF in Danang in 2007, Nguyen Thi Hien, now head of the city’s Agent Orange victims association, raised her hand and asked to speak for just two minutes.
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| Nguyen Thi Hien (C) marches to call for justice for Agent Orange/Dioxin victims on a street in the US in May, 2010 |
She asked for direct intervention by the UN agency in helping victims rather than merely giving cash to the government.
To her surprise, a UNICEF official contacted her and agreed to build a shelter at a cost of USD195,000 in Hoa Vang District for poor kids affected by the dioxin.
“Now you can sleep well,” UNICEF representative in Vietnam, Jesper Morch, whispered into her ear when they met.
The 53-year old Hien has spent 20 years fighting for the rights of Agent Orange victims.
She is currently involved in filing a suit against the US companies that supplied Agent Orange, looking for sponsors, building houses, and providing medication for the victims.
She visited the US in April and May last year, traveling to seven cities, talking to the media and meeting lawmakers and veterans.
She also met students at Jones College Prep School in Chicago, most of them ethnic Vietnamese.
“When I started talking, the atmosphere was cold. The Vietnamese students, who were born in the US, had probably not been told about the post-Vietnam war consequences,” she said.
She told them the story of her cousin.
“He has five children, four of whom are deformed. The other had mental problems caused by Agent Orange. Recently, [my cousin] died due to the effects of the defoliant.”
She showed them photos of Agent Orange victims in Danang: a bald-head boy in Hai Chau District, a family with three kids in Ngu Hanh Son District who all have deformed legs and arms.
“We act on behalf of everyone since the pain does not belong to any one person,” she said to big applause from the students.
They became indignant by then. “Why is American government covering this?” one asked.
“Seeing images of Agent Orange victims makes Americans like us ashamed. The government is responsible for this.”
Hien returned to Vietnam with more support from her US interlocutors.
Recently, she received four awards from the government and the Danang administration for her contributions to the community.
Hien has two adopted girls who now have children of their own. She also has seven-year-old twin girls. But for her, all the children in the shelter are also family.
