Peace Trees Vietnam helps revive dead fields QĐND  PANO - Dead fields in the central province of Quang Tri have been brought to life thanks to Peace Trees Vietnam (PTVN), which was founded in 1995 after the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the USA. PTVN is the first US non-governmental organization licensed by the Government of Vietnam to support unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance in Vietnam. Based in Seattle, Washington, it opened a branch at the UXO Prevention Education Centre in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri, Vietnam. According to this organization’s director, Le Dinh Quang, what led him to closely link his life to the organization and Central Vietnam is the fact that thousands of Vietnamese children have become direct or indirect victims of UXO left by the war. In fact, during the Vietnam War, US troops fiercely bombarded Quang Tri province, causing heavy human and property losses. Though nearly 40 years have flown by since the Vietnam War ended, the large number of UXOs, especially cluster bombs, still remaining everywhere in this province is a permanent threat to local people. That is the reason why PTVN decided to carry out its project in the two districts of Dakrong and Huong Hoa in Quang Tri Province, with an aim to revive this dead land. Recalling his first day with the PTVN, Quang said that in 1996, he was invited to assist the organization in building a Mine Risk Education Centre on UXO in Dong Ha city once a month. At that time, as an architect, he did not find it difficult. Learning more about Peace Trees, he wanted to do something for UXO victims, especially children. Able to speak Vietnamese, he could understand local people’s thought, their difficulties and demands, which he then briefed Peace Trees about, to help them facilitate their work. Like other projects, the project on UXO clearance of PTVN also needed funds. It was lucky for the organization that alongside enterprises and individuals in the USA, the US Department of State greatly sponsored the organization. The aid has changed from year to year, ranging from US $100,000 to US $400,000. Notably, in the period of 2011-12, the US Department of Defence, via the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Fund (VVMF), financed the organization’s UXO clearance teams in Quang Binh Province. However, the organization has faced difficulties in calling for more funds because various countries, including the USA, have had to tighten their belts to cope with economic crisis. “Last year, we waited for months to receive support from the US Department of State,” Quang shared. Though facing financial difficulties, the organization’s project has run well thanks to the assistance of local authorities and people. According to figures in late 2011, the organization’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Teams found and collected more than 63,300 UXOs and cleared 216 hectares of contaminated land. Besides, the organization organized training and mine risk education courses on UXO prevention for over 72,000 people, including children, and gave support to 783 UXO victims and their families. Quang said that a PTVN team recently found a trench containing 619 different shells, cluster munitions and mortars, the largest number in a single site to date. Apart from UXO clearance, the organization has supported community development through such activities as building kindergartens, libraries, granting scholarships to poor students and planting trees. Once completed, the infrastructure will be directly managed by the organization and local authorities to timely settle any emerging problems. Via Peace Trees’ activities and in response to its appeal, a number of volunteers from the USA and other countries in the world have come to Vietnam to plant trees, learn more about this S-shaped country and its people, contributing to tightening friendship between Vietnam and other nations. According to the PTVN’s director, it is the active support of local authorities and people that have helped the organization attain more achievements than expected. He believed that this driving force would inspire PTVN to collect more funds for UXO clearance in Quang Tri Province and for the expansion of the project, aiming to make the central region of Vietnam ever-green. Written by Kim Oanh-Thu Trang. Translated by Mai Huong