To help prevent further mine-related injuries and deaths, Project RENE holds community-based workshops, camping trips, parades and art competitions. These events are held in collaboration with the Youth Union and focus on integrating and disseminating MRE messages to young people as well as farmers and the general public.
Additionally, Project RENEWTM and Quang Tri Television broadcast weekly public service announcements and documentaries about the dangers of landmines and UXO. Similar announcements are heard on local radio stations by more than 500,000 people.
Project RENEWTM has been working to provide emergency aid to people injured by mines
and to establish sustainable incomes for families whose loved ones are maimed or killed in accidents.
Project RENEWTM provides first aid and trauma training for medical workers and medical equipment for district medical centers and local healthcare stations. It also works to generate income for families with landmine/UXO victims. So far, 100 families have been trained to produce and market high-quality mushrooms and another 60 families have been provided micro-credit programs. Other income raising alternatives are being sought to improve victims’ qualities of life.
Real stories from Quang Tri
Munitions to mushrooms: An American war veteran returns to Vietnam
by Ron Edgington
I have lived over half my life since leaving Vietnam as a young U.S. Navy Seabee. As a Seabee, I was not trained to be a combatant, and fortunately, I had limited contact with the real horrors of warfare. But that changed in September 2002 when I returned to Vietnam with my wife, Carole.
We traveled to Southeast Asia with Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund founder Jan Scruggs, former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson and other Vietnam veterans. It was on this
journey that Carole and I saw first-hand the results of war. I was amazed that decades later a new generation of Vietnamese are still paying the price of war.
Midway through our trip, we visited Quang Tri Province to see Project RENEWTM, the humanitarian project being run by the Memorial Fund. We witnessed the effects of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind from a war that has been over for more than 25 years. It was unbelievable to think that those munitions are still injuring people.
We met children and adults with missing limbs and other deformities. It was an instant reminder of my good fortune, but also showed me the realities of the UXO problem.
Both Carole and I grew up and still live in Chester County, Pennsylvania – the mushroom capital of the world. Never in my life did I think I would see a maimed Vietnamese man growing mushrooms in Vietnam. He had lost part of his hand in a UXO accident.
As part of Project RENEW’sTM efforts, mine victims and their families are being trained to be self-sufficient. They are growing mushrooms for use in restaurants.
Personally, I returned believing that there is still even more that Vietnam veterans and others “can do” – which is the Seabee motto. While our tours are over and our enlistment up, there is a “duty still calling.” My opinion of the Vietnamese was radically changed for the better and I believe that anyone who sees what we saw will agree.
Project RENEWTM may be just the renewal you need!
Ron Edgington served from 1966-68 as a U.S. Navy Seabee in Chu Lai, Vietnam. He has been a volunteer for 12 years at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Growing Mushrooms in Trieu Phong
Do Thien Dang, 46, lives in the Trieu Long Commune of Phong District, Quang Tri Province. In 1980, as he rotting grass on a hillside, he stepped on a piece of . e ordnance and lost both of his legs. His neighbors, 'ere cutting grass with him, rushed him to the nearest medical station.
From 1980 to 2003, Dang and his family faced many lties daily. The family was poor, Dang had to ~~.~ to his disability, and he was totally dependent on other's small income. Dang did not have a job during 13-year period.
Then, in 2003, Dang was selected by Project RENEW' 'opate in the mushroom production program. Since " he has produced 250 to 300 kilograms of mushrooms year, contributing between 4 million to 5 million Vietnamese dong (VND), or about $250 to $300 USD, to the annual family income.
This income has improved his family's life by providing sdJooI fees for his children and permitting the purchase of e furniture for his home.
Dang said, "The mushroom production program is very ~"ropriate for victims of landmines and UXO, by creating 3 iob for disabled people like me, which is quite suited to situation."
He said his children also help him in producing the mushrooms.
Helping families in Hai Lang
Nguyen Thi Tuyet lives in Village 3, Hai Tho Commune, Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province. In 1990, when she was 20 years old, a landmine/UXO accident killed her mother. From that time on, her life became much more difficult, as she had to take care of her father and, later, her only child, with no husband to assist them.
Her family was extremely poor. There was not enough money to run a small business, so Tuyet had to work as a temporary laborer, with barely enough money for daily needs.
When the revolving credit program for women of landmine/UXO victims' families was launched in the Hai Lang District, Tuyet was selected to be one of the first beneficiaries ofthe program.
The program is supported by Project RENEW'· and is implemented in collaboration with the Women's Union of Hai Lang District.
With her loan of3 million VND (nearly $190 USD), Tuyet has invested in raising pigs and sows since November 2004. Each year so far, she has sold two litters of pigs and has collected an average income of 6 million VND per year.
Tuyet said, "Before getting my loan from this program, I could hardly earn enough money for daily expenses, so I had no money to invest in pig raising. Now I am raising pigs and earning money to improve my economic situation.1 am getting enough food for my family, and I plan to expand the pig raising."
She added:"1 am very grateful to the Project RENEW' and [the Memorial Fund] for selecting me as one of the beneficiaries of the pig-raising program."
Raising Cows in Hai Lang
Le Van Thuc, 42, is from Thuong Nguyen Village, Hai Lam une, Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province. He was 'opating in a tree-planting campaign when he was in a UXO accident in 1993. As he was digging a hole for a tree on a hillside near his village, he unintentionally hit an item of UXO, resulting in the loss of an arm and an eye. Thuc became very depressed because of his permanant disability. He could not find a job and became totally dependant on his family.
2005, Project RENEW collaborated with the Farmer's Union ofLang District to launch a program to breed and to support landmine victims in Hai Lang District to launch a progfam to breed and raise cows to support landme victims in Hai Lang District.
Thuc was selected to participate in the program. In July 2005, he received his first cow and a supply of grass feed and was trained on cow-raising and grass-planting techniques. One year later, his cow gave birth to a calf.
Thuc says the program has been very effective and has provided him with new opportunities for independence and self-reliance. He takes care of the cow and the calf, and he plants and harvests the grass feed for the cows by himself. He is now investing his time and effort to involve the rest of his family and expand this working model to them.
