The Vietnam War ended in three decades ago, but for many children in the Southeast Asian country, the war continues.
There is no gunfire to hide from, no soldiers to befriend or helicopters flying over.
The new enemy is the mines and unexploded bombs left behind from years of combat. For these innocent children, the tools of war have taken their lives and limbs in a time of peace.
Fortunately for them, Kids First, a nonprofit agency based out of Bainbridge Island, is dedicated to helping those in Vietnam's Quang Tri province not only survive, but flourish.
Nathan Hale High School senior Collin Brown was so inspired by his grandfather's humanitarian work in Vietnam as a Kids First board member that he made the same trip with Kids First to offer his services to the children.
Not only would Brown learn about a new culture and help children in need, but the experience would provide the material needed for his senior project, a requirement of all Seattle high school graduates.
The trip
Brown's trip began on Feb. 15 in Hanoi, where he and other Kids First members stayed for two nights. They then visited an orphanage outside the city.
After two nights there, they moved on to Quynhon, a coastal fishing city for another couple of nights. There, the group visited a school for students with mental and physical disabilities caused by contamination from Agent Orange, a chemical used by the United States during the Vietnam War to remove the leaves from the trees in the dense Vietnamese jungle.
The school's mission is to teach these children the tourist trade or work with local companies to get them off the street, help them gain employment and become self-sufficient.
What Brown found most interesting was communicating with the deaf children in the school.
"The language barrier was more obvious with the speaking children," he says. "But when a person is deaf, they must communicate in a more universal language. It was amazing to communicate with these deaf kids."
Another highlight in Quynhon was the creation of a basketball court for the children. The Kids First group brought basketballs and soccer balls with them as gifts for the children. When they arrived they noticed there was no basketball hoop, so they decided to make one.
Brown and his peers went to the market and bartered for a laundry basket and string and proceeded to fashion a basketball hoop from these items. Brown says, beaming, "It was great to see them playing and having fun and to know we helped bring them some joy."
After a stop in Hue, the capital of ancient Vietnam, the group moved on to Saigon. Compared to Hanoi in the northern part of the country, Saigon is more westernized.
"It's modern, with a lot more visible advertisements," Brown observes, "compared to Hanoi, that just has a lot of little local stores."
The costs of war
Eventually, the group made it to their primary destination of Dong Ha in the Quang Tri province, where the majority of Kids First efforts are focused. This province is located just north of the famed demilitarized zone, so named during the Vietnam War.
This area experienced a lot of military activity as both sides occupied the zone at different times during the war, and as a result, land mines were planted as defense. Some of these land mines were never found or detonated making this a dangerous area for children who often play in the fields.
According to Brown, Kids First has since built a village in the province to assist with the hardships these children face. The village houses a medical and mobility center set up with state-of-the-art medical equipment to help the residents get the orthotics and prosthetics they need.
"It costs thousands of dollars per leg in the U.S, but only about $30 per leg in Vietnam," Brown says.
The medical center isn't the only project in Quang Tri province. Brown's grandfather, Richard Kale, says that Kids First built a Land Mines Education Center to teach children what not to touch when they encounter a mine.
He also explained about the scholarship program that helps to pay for school for one year:
"Currently, the average income in Vietnam is $450 a year. It costs $50 a year to send a child to school, so many families, by the time their children turn 8 years old, can't afford to send them to school."
Kale went on to tell how Kids First built a 12-classroom school, complete with a computer lab connected to the Computer Science Department at the University of Washington, in 2002. Bill Gates' father, William Sr., helped with that project.
Unfortunately for Kids First, the Vietnamese government typically interferes with efforts to help children and families.
"[The Vietnamese government] wants to know what we are doing, why we are doing it and when we are going to do it," Brown says. "Sometimes government officials are paid off to allow us to do our work."
He goes on to explain that other non-government organizations face similar situations.
Public service
All in all, Brown found his experience informative and enlightening. He's already told his father, Doug Brown, that he would like to travel to other locations to see what needs to be done.
According to his father, "[Collin]'s wired like that. Public service is in his DNA, considering his grandfather and uncle went on the trip, too.
"I told Collin that in the '60s, young men went to Vietnam for an entirely different reason. It's nice to see them going now to help correct the damage that was done," he added.
To donate to Kids First, mail a tax-deductible donation to Kids First Vietnam, P.O. Box 17814, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Or for more information, go on-line to www.kidsfirst vietnam.org.
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