Meeting with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh

On my last day in Ha Noi, I had a good meeting with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, at her office. We talked mostly about victims of Agent Orange.

Earlier, our plan was to build a Therapy and Skill Center for the victims in Vinh Vien village. However, due to the police harassment and the lack of cooperation from the provincial authorities in Hau Giang, we now shift our efforts to Thai Binh province.

Madame Binh is an honorable president for the government's program which currently provides limited care to the severe cases of Thai Binh. She said she would speak to the head of that program and inform him about our plan. I myself had talked to a few people from Thai Binh, who were most excited to get help.

My interest in Thai Binh came during the second week in Ha Noi, when I learned that Thai Binh, with the highest number of young men going South during the war, now has 40,000 victims of AO (including victims of the third generation). With limited time, my visit to the province has to be postponed until the spring 2010.

When I showed her the architectural plan for the Center, Madame Binh said it was a bit too fancy and suggested that we "stretch out" our financial resources in order to accommodate more victims. She wanted to meet me again to discuss more, when I visit Ha Noi next time. Madame Binh is well respected in the country. During the war, she had represented the Nationalist forces in South Viet Nam at the Paris Peace Talk with Henry Kissinger. After the war, she became Vice President, then Minister of Education.