VietNamNet Bridge – Previously, for most US citizens, Vietnam was synonymous with a country of war. But times have changed and Vietnam is now bringing to mind a country truly at peace which Americans fall in love with.

Jan Craig Scruggs, President of the US-based Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) made the remarks during an interview with a Vietnam News Agency reporter on the occasion of his week-long visit to Vietnam from August 20-26.

Years ago, to most US people, Vietnam was synonymous with a country of war. Today, what do they think about Vietnam?

I think most Americans are beginning to understand that Vietnam has a really special place in the world: it’s a country of peace. Most people in the US, when they think about Vietnam, they no longer think about it as a war but as a country with no military conflict, a country truly at peace.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam, more people started coming here, and people really started falling in love with the place. Now there is much better understanding and appreciation of Vietnam among the American people.

We’re here this time bringing some teachers and also some veterans to learn about Vietnam. Some of the veterans have come to visit the country again, to enjoy the beautiful scenery again, the wonderful tourist places for visitors. We need more countries like Vietnam, it would be a better world, that’s for sure.

And how about you, what things always haunt you about Vietnam? Do you think that what you are doing in the country helps heal the pain?

What haunts me is the tragedy for the people of Vietnam, so many lives lost. But the resilience of the Vietnamese people, the kindness of the people, that’s what keeps Americans coming back here. I think. It’s very easy to fall in love with Vietnam because of the nice people here.

What VVMF is doing in here is saving people’s lives, changing their behaviour so that they do not come into contact with unexploded ordnances (UXOs), or so that they call the appropriate authorities when they do find a bomb in their garden. We are trying to help people who are injured put together mushroom farms to earn better incomes, and support a couple of other projects to help people who have been hurt.

The important thing is to find a way to remove the dangerous stuff, to control it, keep it limited to a very small area. It’s very expensive to remove it, but it’s important to try. You can’t always change the whole world and fix everything in it, but you can fix a little part of it. So we are fixing a little part and helping people here, and we are happy to do it – it’s really the people’s initiative – from the American veterans of the war to the people of Vietnam.

Most of the funding for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Fund is contributed by veterans. Do you intend to raise money from others, from the US people?

We’re trying to get a lot of money from the US Congress, but it’s proving difficult. We hope to be able to spend over the next five years at least $5mil. We’re still waiting for some funding, but we’re spending a significant amount now.

We find that the best way to raise money is from the US government. It would be nice to have a greater opportunity to get it from more people, but that will take more time and some expertise. But we hope to get more people involved.

People have to understand the problem, and if people understand, we can raise the money. Right now, it’s very difficult to explain to people, because most people say, “It was so long ago, now you’re telling us there are still bombs there?” In fact, there are many bombs, but it is such a difficult story to explain to people.

What do you say to them?

What I say to them is: Look at the photographs – these people are injured – look at the economic impact on the area of Vietnam, where people cannot farm, cannot live in certain areas, try to understand.

We, as a nation, the American nation, have a responsibility to help, to let the Vietnamese people do the work, yes, but we can provide them with funding. That can help pretty much to solve the problem.

Through the VVMF-funded “Restoring the Environment and Neutralising the Effects of the War” (RENEW) Project, the number of people who have died from bombs has been reduced in Quang Tri Province. What’s your expectation about the project’s future?

First of all, it is a great tribute to the Vietnamese who work and run Project RENEW on a daily basis, that the casualties have been reduced, because people there have engaged in behaviour modification. When you change people’s behaviour, you can reduce the casualties. That is what our staff has been able to do.

Basically, all the money we spend in Vietnam goes to Quang Tri right now. We have a plan to expand the project in a significant way throughout the entire province, and hopefully to the north in Quang Binh Province and to some other places in Thua Thien-Hue Province. These places also really need a lot of help.

(Source: VNA)