FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE
[ TRINH THI LIEN Friendship Village patient ]
As soon as I wake up I brush my teeth, have breakfast, clean my room, and at 8:00 I go to
school. There I learn how to make flowers, tree branches, and other things.... I make little
balls with glue, and I make the pistils of the flowers.
[ TRAN XUAN THU vice president VAVA association ]
Agent Orange is a chemical substance made up of a mix of two equally distributed herbicides;
“2,4-D”, and “2,4,5-T”. From these two elements the dioxin is emitted, which is the most
toxic substance in existence, known by the name of “2,3,7,8 TCDD”.
TRAN XUAN THU
vice president VAVA association
NGUYEN DAC HAU
veteran Friendship Village
[ NGUYEN DAC HAU veteran Friendship Village ]
Yes, yes, I saw the airplanes spray with herbicide, it was a white cloud that covered the hills.
At the time we hadn’t yet realized exactly what it was, we just understood that it was
something chemical, the smell was really horrible! It was only after a year, when I went
home and got married, that I discovered I was sick due to it.


Before introducing Agent Orange, and up until the beginning of the conflict (from August
1961), the American military used different types of chemical agents in Vietnam, first
spraying the central high grounds of Kon Tum.
DUONG DAC LONG
12 years old
[ DUONG DAC LONG Friendship Village patient ]
My name is Long, I’m 12 years old, and I come from Nam Dien, in the province of Ha Tay. I
wake up at 7:00 in the morning, then I brush my teeth, I wash my face and have breakfast...
Then I go to school until 10:30. At 11:00 I eat lunch and then at 12:00 I go to take a nap, at
14:00 I get up and I go back to school until 16:30, and at 17:00 I eat dinner and then I have
my time to relax, when, at 21:00, I go to sleep.
[ TRAN SY DO CAO veteran Friendship Village ]
In those days it was likely that one would see the American Air Force’s UF 444 planes, which
would arrive in Vietnam via Laos, leaving from Thailand in order to get to the central zone, in
the province of Hue. The sky would darken suddenly and it seemed like it was about to rain,
the hills were covered with a thick white cloud and a little further on we found leaves that had
already fallen. We thought it was normal rain, but instead it was toxic rain. It was only much
later that we discovered it was Agent Orange!
TRAN SY DO CAO
veteran Friendship Village
HANOI
[ NGUYEN THANH SON veteran - father of Tung ]
Since we were hidden camouflaged beneath the leaves, they sprayed the herbicides in order to
see us.
NGUYEN THANH TUNG
veteran - father of Tung
NGUYEN THANH SON
29 years old

LE THAN HAI
26 years old
NGUYEN THI THAM
mother of Hai
[ NGUYEN THI THAM mother of Hai ]
When Hai was born, he immediately had serious handicap problems. When he was 2 he still
wasn’t able to move his head, I had to hold it up with my own hands. Up until age 7 he was
never able to sit down, he could only skim around like a fish.
NGUYEN THI THAM
veteran - mother of Hai
NGUYEN THI PHUONG THUY
33 years old
[ NGUYEN THANH SON veteran - father of Tung ]
My daughter was born in 1975. We waited quite a while, but she wasn’t growing normally,
she didn’t crawl, she didn’t talk, she didn’t move. Then, in 1979, my second son was born,
Tung, who as you can see is blind. We then discovered the 10/80 Committee, who studied the
effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and, thanks to the studies done by professor Hoang Dinh
Cau, we realized that our children had been affected by Agent Orange.
[ NGUYEN THI THAM veteran - mother of Hai ]
Here he is 6 years old and trying to stand up. Here is when he had his legs operated on. Here
I would help him stand up. Here is his father taking him to the University, he took him every
day for 4 years.
[ TRAN XUAN THU vice president VAVA association ]
Dioxin is a toxic element that has caused the largest number of human illnesses in Vietnam,
for example, it lowers the values of the human body’s immune system and reduces its ability
to adapt. It is a poison that spreads quickly and moreover causes transmittable genetic
diseases.
BUI THI TIEM
11 years old
[ BUI THI TIEM Friendship Village patient ]
My name is Tiem, I was born in Kim Boi, in the province of Hoa Binh. I’m 11 years old.

I’ve been here... I’ve been here almost 6 months and I will be here for another 2 years, and
after this I will go back home to my family.
[ TRINH THI LIEN Friendship Village patient ]
Today my mother came to visit me asking if I could come home for a few days. This is my
mother! I came here on March 16, 2007 and I’ll be here for 5 years. This is my room, this is
my suitcase, I have some snacks... and some sweets... I’ve kept them here since the holiday on
June 1st.
[ TRAN XUAN THU vice president VAVA association ]
It takes many instruments in order to study and identify the dioxin, in fact the Vietnamese
didn’t have the resources to identify it, and in the end it was detected by an international team
of specialists composed of Americans, Germans and Russians.
ELISABETH DABROWSKI
physiotherapist
[ ELISABETH DABROWSKI physiotherapist ]
This is one of our patients who was operated on. This was his clubfoot, a few years ago he
was operated on, but it didn’t work and now with a Swiss team that comes here twice a year
to operate on clubfeet, he was operated on once again... in September.
This is the operated foot and this is the foot in its initial state. Here behind it has a fixative,
and now he has to do rehabilitation therapy...
NGUYEN QUANG THAY
15 years old
[ NGUYEN QUANG THAY Friendship Village patient ]
My name is Thai and I’m 15 years old. I come from the same village as “Uncle Ho”
[President Ho Chi Minh].
I have had scoliosis since I was a child. When I got here I was very weak, and I received
initial care here at the Village, but unfortunately it’s not an operable illness because it’s too
dangerous, and with an operation I would risk remaining paralyzed.
[ ELISABETH DABROWSKI physiotherapist ]
Here we have 120 children with different types of handicaps. Many children come here, for
example we have 3 mute children that come from the same family. Many others however
have different types of physical defects. And this is the third generation that suffers the effects
of the war.

[ NGUYEN QUANG THAY Friendship Village patient ]
I went to the children’s hospital in Hanoi where they told me that my illness came from Agent
Orange!
DUONG DAC LONG Friendship Village patient ]
I too was affected by Agent Orange like Thai, I too have a curved spine, my body is very
small and I am affected by Agent Orange thanks to my grandfather.
My grandfather doesn’t have problems, but he says that he’s the cause!
[ NGUYEN THANH SON veteran - father of Tung ]
There are veterans that had children and others that even had grandchildren who were affected
by Agent Orange, so as you have seen at Friendship Village, we have arrived at the third
generation!
LE DUC QUANG
23 years old
[ LE DUC QUANG Friendship Village patient ]
My name is Quang, and I come from Nghe An. People at my age are normally taller than me,
they are healthy, they study, they travel, they can do what they want, I on the other hand am
small and very sick, and when I look at myself I’m sad because I’m not like the others.
[ DUONG DAC LONG Friendship Village patient ]
When I grow up I want to be… I want to be a policeman!
[ LE DUC QUANG Friendship Village patient ]
My family brought me to the hospital to have blood tests in order to understand the origin of
my problems, after the ultrasound the doctor said that my illness couldn’t be cured, and that it
came from Agent Orange, and unfortunately no cure exists that could improve the situation.
So my parents brought me home, but I was still sick! This saddened me greatly, but in the
end, I can’t do anything about it, all I can do is live with it!
[ BUI THI TIEM Friendship Village patient ]
In the beginning my parents didn’t know what kind of illness I had, after 2 years they brought
me to the hospital to undergo tests. It was only when I turned 7 years old that the doctors
came to the conclusion that I was affected by Agent Orange.
Both of my parents are war veterans.
[ NGUYEN THANH SON veteran - father of Tung ]
The stripes on the barrels were orange, and this is where the name Agent Orange comes from.

[ TRAN SY DO CAO veteran Friendship Village ]
When we discovered that Agent Orange was toxic we asked for compensation from the
Americans, but they don’t want to acknowledge the damage!
[ TRAN XUAN THU vice president VAVA association ]
In support for the victims of Agent Orange, we of the VAVA litigated a trial against the
American chemical companies. Our citations surpassed 2 judicial levels, but in the end they
were refused by the United States Court. Everything we said was foolish! They limited to
acknowledging the environmental damage, but not the damage towards the human beings.
[U.S. students]
- I’m from Maryland
- I’m from Minnesota
- I’m from New York City
- Ohio
- and I’m from Upstate New York
- we have 12 students here from Princeton, we’re here for 6 weeks, and we’re studying mainly
the U.S. Vietnamese war. We’re also taking an hour of Vietnamese lessons every morning, so
we can try to integrate ourselves into the culture a little bit more.
- What strikes me most about coming here and studying the war and its aftermath in the
present day, relations between Vietnamese and Americans, is the attitude of the Vietnamese
people towards Americans is very peaceful and there’s very little hostility towards them
presently.
[ LE THAN HAI Agent Orange victim ]
For me now it’s right to close with the past, and it’s good to think about the future, this
doesn’t mean that we forget the past, thanks to the sacrifice of our parents we won the war
and we certainly won’t forget this, but if the Americans want to come to Vietnam and cure the
wounds of the past, our doors are open.
[ OFF-SCREEN ]
- Where do you come from?
[ PETER Mc AULIFF U.S. Army veteran ]
- I come from America… in Florida. That’s the state where I live. This is the world: I live on
one side, and you live on the other…
I don’t know if you understand me, but the climate is very much like here… it’s warm and we
have a lot of rain, just like this!

PETER Mc AULIFF
U.S. Army veteran
[ PETER Mc AULIFF U.S. Army veteran ]
- It’s taking me 40 years to come back here, because I felt very bad about the war in Vietnam
long before any of these children were born. And I’ve had many unhappy years, because of
feeling guilty and pain for the suffering that we caused here, and I came here largely to try to
put that behind me, and get on with my life. And the people in this country have been
unbelievably warm, and friendly, and understanding, and accepting.
[ NGUYEN THANH SON veteran - father of Tung ]
“Uncle Ho” [Ho Chi Minh] says that there must always be a distinction between the
government and the people. It was the American government that was against us, not the
common person.
[ PETER Mc AULIFF U.S. Army veteran ]
- I was aware of that, at that time, I didn’t know the consequences of it… I didn’t know the
consequences of it, but I was aware of it! At that time, although I was an officer in the Army,
I really believed that we were wrong and they were right, and that’s why I’ve been in pain
every since. What we’re going to try to do something to help particularly the children who
have suffered from Agent Orange dioxin poison. That’s what we hope to do. And if I can do
that a little bit, I will feel that much better!
DURING THE WAR, THE HERBICIDE AGENT ORANGE HIT MORE THAN ONE THIRD OF THE
VIETNAMESE TERRITORY AND APPROXIMATELY 4 MILLION PEOPLE.
TODAY 800 THOUSAND VICTIMS BELONG TO THE THIRD GENERATION. THE FOURTH IS
ABOUT TO BEGIN, AND SCIENTISTS DON’T KNOW WHEN THE CHAIN WILL END.