VAVA was founded in 2004 and was set up to help the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.
Agent Orange is the name given to the deadly chemical which was sprayed by the American forces over Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. More than 80 million litres of poisonous chemicals were used; most of them were Agent Orange and they contained nearly 400 kg of dioxin. Dioxin is one of the worst toxic substances ever produced by mankind, and causes many kinds of severe diseases including cancers, neurological disorders, spinal bifida, a decrease in immunity, disorders in the endocrine system, reproduction disorders and birth defects. Many of these are incredibly severe and disabling. It is thought that the chemical enters the genes, and is passed on from one generation to the next. It is known to have entered the food system via the land and rivers. Nobody knows exactly how many generations will be affected.
At present three million people are affected and 4.8 million people have been exposed. They are the poorest people in the country. 70% of the families are classified as living below the poverty line and 22% of the families have three or more victims. Many are very seriously disabled; 90% are jobless. The burden of care for these victims falls on their parents or relatives, many of whom are now in their old age. The problem is great, and will be made more so when the parents and carers of these victims eventually die.
Where possible VAVA gives help to these people in their homes and in rehabilitation centres and priority is given to the poorest families. MSAVLC has been helping VAVA for many years, with monetary help and provision of equipment. In recent years MSAVLC has provided 90 wheelchairs for distribution in and around Ho Chi Minh City and 50 wheelchairs for the district of Hanoi.
A new residential and rehabilitation centre has been built in Ha Tinh, one of the districts severely affected by Agent Orange. Ha Tinh is one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. They suffer harsh cold winters and hot dry summers. The land is bad for farming and the infrastructure poor. Most people scrape a living from the land and life is hard, even more so for its Agent Orange Victims of which there are 20,000 in the Province. MSAVLC has provided a great deal of much-needed medical equipment for the centre, and money has also been provided to remove a disfiguring growth on the face of one of its residents.
The problems are endless, with millions of people needing help. With your assistance, MSAVLC hope to continue helping these people as much as they can in the years to come.
In 2011 and 2013 Trustees were invited to visit a number of these victims in their homes, and were shocked to see for themselves the incredible hardship that was faced by the victims and their families.
“Many of the victims that we met were bedbound and others had severe physical and mental disabilities. They were dependent solely on their aged parents for care, who received no respite.We met a young man of 28 who was very severely crippled and mentally disabled. His house was way out in the country at the end of a long muddy lane. Our minibus was too wide for the lane, so we walked in the rain, the kilometre to his house. He was lying on a bed, his back arched and his legs and arms severely contorted. He was moving continually and his face wore an agonised expression. He was totally helpless and entirely dependent on his parents. He was one of four children; the others all had learning difficulties. Both his parents had been soldiers in the war and had been exposed to dioxins. Their house was dark and cold with no heating. His parents grew produce in their garden. They received a small monthly allowance from the Government, and some support from VAVA but they were responsible solely for the day-to-day care of their son. They were loving and dedicated parents but their burden was great.They had no means of moving their son about, so he never left the house and they had no respite care. Although Agent Orange victims very often suffer from internal illnesses and cancers, their son had not been seen or received any medical treatment for many years.Most of the families supporting Agent Orange victims are very poor. Their homes are cold and unheated. It has been known for them to try and heat up their homes with coal braziers used for cooking outside, and they have been poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes!We visited several more families which made us painfully aware of the difficulties experienced by parents in caring for their children, physically, educationally, emotionally and financially. As with our previous visits we were aware that more input and money would have helped these families enormously. However, there are three million people who suffer the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam. The problem is great and will be made more so when the parents and carers of these victims eventually die.”



2015
In April 2015 a delegation of Trustees from MSAVLC visited the VAVA Association in Hanoi to talk to officers, and check on the equipment that was purchased in 2013. They went on to visit two poor families who had been recipients of wheelchairs, and learnt how being mobile had made such an amazing difference to their lives.
Later that month the Trustees visited the VAVA Rehabilitation Centre at Can Xuyen in Ha Tinh, and inspected, and witnessed in use, the audiology equipment that had been purchased for them.
On returning to England it was agreed by the Trustees to purchase a further 200 wheelchairs for VAVA victims. MSAVLC hopes to continue supporting VAVA well into the future.
2019
Since 2015 MSAVLC has been in regular contact with the officers of VAVA, and provided much-needed equipment for their centre in Ha Tinh Province. We also provided funding for an essential operation for a young Agent Orange victim.
Over 600 wheelchairs have been purchased and distributed in many provinces in Vietnam. Receipts for the equipment have been received, along with some photographs of the recipients of the wheelchairs.
In 2017 MSAVLC was awarded a Certificate of Golden Hearts, in recognition of our work for the victims of Agent Orange.
2020 UPDATE
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Trustees were not able to visit VAVA this year as planned.
During the year 240 more wheelchairs were purchased, 178 traditional and 62 specialised ones. These were distributed to 13 provinces throughout Vietnam, enabling the victims of Agent Orange to become mobile and more self-sufficient. Invoices, receipts and photographs of the wheelchairs and some of their recipients were received, and MSAVLC are delighted to assist in this way.
