Today Ethan Abel and I presented our final capstone project for Global Scholars, which was a follow-up to our grant and an expansion on the issues which prompted us to take our route. We spent most of the presentation delving into Vietnam's troubled history after the French occupation from the 1880s to the Japanese Invasion to the war and US invasion to today with COVID. We emphasize the impacts of the munitions and pesticides used by the US during the war and how they still plague the country today. The casualty numbers from the conflict are staggering, and today, thousands of Vietnamese children are born with congenital diseases from agent orange, which was used extensively in the conflict. Land mines also pose a significant risk to Vietnam's rural populations, with some areas being 80% not disarmed despite the war being 40 years in the past. With COVID, it is even more challenging for the government to manage to help those affected by the remnants of the war, which we focused on with our grant.
To follow up on the $5,000 we were awarded in March, Ethan and I have kept in close contact with Le Ly Hayslip, who has updated us that GVF has found two volunteer teachers and has used just a tiny fraction of the money so far. We still need to confirm when or if the program has started yet, but from my impression, things are on track and going well so far. Ms. Hayslip and Sunshine Nguyen are in good spirits, and Ethan and I are proud that our work is paying off and VOH and the children there are getting the help they deserve.
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May 2022
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