The major purpose for my travel was to attend the meeting of the International Committee of the Vietnam Friendship Village aka. Village de l'Amitié and celebrate ten years of operation of the Village. I have traveled to the Village many times since 1996 but haven't been there since 2004. Since my last visit much construction has taken place funded by donations from individuals and committees throughout the world as well as the Association of Vietnamese Veterans.
Each 2 years the International Committee consisting of representatives for the country committees of Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S. meet with the Association of Vietnamese Veterans (VAVN) to examine the progress made over the past 2 years and agree on the plan and budget for the next 2 years. This process normally takes 3 or 4 days, but because of the 10 year celebration the meeting and celebration were combined making the visit a time of intense activity. The first thing I noticed as we neared the Village was the new entry gate. It looked more like the Arc De Triomphe than the entry to a healing facility for children. Perhaps it was the colonial influence. As we walked the grounds we were impressed by the major expansion since 2004.
began with a bit of formality followed by paying our respects to the late George Mizo one of the founders as well as Jeff Paco Huch one of the first presidents of the U. S. Committee.
The meetings were the culmination of months of informal work mostly by email creating draft reports and budgets in Vietnamese, English, French, German and Japanese.
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