HANOI FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE AND OPERATION EXCHANGE OF HEARTS

With the scent of jasmine flowers hovering in the air, the second half of Operation Exchange of Hearts was a stunning success.

We were greeted by Mr. Dinh Van Tuyen, Vice President of Friendship Village in Hanoi who led us on a tour of the school which is dedicated to children believed to be suffering from the residual effects of the defoliant Agent Orange, which has effected two, and even three generations of our own troops.

With such a grim backstory, we found the sense of peace that hovers over the village to be overwhelming.  Relying entirely on volunteers, the group is dedicated to organic foods, raising vegetables and, as Mr. Dinh Van Tuyen proudly pointed out, their own fish in a self-contained concrete pond.  Organics, he says, “Are keys to peace and healing.”

Mark Spooner and his daughter Jennifer were greeted as guests of honor in the classroom, where twenty children with various disabilities were awaiting a chance to reciprocate the drawings done by American children at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in February.  Mark and Jennifer had carried a beautiful box filled with the artwork of the American kids halfway around the globe.

The scene in Hanoi was largely a repeat of what occurred with the Detroit children, with plenty of smiles, plenty of energy and nearly all the drawings containing images of healing.

A former member of the North Vietnam Army, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, submitted to a photo op with the Spooners; and odd exchange of what may not be precisely described as friendship, but which contained a certain acknowledgement of a history long past.

Over 88% of Vietnamese people report a positive attitude toward Americans and it’s obvious that the pain of birth defects linger, but today, the younger generation in Vietnam holds our country in a certain esteem.

Afterwards the children of Friendship Village sang a number of native songs, some about Ho Chi Minh, but to the children, the tunes clearly held a message of peace.