There are now 55 foreign honorary members of the Da Nang Association of Agent Orange (AO) Victims, of whom 35 are from the USA.

Professor Kenneth John Hermann of the SUNY College at Brockport, USA, became the first foreign member in 2006.  Mr Hermann fought in the Viet Nam War in the Quang Nam battlefield between 1968 and 1969.  He said that his purpose in joining the Association was to help to relieve the pain of local AO victims and also to bring peace to his soul.  Over the years, the professor has raised funds to provide loans and livelihood support for local AO victims.

Mr Dasgupta giving presents to local AO-affected children

Another foreign member is Mr Lier Francis from France’s Alsace region.  The 70 year-old is now working as a volunteer doctor at the Da Nang Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital.  Mr Francis said that he was deeply touched by some of the images of AO-affected children with mental disabilities and physical deformities.  As a result, the kind-hearted doctor has devoted his time to treating these disadvantaged children as well as enthusiastically introduced his own treatment methods to the medical staff of the Association to help to ease the pain of local victims.

Over past years, Mr Enzo Falcone from Italy has appealed for donations from organisations and individuals to provide free meals for hundreds of local AO-affected children.  Most notably, he and his wife jointly set up CarethePeople ONLUS with an initial budget of only 3,000 USD.  This organisation aims to give financial aid to local poor and AO children.

Mr Ranjit Dasgupta from India, who is the Chief Representative of the USA’s Harris Freeman Foundation in Viet Nam, was admitted to the Association in September of last year.  His organisation has already donated 2.2 billion VND for the construction of the city’s Detoxification and Rehabilitation Centre for AO/dioxin victims, which began operating under the management of the Association in February 2014.  As a member of the Association, Mr Dasgupta always keeps in mind that he wants to give more assistance to AO-affected children.

Three years ago, Ms Watagabe, a retired Japanese teacher, visited the Association and decided to become an honorary member of the Association.  Apart from her kind concern for the AO victims, the 70 year-old has donated to the Association some sewing machines and computers, along with tens of millions of VND to allow local child victims to access vocational training programmes.

The foreign honorary members have, over past years, made significant contributions to relieving the mental and physical pain of those affected by AO - a bitter legacy of the war.