Peace Trees Trip

March 3-5

It’s amazing how connections are made. In January, the U.S. embassy in Hanoi mentioned that I may want to connect with Peace Trees, an organization based out of Seattle, Washington, that works in Quang Tri province, helping the minority communities affected by the Vietnam War. I sent an email and after several exchanges, I was invited to travel with the organization in March. The experience was educational and uplifting.

Peace Trees was formed in 1995 by the sister of U.S. Army helicopter pilot Lt. Daniel Cheney, who was shot down and killed during the Vietnam War in 1969. You can read about the history at http://www.peacetreesvietnam.org

Peace Trees has a mission and vision for Vietnam:

Our Mission is to heal the legacy of war by removing dangerous explosives, returning land to safe use, promoting peace and cultivating a brighter future for the children and families of Vietnam.

Our Vision is a Vietnam completely cleared of dangerous unexploded ordnance and communities fully supported in their goals for safety, resiliency, education and economic success.

Day 1 - Khe Sanh

The organization helps plant trees at the former battle site so the produce from the trees can benefit the community. Each tree is planted with a note from a famiy who lost someone in the Vietnam war.

Members of Peace Trees

There were 18 members of the Peace Trees trip including 2 former Vietnam veterans.

Help with my planting

Standing next to the sign indicating the planting of the trees.

Khe Sanh Marine "Pocky" who was visiting the site for the first time.

I was able to meet a Marine who was visiting Khe Sanh 51 years after the battle. He listed off the names of the hills around the base and cried as he remembered the battle.

Coffee

Coffee is also planted at Khe Sanh. The local people can make a living growing coffee on their land. It is then package and sold at the former battle site.

Growing Pepper and Helping Families

Peace Trees is very involved in helping the communities become economically independent. Pepper plants take 3 years to mature and begin producing peppercorns. Peace Trees created a partnership with Costco to buy the pepper from the villiagers.

Pepper plants

The pepper vine needs a tree to grow. It does not destroy the tree. Pepper is harvested by hand.

Pepper farmer

Residents of the village

Home in the village

Kindergarten visit

Another program Peace Trees supports is building kindergartens in remote villages. This allows the minority people to send their children to school to learn Vietnamese. If a child doesn't know Vietnamese they can not attend secondary school or high school. This kindergarten was established in the past so this visit was to check on its progress. The school has one large room for the class, a kitchen for meals and a bathroom. The school teaches 40 local children.

The students sang songs for our visit.

The playground is popular with all of the children.

Beautiful!

This was the 16th kindergarten built by Peace Trees.

The kindergarten allows the minorities to learn Vietnamese so that they can then go to school.

There were lots of smiles during the dedication.

Flowers were planted in the front yard of the school.

There are two benches in the school yard with signs like this.

These students performed a traditional dance for the dedication.

Peace Trees Demining Project

Peace Trees has:

1,257 acres of land cleared
110,636+ unexploded ordinances removed & destroyed
99,425+ individuals received Mine Risk Education

All in Quang Tri province!

I attended a briefing of the work the deminers are currently doing in the province. They showed several bombs that they had recently found while surveying the land.

Lead deminer watching the demolition of a bomb

People live near the site that is being cleared.

The entire experience with Peace Trees was incredible. I want to be a representative to Dayton to speak to our community about their work. People need to hear about their mission and support it. I know of many veterans who would support their work and may want to travel to Vietnam to see it firsthand. You can find out more about Peace Trees below.

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