This Trust was set up in Australia in 2002 to help the forgotten people of a forgotten war, people who continue to live with the consequences of the war that we call the Vietnam War and that they call the American War.
It organises Orange Cows projects to raise money around the world to buy herds of cows with individual cows going to families of Agent Orange victims in remote communes near Hue in central Vietnam. The people suffer sometimes terrible genetic deformities attributable to the US spraying the Agent Orange defoliant over the Vietnamese forests and countryside during the war.
Cows are a very valuable asset, usually unattainable, for the people we help. They are not only victims; they are impoverished. A breeding cow can secure ongoing income for them.
The latest herd of Orange Cows was handed over in December 2011 at Hong Trung commune near the town of A Luoi, two hours west of Hue. We have assisted Agent Orange victims there several times before. We bought 35 cows this time, the price of cattle in Vietnam having doubled in the past year, though the high $A alleviates the pain somewhat.
Can Van with her new cow at Hong Trung 2011
All the money the Trust receives, 100 per cent, goes to the recipients in Vietnam. The trustees bear all other costs themselves. They pay their own fares when they travel to Vietnam to hand over the cows. Often donors join them and use the occasion as the hub for a wider holiday in Indochina. A large party is attending this forthcoming handover.
The Trust's supporters have come from around the world and have included office workers, businesspeople, professionals, war widows, pensioners and many others on fixed incomes.
It costs about $A500 to buy a cow, transport it to a village, train a recipient to care for it and to provide artificial insemination. Quite often, fundraisers combine their efforts to get enough money together to buy a cow.
We aim to raise about $A20,000 each time.
This article appeared in the The Weekend Australian on April 9/10 2011.
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