Q: What is PeaceTrees Vietnam?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam started as a grassroots humanitarian project of the Earthstewards Network, a non-profit organization based on Bainbridge Island, Washington. As of January 2005, we gained approval from the IRS as a stand-alone non-profit organization with (501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

PeaceTrees Vietnam is a humanitarian, non-profit, international non-government organization (NGO) leading efforts to remove landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in central Vietnam. Our mission is to work alongside the Vietnamese people to help build their capacity for a safe and healthy future for the children and families of Quang Tri Province.

Q: When and how was PeaceTrees Vietnam founded?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam was founded in 1995 by the family of Daniel Cheney, a young helicopter pilot who died in the Vietnam War in 1969. Its first clearance work and tree-planting mission to Quang Tri Province took place shortly after diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam were normalized. The project was spearheaded by the late Danaan Parry, a former physicist who co-founded the Earthstewards Network in 1980, and by his wife, Jerilyn Brusseau, a former restaurateur.

Q: What activities does PeaceTrees Vietnam engage in?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam supports Vietnamese efforts to transform the damaging impact of war into a healthy future for Vietnamese children by:
" sponsoring landmine and unexploded ordnance removal
" promoting landmine awareness and accident prevention educational programs
" engaging in tree-planting/citizen diplomacy programs for environmental restoration and friendship building
" offering victim assistance in the form of emergency medical treatment, long-term medical or health care, nutritional support, household economic support, transportation costs, and educational scholarships
" sponsoring economic and social development, community restoration and relocation projects

A: Since 1975, more than 38,000 people in Vietnam have died from accidental explosions, and many more have been maimed for life. Many parcels of land remain useless because of the presence of dangerous ordnance (landmines or unexploded bombs). In Quang Tri Province, nearly every week a child is killed or injured from accidental explosions. The programs developed by PeaceTrees Vietnam, in close cooperation with the Vietnamese people, help remove the explosives, educate children about their dangers, restore an environment and a people devastated by war, and heal the relationship between people from the United States and Vietnam.

Q: Where is Quang Tri Province and what are its demographics?

A: Quang Tri is a province (similar to a state in the United States) in the north of central Vietnam, located in the narrowest portion of the length of Vietnam. It was the northern-most province in the former South Vietnam, bordering the former Demilitarized Zone that separated North and South Vietnam until 1975. Quang Tri Province is 4,746 km2 in size, a terrain that is 75% hills and mountains. The majority of the land is poor and heavily eroded because of natural disasters, floods and hard weather. The population is about 574,000 with 122,000 families, the majority of whom depend on agriculture for a living.

Q: What are some of PeaceTrees Vietnam's programs?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam's programs in Vietnam include:
" PeaceTrees Friendship Village (completed in September, 2001) which includes roads, utilities and community facilities for the resettlement of the 40-acre parcel at Khe May by more than 100 families.
" A 40-acre clearance project at the former U.S. Marine Corps combat base in Dong Ha.
" The Danaan Parry Landmines Education center, a facility that provides a space for accident prevention education and includes instructional displays and materials. Its location is in a park that was cleared and planted under PeaceTrees Vietnam's sponsorship. Completed: 1997.
" Two citizen diplomacy/friendship-building trips per year aimed at bringing together American, international and Vietnamese volunteers to plant trees or participate in other community restoration projects in Quang Tri Province.
" Development of a regional educational outreach program that brings children from throughout Quang Tri Province to the Danaan Parry Landmines Education Center.

Q: Who does the actual clearance work?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam sponsors the clearance of landmines and unexploded bombs. The actual clearance is performed by Vietnamese deminers who are trained, supported and supervised following the United Nations International Mine Actions Standards.

Q: What is a mine?

A: A mine is an explosive or other material, normally encased, designed to destroy or damage vehicles, boats or aircraft, or designed to wound, kill, or otherwise incapacitate personnel. It may be detonated by the action of its target, the passage of time or by controlled means. (United Nations, Internat'l Standards for Humanitarian Mine Clearance Operations Glossary)

Q: What is an Anti-Personnel Mine?

A: An anti-personnel mine is an explosive or material, normally encased, and designed to wound, kill or otherwise incapacitate personnel. It may be detonated by the action of its victim, by the passage of time or by controlled means. (United Nations, International Standards for Humanitarian Mine Clearance Operations Glossary)

Q: What is Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)?

A: Explosive munitions such as mortars, artillery shells, grenades and mines, that have been primed, fused, armed or otherwise prepared for use or used. They could have been fired, dropped, launched, or projected yet remain unexploded either through malfunction or design, or for any other cause. (United Nations, International Standards for Humanitarian Mine Clearance Operations Glossary)

Q: What is Mines Awareness?

A: A method of informing, teaching and relaying messages about landmines to the public, normally through a mines awareness program. Mines awareness encompasses mine risk education, mine awareness training, multi-media presentations, and what action to take when a mine or UXO is found. It is intended to modify behavior patterns to reduce casualties. (United Nations, Internat'l Standards for Humanitarian Mine Clearance Operations Glossary)

Q: Have there been other PeaceTrees projects?

A: The Earthstewards Network has conducted 25 PeaceTrees projects since it began in the early 1980's, including India, Kenya, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Nicaragua, Croatia, Costa Rica, Canada, Palestine, the Netherlands, Washington D.C., and Salt Lake City.

Q: Where does PeaceTrees Vietnam get its funding and support?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam gets its financial support from many individual donors and several charitable foundations. PeaceTrees Vietnam is supported by a growing community of donors, volunteers, businesses and other supporters. This includes Vietnam veterans or their surviving family members, humanitarians, journalists, entertainers, philanthropists and many other individuals. We also receives in-kind products and services from supportive businesses.

Q: Can you tell me more about PeaceTrees Vietnam's citizen diplomacy trips?

A: PeaceTrees Vietnam leads citizen diplomacy trips to Quang Tri Province twice a year. We encourage anyone with a strong interest in building bridges of friendship with the Vietnamese to participate. The trips are generally about two weeks and currently cost $3,000, with covers most expenses including airfare. A portion of the trip cost helps to support community or environmental restoration efforts such as reforestation, renovation of educational facilities or resettlement.

Trip participants engage in restoration activities with Vietnamese counterparts, and both groups share meals, sightseeing trips, visits to schools, cultural evenings and activities at PeaceTrees' in-country headquarters, the Danaan Parry Landmines Education Center. Vietnam veterans who have participated have found the experience of returning to Vietnam and making a practical contribution to the community very rewarding. Participants of all ages are invited to attend.

Q: Besides giving financial support, what else can I do to support PeaceTrees Vietnam?