Vietnam: RENEW Foundation

This week we met with members of the RENEW (Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War) foundation. Here is some interesting info from the foundation. •15,350,000 tons of ammunitions were used by the U.S Military during the war. •BOMICEN/VBMAC estimates 800,000 tons of war-era ordnance remain scattered all over Vietnam.
•Vietnam has an estimated contamination area of over 6.6 million hectares (21% of its area). • 92% of Quang Tri’s area is contaminted with ERW, primarily unexploded ordnance including cluster munitions.
•The province sustains a total of 7,024 UXO casualties since 1975: –2,618 deaths –65% of accidents were triggered by cluster munitions and 40mm grenades. –31% have been children.
You can check them out at: http://www.landmines.org.vn/

This group does some amazing work with micro credit loans and education to alleviate the pain caused to victims and victim families of these munitions.

The woman in the right hand corner of this photo has seven children. Some years ago, her husband stumbled across a cluster bomb one day and was killed along with two others. To provide an income for the family, the children all had to come out of school and labor in the peanut fields. Their income was literally peanuts. They would work three days in the peanut fields for one day use of a neighbor's water buffalo. She would then work her own fields with the buffalo for the family's crops. The family was suffering terribly. The foundation was able to loan her funds for her own buffalo and the family is now thriving.