WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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If I had my druthers,

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I would never speak about Vietnam.

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I would just stay in my
cave, read my books,

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take care of my flowers.

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[sil.]

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But I know that that\'s not
the reason I survived.

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[music]

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The Friendship Village,

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aside from my son and Rosi,

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is the most important thing in my life.

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An extended family.

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A place, from the beginning
for me, of reconciliation,

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of healing, of hope.

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Also an important point for
me is that we can make

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a difference in life, and I
think the Friendship Village

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personifies that.

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[music]

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[music]

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The Vietnam War ended more than 25 years ago,
but the wounds of war take a long time to heal.

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On a former rice paddy outside Hanoi,

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a new legacy of the war
is under construction.

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[sil.]

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Founded in 1992, The
Vietnam Friendship Village

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is a treatment center and community housing
more than 70 children and veterans

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with illnesses attributed to Agent Orange.

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The US Air Force sprayed Agent Orange during
the war to remove Vietnam\'s dense jungles.

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The Vietnamese believe the dioxin
in Agent Orange is responsible

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for more than one million birth defects.

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But the Vietnam Friendship Village is
more than a place of physical healing.

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It is also a vision of peace, realized in the
hearts and minds of those who are building it.

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I\'m here with a bunch of
Americans that are active

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with the international village of Friendship Village. I
came back to Vietnam to come back and visit it after

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all these years since the war.
And it gives you a whole new…

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a whole new perspective. I\'m really glad

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that I\'ve made this trip. Huh? Aren\'t you?

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I was a medical adviser, supervisor,

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in the war in Hue. And I did bits and pieces. And
I sort of achieved a bit here and bit there,

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and I came away dissatisfied
with the work that I did.

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You know. I\'d do things differently now,
but now I\'ve got this opportunity uh…

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to help out here, which would be great.

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See right now we have Germany,
France, USA, England,

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Australia and Japan. But our whole
idea here is to help the kids.

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And this is about peace and reconciliation. It\'s
about people who have killed each other and fought,

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and can come together and be brothers again. And
especially right now with what\'s going on in Afghanistan,

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we have to understand that we can come together,
and we don\'t have to kill each other,

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and we don\'t have to hurt each other. There are ways,
but we have to work at it and we have to find it,

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and we have to put
ourselves out to do this.

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Right now the children we work with mostly, we feel they can be
rehabilitated. But now we want to build this new house over here

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for the kids that are so severely damaged

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they can\'t really be helped, all
you can do is work with them.

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Agent Orange has also affected
the health of veterans

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exposed to the herbicide, including
George Mizo, the village\'s founder.

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To him the Friendship Village is a living
symbol of the potential for transformation

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that began with his journey
to heal the wounds of war.

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When I went to Vietnam I knew
none of the history of Vietnam.

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None of us did at that time.

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Our country didn\'t even
know any of the history.

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It was a…

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It was a disaster from the very beginning.

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Asia and the western Pacific

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is a vitally important part of
the world to the United States.

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Not only does this area contain a
large percentage of all mankind

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and tremendous resources, but also it is
the place where the communists are making

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vigorous and ruthless aggression.

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Before the war against the United States,
Vietnam\'s struggle for independence

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had included over 2000 years of invasion
by the Chinese, French, and Japanese.

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But in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bien Phu,

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Vietnamese nationalists led by Ho Chi Minh defeated their
French landowners, ending 100 years of colonial rule.

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The Vietnamese had finally
won independence,

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but freedom would come at a higher price.

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If Indochina goes,

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several things happen right away.
The Crao peninsula,

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the last little bit of end hanging on
down there, would be scarcely defensible.

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The tin and the tungsten that we so greatly
value from that area would cease coming.

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So you see, somewhere along the
line, this must be blocked.

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I grew up believing that the
United States was a great country.

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I remember one of my first recollections

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when Eisenhower was running for President,
was sitting on my father\'s shoulders,

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and he said, \"These are the
men, these are the men

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who saved the free world.

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These are the men who
stopped Hitler, Stalin,

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the Japanese.\"

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So I grew up believing, you
know, we were the good guys.

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I think we\'re on the wrong side.
This is no time to think.

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As the son of a Native American,

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George had grown up with images of American valor and
patriotism, from the Wild West to Washington, DC.

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\"Ask not what your country can do for you.

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Ask what you can do for your country.\"

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Inspired by his President\'s words,

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in 1963 George enlisted in the US
army where he served stateside

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until his discharge in 1966.

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Since the 1950s, the American government had
been conducting a covert war in Vietnam,

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by 1965, it had escalated
into an open conflict.

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United States Marines head for security duty in South
Vietnam where they will guard the American jet airfield

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against attack by Viet Cong guerillas
and infiltrators from North Vietnam,

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only 80 miles away. So we must
be ready to fight in Vietnam,

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but the ultimate victory will depend
upon the hearts and the minds

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of the people who actually live out there.

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The US never officially
declared war on Vietnam,

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but by 1967 the war drums
were beating loudly

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and George decided to reenlist.
I felt that if my country

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was at war, I had to serve.

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My only condition was that I be in Vietnam

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within five days, and that I be assigned

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to a unit that was going to see a
lot of combat. And I got my wish.

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[sil.]

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As a platoon sergeant in the combat zone,
the all-American soldier began to question

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his country\'s motives in the war.

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In the first few months, most
of our battles centered around

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recapturing from the Viet
Cong, large plantations

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and that was a shock to me.

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I had no idea that the United
States had any financial interest

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in Vietnam.

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Then in mid-67 the
American mission changed,

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from harassment and interdiction,
to search and destroy.

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Any village found hiding medical supplies,

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extra food, tunnels, or
weapons, was destroyed.

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So here we are killing the very people

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and destroying the very country

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that I thought we were
coming over to protect.

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[music]

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You know, I became aware that

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the Vietnamese are an incredible people.

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[music]

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I realized that they had an ancient culture
and that they were a very peaceful people.

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So to be in that position was horrible.

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By the fall of 1967,

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the 22-year-old Sergeant and his men
had moved into the Que Son valley,

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where they were told that 4,000 North
Vietnamese troops were trapped.

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The real number was 40,000.

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But for us it was like whistling
walking by a cemetery.

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We knew it was just a matter of time

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before we were overrun.

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[music]

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George\'s platoon fought around the clock
and lost many men. By that point,

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the war had claimed so many casualties that the
American government began to draft college students.

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One of them was named Wilbur.

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It was around Christmas, but I
got a young man named Wilbur,

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African American. And he had only
been with me for a day or two

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and he asked to speak with me privately.

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He said, \"My religion forbids me

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to… to kill.\" And I said

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I come from a Christian home also.
And I was raised to believe

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that it was wrong to kill too, except
in war, except for your country.

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He said, \"No it doesn\'t say that

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in the Commandments. Though shalt
not kill except for communists.

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Thou shalt not kill except for people
who disagree with our government.

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It says though shalt not kill.\" truly whom.

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As Wilbur began to voice his conscience,

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George began to hear his own
misgivings about the war.

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Then he asked me to help get him sent home.

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And I thought about it.
And I thought about it.

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I mean, these weren\'t just
my men, these were friends,

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I mean, these were brothers.

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And I had a tremendous amount of pain
for all of the friends that I had lost,

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or who had lost arms or legs or both.

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So after weighing all of this,

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I told Wilbur,

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we would all like to go home.
We\'re all terrified.

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This is horrible. It\'s a terrible mistake.

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But I… I don\'t feel that

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I could live with my conscience
helping you get sent home

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and leaving these other men here to die.
So I told him no.

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[music]

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On the night of January 3rd,

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the North Vietnamese hit all 3
American bases in George\'s area

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in an opening salvo of
the 1968 Tet Offensive.

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Wounded by one of the first rockets, George
continued to fight through the night.

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[music]

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\"This has been going on all night long.
You just can\'t believe it.\"

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And it was just unbelievable.

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The one thing I can\'t remember

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from that night is where Wilbur was.

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I assigned Wilbur

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to be with me because I knew he was afraid

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and, but he wasn\'t there.

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[sil.]

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But during that battle I
had another experience.

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I don\'t know how to describe it.

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For the first time, I saw clearly,

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in the middle of this battle.
It was like everything stopped,

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and I was looking at a movie.

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I remember it like it was yesterday.

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And I remember saying
\"This… this is bullshit,

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this isn\'t about democracy
versus communism.

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This isn\'t god\'s will. This is bullshit.
This is horror

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created by man for whatever reasons,

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politicians or greed or whatever.\"

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[sil.]

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And at that instant, I
knew that I would survive.

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[sil.]

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At sunrise, a commanding officer
ordered the wounded sergeant

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to be medivaced out. And I was so torn.

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And I said I\'m not going.

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We came together and he said, yes you are,

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that\'s an order.\" So I got on the

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helicopter and was flown to

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a hospital in Chu Lai, and then Japan
and then to Fort Lewis, Washington.

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And it was some time

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during that time period when I learned
that my unit had been overrun.

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[sil.]

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And that they\'d all been killed.

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[sil.]

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And that\'s when I made

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the conscious decision

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to protest the war,

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and to refuse to be a soldier.

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[sil.]

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The decorated war hero returned
home to find his wife pregnant

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with another man\'s baby, his father
dying from Lou Gehrig\'s disease,

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and his country torn apart
by the war in Vietnam.

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I came back with an
incredible amount of anger,

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and not at the Vietnamese,
but at my government.

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Arrested and imprisoned by the US Army
after speaking out against the war,

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he was eventually released in 1971.
During the next 15 years

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he earned a psychology degree,
worked as an activist and chef and,

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like the rest of the country, tried
to put the Vietnam War behind him.

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[music]

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What we\'re seeing is the end of the post-Vietnam syndrome,
the return of realism about the communist danger.

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Think what signal we\'ll be sending
to the rest of the world,

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when and if this aid to the freedom
fighters in Nicaragua is passed.

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[sil.]

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In the 1980s, George and other Vietnam veterans
began to recognize an all-too-familiar pattern

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taking shape in the jungles
of Central America.

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In 1986, he and three other veterans turned
in their war medals and staged a 47-day fast

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on the steps of the US Capitol to raise
awareness about US involvement in Nicaragua.

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Our guiding principle

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was the Nuremberg laws,

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that when a government acts
contrary to the will of the law,

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the people not only have a right,
they have a responsibility

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to speak out

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and to stop that violation.

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And we especially as veterans,

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I feel have a strong moral obligation

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to stop the killing. And we\'re willing
to put our lives on the line.

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So that\'s what we\'re doing by
our statements, with our fast,

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and in renouncing our medals.
Thank you all for being here.

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When I sat down on the steps
of the capitol of Washington,

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we knew what the Reagan
administration was doing,

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we knew about the covert
activities and the contras

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and the death squads and
that administration

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is in violation of my country\'s laws.

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And that\'s why we sat down

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on the steps and we said we\'re not moving.

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They say they will die,
to make their point.

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We want the American government to know
that there are at least four Americans

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who care enough about what\'s being done in
their name, to make a sacrifice for it.

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We\'ve done it for war, and if I can\'t
do it, we can\'t do it for peace,

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then my life has no meaning.

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On the 47th day of the fast, a doctor told the veterans
that if they continued George would die within the week.

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Having achieved their goal
of raising public awareness,

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they decided to end the fast. The
veterans fast for life for me was

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very… very significant
for a lot of reasons.

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And one was that I saw

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what people can do. It ended up with us

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getting over 10,000 letters a day

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and people came to the
steps by the thousands.

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When did you hear about them? I met George at
the peace pilgrimage this summer in Germany.

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And learned he was going to do this. And then I heard about the fast, and
then I tried to support it in Germany, and then I decided to come here.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
And that\'s when I realized

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
it was people bringing people together,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
and stopping war, and creating

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
the opportunities for
reconciliation and for healing and…

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
But that experience made me aware

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
how desperate people were to see

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
it was possible.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
And that\'s when I started working for

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
peace and justice for all people,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
and building the Village of
Friendship as an example of

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
what people can do if they set aside

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
those differences and work together.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:23.000
[music]

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
The roots of the Friendship Village
stem from the desire of veterans

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
from France, Japan, Great Britain,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
the United States, and Vietnam who have
come to the conclusion that we must find

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
non-violent means to resolve conflict,

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
and who want the Friendship Village to be an
example of how people from different countries,

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
different cultures and
different backgrounds,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
even former enemies, can put aside
those differences to work together

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
to create something that represents
hope, healing, reconciliation

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
[sil.]

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
The very first meeting for the
Village of Friendship was in Paris.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
And I remember how they came out
and said let\'s create a village.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
And uh… it was… It was like
wow that\'s a great idea,

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
not having the slightest idea of
uh… how this is going to work out,

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
and how you make it from this idea and this
dream into something that would really work

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000
and be as helpful as it was intended.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:58.000
[non-English narration]

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
To oversee the project, the Vietnamese
government created Vietnam\'s

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
first veterans organization, electing
General Tran Van Quang as its President.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
General Quang had been the field commander of
all troops in George\'s area during the war.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
He was also the man who had planned
and led the battle at Que Son,

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
killing George Mizo\'s entire platoon.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
The battle that I described
previously, the battle of Que Son,

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
General Quang was leading

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
that battle and actually fighting in it.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
[music]

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
And we\'ve talked a lot
about it, that night,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:00.000
over the years.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
[music]

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
He\'s a beautiful human being.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
[non-English narration]

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
We formed a bond over the years

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
that never in my wildest expectations

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
would I have believed.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Thank you. He said \"Please,

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
when you go back to the United States,
tell the American people, we don\'t hate

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
the American people. We did not drop

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
our troops into the cornfields of Ohio

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
or into this beautiful country

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:30.000
to kill their children.\"

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
More bombs were dropped over Vietnam

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
and neighboring Laos and Cambodia than
all of Europe during World War II.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Unexploded bombs and landmines still
litter the Vietnamese countryside,

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
killing and maiming over
2,000 people each year.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
But the war\'s most insidious
legacy lives on in the soil.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
To uncover the enemy, the
American military sprayed

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
more than 72 million liters of the herbicide
Agent Orange over Vietnam\'s jungles.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
We had no idea when we were in
Vietnam what they were spraying.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
I was told it was a mosquito spray,

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
you know, harmless, don\'t worry about it.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
Today, vast areas of South Vietnam
remain contaminated with dioxin,

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
a component of the defoliant and one of
the deadliest chemicals known to mankind.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:13.000
[music]

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
An American soldier like
myself, I was here from,

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
oh, about mid-68 to June of 69.
I was actually sprayed.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
I used to see the planes flying over. We used to
the drink the water, and it would be in the water.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
But I was only here for a year. A lot of these
soldiers here they were sprayed for 10 years.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
But still there are a lot of American veterans,
a lot of Australian and Korean veterans,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
who have physical problems and their children have
problems. I\'ve had no physical problems that I know of,

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
but my wife had two miscarriages. So,
was it Agent Orange? We don\'t know.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
In the areas sprayed,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
what was once triple canopy jungle has been
reduced to invasive grasses and shrubs.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Scientists estimate the dioxin
will remain in the soil

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
for 4-500 years.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
So if we go across, find ourselves

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
the drainage ditch from the base, walk
across and up a little, we should get it.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
We started doing our dioxin
research in Vietnam in 1994,

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
which was only a couple of years after the
country had opened up to the outside world.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
We transferred our knowledge and
expertise in dioxin research

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
in Canada on pulp mills to the
situation here in Vietnam.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
We chose the Aluoi Valley as our
study area particularly because

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
it\'s a very isolated area, it\'s a very
strategic location on the Ho Chi Minh Trail,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
which was very heavily bombed and
sprayed repeatedly with Agent Orange

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
throughout the American War.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
[sil.]

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
Okay, so I\'m just probing for a
location that has no resistance,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
so when we take a sample we\'re not
going to hit anything dangerous.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
This area was bombed, and perhaps there\'s
bombies or unexploded ordinance here.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
The main threat we\'re concerned about is
mines. They have an immediate reaction

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
if you step on them.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
There we go.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
Following our surveys we nailed it down
that dioxins were especially prevalent

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
in very high concentrations around the former, A
So military base, and it was especially found

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
in high concentrations in the soils as
well as in the duck fat and fish fat.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
The levels we\'re finding
in people here in Aluoi

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
are amongst the highest in the world.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
We\'ve also shown

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
through some preliminary studies
that the rates of birth defects here

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
are higher than in other areas of Vietnam.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
[music]

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
You\'re seeing long-term impacts of Agent
Orange and dioxin through many generations,

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
I guess for a couple of reasons. One
is genetics, passing from soldiers

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
and people who were exposed,
passing it on to their children.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly umm…
is you\'re also seeing continual exposure

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
in the environment to this day.
The cultivation of the fields

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
in these highly contaminated areas wakes
up the dioxin that\'s buried in the soils.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
This has then now made it readily
available to the people.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
It\'s entering their bodies, and
then they are passing the dioxin

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
to their children just through the
genes or also through the breast milk.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:33.000
[music]

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
The only real means of removing dioxins
from the soil is through burning,

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
or incineration. It would
cost billions of dollars.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
What can be done, and what
we have been doing here is…

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
is trying to educate people uh… through awareness
programs, trying to teach uh… the residents

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
how to avoid contamination.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
We\'ve clearly demonstrated that 35 years

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
following the spraying in Vietnam, uh… it\'s
still an issue. It\'s not a historical issue.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
It\'s umm…. It\'s an issue that\'s
still affecting people to this day.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
What we haven\'t been able to
demonstrate is the direct linkage

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
between Agent Orange concentrations
in people and birth defects.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
[music]

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
The US is currently negotiating
with the Vietnamese to this end,

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:43.000
but these negotiations will
take years to be completed.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:20.000
[non-English narration]

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
[non-English narration]

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:58.000
[sil.]

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
[sil.]

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
In my case,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
in 74 (inaudible), I
suddenly got this huge rash.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
I got delirious. My fever was

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
like 105. The bottom line was that,

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
you know, we don\'t know what it is, but
something is killing your immune system.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
So that was the first inkling

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
that I had, that I had been exposed

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
to Agent Orange.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
George is definitely one
of the bravest persons

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
I have ever met. I don\'t know if I would be
in his situation whether I would even manage

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
uh… to make it through one single day.
The effects of Agent Orange

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
are that his immune system
doesn\'t work anymore,

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
so he gets every infection that\'s flying
around, which is really difficult

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
because both of his heart attacks happened
during an infection. How are you doing?

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
I am great. Good.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
George\'s anti-war activities made him
ineligible for veterans\' benefits until 1998.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
After his first heart attack in 1987,

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
he and his new family decided to live in Germany
where he could receive the medical care he needed.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
George also as

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
a late consequence of all the poison in his body
has constant pain, especially in the joints.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
We also know that a third heart
attack is very dangerous

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
and he might not survive it,
and that\'s a constant fear.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
\'You don\'t need to be afraid.
We\'re not going to hurt you.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
[sil.]

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
In January next year we are going
to be having a 10-year anniversary

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
of the German group. Our main job
was basically to raise money,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
and we started very small and we are
still not really a large group.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Uh… We do a lot of fundraising
with concerts, with bake sales

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
with flea markets, with
little actions of people.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
[sil.]

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
These beautiful human beings are
doing what the project is all about.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Their way of sharing,

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
caring about those who don\'t have

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
what we may have.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:08.000
[sil.]

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.000
[music]

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
The original plan was that the whole
village would cost $2.5 million

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
and we\'ve raised a large
part of that already.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
We have eight family houses,
we have the clinic,

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
we have the school. We are building a
house for severely handicapped children,

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and I think we\'ve come a long way.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:13.000
[sil.]

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
[music]

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
The International Committee intends that
the village will become self sustaining.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
In the meantime, committee
members continue to raise money

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
through grassroots efforts.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Ironically, the American committee has
raised the least amount of money.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
To the International Committee,

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
it is a sign that the wounds
of war have yet to heal.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:58.000
[music]

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
For Americans,

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
for 40 years now, Vietnam has
been the big pink elephant

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
in the living room that
everybody doesn\'t want to see

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
but is there. There is a lot of healing

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
that has to go on,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
if we\'re to get beyond that pain.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
But to be able to get beyond that
we have to confront our fears.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
Confronting our fears means

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
meeting, sharing, learning how to trust

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
with our former enemies and it\'s very hard,

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
it\'s very hard.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
They come from the war, and after the
war they return to their village,

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
and now they have two children. One of them is
inside this house and he has mental problems.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
Now the younger brother is starting
to develop similar symptoms

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:18.000
[music]

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:28.000
[sil.]

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
I was just curious is he like
this all the time, day and night,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
or is he just excited because we\'re here?

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
All day and all night.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
[music]

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
It never ends, you know, the war never
ends. It\'s just kind of still going on.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
It\'s still hurting people, and
its still killing people.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
And it\'s uh… It\'s just…

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
I mean it was bad enough the suffering
that was then, but, you know, to see that

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
it\'s still going on today. It makes
me angry, it makes me feel guilty,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
and it makes you feel so damn

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
impotent, I guess is the word. You just
can\'t There\'s just nothing you can do.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
[music]

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
[sil.]

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:43.000
[music]

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
I believe very firmly

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
what Gandhi said, \"It
may seem insignificant

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
what we do, but it\'s
important that we do it.\"

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
Hope is an illusion.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
If you want to create something,

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
you have to actively work at it.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
And not hope that somebody else,
somehow, some miracle is going to happen

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
and people will come to come
to their senses or whatever.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
We either will create a world of peace

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
or we won\'t. But it\'s our choice.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Just in my lifetime,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
I\'ve watched the American people
for the first time in history

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
stop a war in progress. I\'ve watched

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
the civil rights movement
go from when I was a child,

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
segregation was the law. I have
watched the American people

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
stop the production of 112

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
nuclear power plants. None
of these were started

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
by huge organizations,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
by super heroes or heroines.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Each and every one of those
was started by one, two

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:30.000
or a handful of people who said no.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:05.000
[sil.]

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:23.000
[sil.]

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
There\'s an old Jewish saying,

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
\"He or she who saves one, saves the world.\"

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
And I know that together we can

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
literally stop that progression of

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
what is in fact

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
a suicide of this planet.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
I really believe what
Gandhi said that, you know,

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
\"Evil can only exist when good people…
when good people do nothing.\"

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
[sil.]

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
[music]

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
We can make a difference,
each and everyone of us.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:28.000
[music]

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:05.000
[sil.]