Twenty Agent Orange/Dioxin victims will be among 100 cyclists who will take part in a trans-Vietnam cycling tour to take place next month, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/ Dioxin (VAVA) has said.
The tour is part of the program titled “Accompanying AO victims for Vietnam-South Korea Friendship”, organized by VAVA and South Korea’s MBC Television. The ride will start in the Nha Rong Quay in Ho Chi Minh City on November 1 and run through 19 cities and provinces of Vietnam before finishing in the capital city of Hanoi on November 26, with a total length of 1,751.6 km.
During their tour the cyclists, who include artists and sportsmen, will meet up with local associations for AO victims. The cycling team is expected to arrive in central Danang City on November 15.
MBC Television’s reporters will follow the event and portray it in a documentary that features the efforts of AO victims to reintegrate into their communities. The film will be broadcast live by MBC and a few Vietnamese television channels to raise more funds for Vietnamese AO victims, especially children.
As many as 4.8 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War (1955-1975), and many of them are still suffering physical and mental agonies, according to VAVA. Yesterday VAVA and the Public Health University reviewed their community-based functional rehabilitation project for AO victims in Thai Binh, Quang Ngai and Dong Nai provinces over the past three years. As a result, about 7,000 AO victims have been examined and 675 of them have been operated on, while 1,300 others have been advised to use supporting devices. (Tuoi Tre –Youth Oct 19)