VIETNAM FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE PROJECT USA INC

Vietnam Friendship Village Project USA (VFVP-USA) raises funds in the United States in support of a residential care facility known as the Vietnam Friendship Village, located in the Van Canh neighborhood of Hanoi, Vietnam. The Vietnam Friendship Village in Van Canh, which first opened its doors in 1998, provides medical services, physical therapy, education and vocational training to Vietnamese children, young adults and veterans with a range of maladies presumed to be caused by Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant applied by U.S. forces during wartime that contained high levels of dioxin.

The project was founded in the early 1990s as a friendly collaboration between former enemies, initiated by an American veteran named George Mizo who first returned to Vietnam in a spirit of reconciliation in 1988. The Friendship Village is managed and largely funded by the Veterans Association of Vietnam. By raising a small amount of support in collaboration with other groups based in Vietnam, France, Germany, Japan and Canada, VFVP-USA (incorporated as a nonprofit in 1996) provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to be part of an international community working to heal the wounds of war and create a model of cross-cultural cooperation based on caring, friendship and mutual respect.

The Friendship Village also serves as a model of care for people with disabilities in Vietnam, and as an educational stop where international tour groups are exposed to the issue of Agent Orange in Viet Nam. The Friendship Village welcomes volunteers from local Hanoi universities and from other Vietnamese agencies that specialize in international volunteer placement.

Known by its international partners as the U.S. Committee, Vietnam Friendship Village Project USA (VFVP-USA), is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization with an all-volunteer board, no paid staff, no office, and very little overhead (largest expenses being the printing and mailing of an annual newsletter and the organizational donation page). Most of the funds raised by VFVP-USA in the United States come from donations made by individual supporters and go directly to the Vietnam Friendship Village in Hanoi (via periodic wire transfer) to be used for operating expenses. Sometimes funds are earmarked for special projects, or for the "George Mizo Fund," which fulfills small grant requests (arranged through the Friendship Village for children who have stayed there) for education, vocational training, or micro enterprises outside the village.