by Khanh Chi

Leading the way: Italian Lisa Huber holds the hand of blind Agent Orange victim Doan Quang Duy and is led to visit his family by a local man and Duy's friends. — VNS Photo Martina Gruber

(VNS) Alongside a Vietnamese farmer, Lisa Huber bends her back to plant rice seedlings in the field. The Italian national is not on a tour designed for foreign tourists to discover the wet rice culture.

She is here with the mother of eight-year-old Doan Quang Duy who was born blind because of Agent Orange. Huber wanted to see how they live and work.

"We want to see something of their life, how they manage and what they do. Going to the rice field is a good experience. It's hard, they do it all the day and all year around," said Huber, a missionary and president of Katholische Jungschar Association, which works with around 6,000 children from eight to 12 in Italy.

Every time after Christmas, they wear a crown and special clothes so they look like kings (which came from Christian tradition), walking from house to house and singing carols. The money they get from the people is sufficient for 100 children-focused projects around the world each year.

Viet Nam is a focus of the projects scheduled for next year. So Huber and the other five association members are in the country to do a documentary about the land and the project focus: Agent Orange (AO) victims in northern Hai Duong Province, which is home to about 300,000 AO victims.

"How difficult it would be to be blind," Huber said.

"We saw that they have many friends who help them manage their life; it's really good to see for us. It's a great experience.

"Look, Duy plays with his sighted friends happily. There is no discrimination. How wonderful it is!" Huber said, after filming Duy riding a bicycle with a group of his sighted friends. A boy sits behind Duy, instructing him. They all are enjoying a summer afternoon on a path running through the rice field.

"Every child has a story to tell. Here is Phuc, also blind," Huber said, pointing to a photo of a 15-year-old sitting between sighted kids. She wears a crown designed for Sternsigners that Huber brought from Italy.

"She is open, not sad. The kids that we met and their families are striving people. It seems they always look forward to the future."

However, the experience is somewhat hard for Huber and the whole team.

German volunteer Juergen Eichhorn, who is helping with the field trip, could not control the waver in his voice as he stretched a desk-size photo that depicts Pham Thi Hang and her brother squatting in their home in Nam Sach District.

"Look, their face is full of pain. They suffer from sort of muscular weakness, an illness among many others that's linked with AO. The pain keeps them from doing work."

Whenever the weather changes, swelling starts.

"One of the biggest problem about Agent Orange is that it can jump through generations. For example, the father was at the war and his children are normal but the children's children are abnormal. This will never end. This is what people must know, we must be open enough to say ‘Yes, we have to do something to help deal with this problem'," said Eichhorn.

Huber, 21, chipped in with a sad voice: "They are 17 and 18 but they look 40. The problem is they are full of pain and this makes them look older.

"Also we see the painful message in their eyes."

Huber acknowledged the field trip was really worth it because it would help spread the information.

"Not all people know what AO is. Some of them don't know the extent of the problem with AO. It's because their fathers and their grandfathers were in the American War so they now have disabilities and the disabilities will never end.

"I think it is really important to give this information to the people out there."

During the three-week trip, the team also donated 20,000 euros (US$26,000) to AO victims in the province.

They return home tomorrow, taking home two documentaries, one for Sternsigners and the other for people who give money so they will have an idea where the money will go and how it will benefit those in need. The films also feature the beautiful landscape in parts of Viet Nam.

"We don't want people just to look at the sadness but also to look at the good things," Huber said. — VNS