My Lai

She crouched patiently as she systematically pulled weeds from a nearby bush. We learned that, despite her advanced age, she comes to the My Lai Memorial regularly and does odd jobs on a volunteer basis. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue, could so easily be overlooked by the occasional tourist or passerby, but, by pure coincidence our group had the opportunity to hear her story.

Earlier this week, our team visited the My Lai Memorial, which is located a few kilometers from our guest house. The ride, like most of our biking excursions, was beyond gorgeous. It is difficult to believe that this scenic region has such a sad and violent past. On March 16th, 1968 hundreds of unarmed civilians in the villages of My Lai, My Khe, and Son My were killed by US soldiers. The memorial and museum contained haunting photographs of the elderly, men, women, and even young children who had been shot or were awaiting their bloody fate.

While walking through the grounds outside of the memorial building, we had the rare opportunity to meet Ms. Nguyen, an actual survivor of the massacre. Our encounter with her was brief, but extremely powerful. As she recounted her story, we could see the raw emotion well up in her eyes. She was in her early 40's at the time. Her morning had started off like any other. At that point in her life, her previous experiences with American soldiers had been very positive. They had provided food ration supplies as recently as three months earlier.

But within hours she saw her entire family killed. The houses in the village had been burned down. She managed to escape by begging the soldiers to spare her. She says that it was pure luck that she survived at all. It was hard for us to associate her fate with the word "luck".

Many of us teared up as she spoke. The thought of losing your entire life, while actually managing to stay alive is beyond our comprehension. Yet, as she met with us, she showed no sign of animosity. She shook our hands and appreciated our respect for her.

It was an experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It also reminded us of the reasons that our work in Vietnam is important. By building these houses, we are attempting to give a livelihood back to people who had so much taken away from them decades ago. And at the same time, we are serving as ambassadors to people who rarely see Americans... much less young Americans. It may seem like a big responsibility for a group of 17 teenagers, but our team is living up to that high expectation.

More soon,
Ted and Eileen

Ms. Nguyen