We all know about the Vietnam War, the history has been taught to us by western historians. The war was ongoing for more than 20 years, we know it as the Vietnam War but the Vietnamese people know it as Resistance War Against America (Vietnamese: Kháng chiến chống Mỹ) or simply the American War. It was originally officially fought between North and South Vietnam, the north got support from communist allies such as the Soviet Union & China while the south got support from anti-communist allies such as the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia & Thailand. This war ended more than 44 years ago in, spring of 1975 to be precise, but because of war crimes committed by the US, some people are still living the consequences every single day.

In the warfare the U.S. military engaged in a very aggressive program of chemical warfare. To be less polite or fancy with words the Vietnamese were sprayed, just as if they were bugs, with a chemical called Agent Orange. In all American forces used more than 20 million gallons of herbicides in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the years 1961-71. It is believed that over 4 million people were exposed to the chemical. The U.S. government has certainly challenged those numbers, but at the same time claimed two things: not knowing how dangerous the chemical was and that it was only meant to eliminate forest cover and crops for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops.

Well how credible do we find them when they say this? Is it a Bully not taking responsibility for his actions? The effects of Agent Orange on todays Vietnam is my focal point. It is the Gift that keeps on Giving! The dioxin contaminant from the Agent Orange is still found in the environment, still widespread in Vietnam's soil and water and is getting into food supplies. Which means it continues to have harmful impact today, again 44 years after the war ended and there seems to be no way to stop it.

Annually I visit Vietnam, to visit friends I´ve made there and travel across the country with a group of fellow photographers. This year I prolonged my stay considerably. One of the reasons was to make a Photo essay about the ongoing effect of the war crimes committed by the U.S. during the Vietnam war. The chemical warfare was far from being the only war crime the U.S. are guilty of during this war although it´s my main subject.

What is special about this war crime is that children are still being born seriously ill. Visiting children´s hospitals and care takers, well I can tell you, I have never seen anything like this; very sick, deformed, limbs missing, huge tumors. This will not be shown on camera but we will visit a young woman 31 years of age who is a living example of the innocent generations brought to this world seriously deformed due to decisions made by men in suits in a distant country.

I have been told that my narration is partial and nowhere near objective, but do you know what, it doesn´t have to be. I have visited numerous homes for survivors, families in acute poverty that bravely try to take care of their kids and relatives affected with an illness no body wants to know about and nobody is going to take responsibility for. My approximation is the truth as I lived it, as true as the stories these people told me, as true as the photos show you.

Allow me to introduce to you the 31 year old Thãnh. I visited her at her humble home which she shares with her mother in Central Vietnam. Thãnh is born deformed and ill from Agent Orange. Her mother got exposed to those chemicals during and after the war. She had 4 children, 2 alive and 2 that died. The oldest one apparently not effected doesn´t keep in touch with her family, twins: Thãnh and her sister, her sister was even more ill than Thãnh and died due to her illness only 7 days old, a boy who lived only 7 weeks and died due to symtomps related to poisoning. The father left, wanting nothing to do with his sick children, making Thãnh’s mother her only caretaker.

Thãnh´s control of her foot and toes is truly amazing

Thãnh needs care with everything, she needs it 24/7, so her mother can't work. They receive around $35 a month while cost of living is around $90. Their debt increases every month and they will never be able to pay it. Thãnh is often dismissed as mentally challenged because of her condition, but in reality she is very smart. Although not fully understanding her own disabilities she understands that her mother has no life outside their home because of her conditions and sometimes this just makes her cry constantly.

Her mother's patience and hard work started to show massive improvement about three years ago when Thãnh started to communicate much more than before. Thãnh can´t use her hands at all but is able to do remarkable things with her feet and it's mindblowing to see the control she has, drawing and painting with her feet beautiful pictures. She draws things she experienced the few times she has left the house and of course what she sees on television.

I'ts very important to stimulate her, it's the key of any improvement of her condition, she will never be normal or healthy but with care her life can still improve significantly. Thãnhs future is very uncertain with her mother now being 67 years old. When her mother dies Thãnh really has nobody. Efforts has been made to contact her sister, but she is poor and can´t take care of her. At the moment the only option is an institution, a school for the disabled, where sick people sleep on the floor and wait to die.

My friend and photographer Nguyễn Vũ Phước is working on other solutions for Thãnh with hopefully getting her sister involved. One idea is to sell Thãnh's art, that would generate some income, but it takes time to create a gallery and the solution needs to come soon. Thãnh and her mother are running out of time.

The sad thing about all of this is that there are huge areas still contaminated, like I mentioned dioxins from Agent Orange have persisted in the Vietnamese environment since the war and entering the food chain. Still making people sick! Americans truly left the Gift that keeps on Giving! The effects of Agent Orange will be in Vietnam for the years to come and there are going to be people who do not want this covered by the media and discussed openly. It is worth the mention that Agent Orange was manufactured by Monsanto and a spokesperson publicly declared that Agent Orange did not cause any serious long-term health effects – in my opinion an infuriating example of the lengths big businesses will go to protect their reputation.

Although there has been some money received from the U.S. to care for this people, you can see from this example it's not helping – the size of the problem is much bigger than that. What the U.S. should have done a long time ago is to try to clean up their mess, try to clean the chemicals from the ground to stop more people from getting sick. Find a permanent solution to stop the cycle and while they are at it clean up their mines and hidden bombs which are still causing death and mutilation. I don´t believe they ever will, because it's expensive, the problem is far away from them and poor people are just not that important.

Help us help Thãnh and lift a load of her mother. Thãnh did nothing wrong, but her life was taken away from her, even before she was born, by a foreign superpower who have no respect for people´s lives. Thãnh is stuck with the consequences of the Vietnam war along with hundreds, if not thousands, of other victims. As Thãnh doesn´t have a crowdfunding page we ask those who want to donate funds to use the PayPal Account: owner@kienvanggroup.com Account managed by Nguyễn Vũ Phước, photographer. All donations help this small family, no matter the amount.

Here is Agent Orange, The Gift that keeps on Giving! - Photo Essay covering the story of Thãnh: