Beginning just a few weeks ago, VVAF began leading a team of national and international mental health experts into two provinces of central Vietnam to assess the needs and model a community-based system of mental health and rehabilitation services work to enhance access and services for the Vietnamese in these communities. This work builds on the many years of physical rehabilitation services we have provided to the disabled victims of war throughout Vietnam.

VVAF’s work is also critical in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where after fleeing their country due to years of violence, many Congolese are preparing to return to their homeland only to find that warring parties have hidden or abandoned small arms and munitions throughout the countryside. In the coming weeks, VVAF will reenter the fields in DR Congo and work to identify the danger zones and help the Congolese return safely back to their ancestral homes.

With the support of so many agencies and individuals, the War Kids Relief (WKR) is starting 2006 one step closer to its dream of a better future for the children in Iraq. WKR is working closely with the current ministries in Baghdad, as they transition into their new roles, to implement a computer classroom program for children throughout Iraq's 18 governorates. It is our hope that by this spring, Iraqi children will recieve computer-equipped classes in 100 youth centers, to provide basic education and vocational training.

To learn more about the War Kids Relief Program, click here or read Jon Power’s blog.

"In six weeks, VVAF’s GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Officer, seconded to UNJLC Pakistan, has compiled the best available datasets to support map production to guide relief efforts, including information on roads, settlements, population concentration, local climate and boundaries. By synthesizing what initially appears to be disparate data sets, we ultimately determine the relief assistance priorities for those most in need,” says Bill Barron, Director of VVAF’s Information Management and Mine Action Programs (iMMAP).

The emergency rebuilding expertise that VVAF has provided in Pakistan continues to be in demand.  The United Nations Joint Logistics Center has asked VVAF to extend our deployment in Pakistan and to continue to provide the technical humanitarian assistance still needed.  We have reached out to many of you for funding to support this special request. Thanks in large part to your response, we are better able to meet this need.  This program is not yet fully funded; please consider making a special contribution.

A soldier in the 6^th military Region of the former State of Cambodia, Sok Ra hoped, like many other Cambodians at the time, that the Khmer Rouge reign would end and peace would come to his war torn country. This hope became a reality, but like many of his fellow comrades, not without a cost. Ra was seriously injured from a gunshot wound to the arm that, because of its severity, had to be amputated. After a three-month stay in the hospital, Ra was sent home where he married, had two children and earned a living by growing vegetables on a small plot of land.

After hearing of its reputation, Sok Ra came to VVAF’s Rehabilitation Center in Kratie in early 2001 to be assessed, and was pleasantly surprised when an arm prosthesis was made for him. Additionally, the Direct Service Assistance team was able to provide him with fishing nets and chemical fertilizer for his garden. Today, Ra is now harvesting enough of his vegetables to sell at a market, providing him the resources to build a house and continue his gardening.

The people in Ra’s life describe him as a highly motivated, hard working individual with a positive attitude. We applaud Ra, like so many of our patients, for his efforts in building a better future for him and his family