My Story
In my own way, I too needed to heal from “Vietnam” due to some of the negative experiences I have been confronted with in my life. As I began to do so, I discovered many others who still needed to do the same.
After 22 years, I returned to Vietnam for the first time in 1995 to learn more about the country of my family and the place that left a heavy imprint on so many. I met people from all sides of the conflict and returning to Vietnam brought my healing to completion. Since then I’ve wanted to be instrumental in helping others discover that same healing. Telling my story not only helped to heal me, but it inspired others on a path to healing and forgiveness.
During my visit to Vietnam, I became ill due to the hot, humid climate and the living conditions I was not accustomed to. I was admitted into a hospital, which lacked even the basic necessities. The staff and community were interested in developing relations with me to bring in much needed medical supplies. It soon became clear that the needs of Vietnam were much greater than this.
I became incorporated as a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt organization in 1999 called Thuy Smith International Outreach. TSIO is dedicated to bringing direct aid to the most under-privileged populations in Vietnam by assisting in the areas of health, well-being, and education.
We are helping the people of two countries that were formerly at war to come together and put the past behind them. We can now build new relations based on peace, cooperation, and reconciliation between our peoples. We have important new roles to play.
To all of the American Soldiers who served in Vietnam and family members who lost loved ones-- By telling our stories and reaching out to others, we find healing ourselves.
I have turned what was once a negative in my life into a positive. I have come full circle.
I know a Vietnam Veteran who met a former NVA soldier. The man said to him, “You and I are both the same. We did what our governments told us to do. Of all the wars that Vietnam has been involved in--from the Chinese, Japanese, French, and then the Americans--it has only been the American Veterans who have returned to reconcile and help our country in the way that they have.” What a testimony!
To all Americans-- You are known in Vietnam as “Nuoc my Nhan Hau,” which means “beautiful and generous people.” Your contributions and support of this effort is the continual testimony to American generosity.
There was a reporter who was stationed in Vietnam during the war. He said, “Although I searched for explanations, I never doubted the Vietnamese affability was sincere. [...] They genuinely liked the curious Americans who traded jokes with them and even asked them about the war.”
“I think that Americans and Vietnamese share an almost inexplicable bond.”
“It is a liaison woven in tragedy and common suffering, a tie strengthened by the flight of 100s of thousands of Vietnamese to the U.S.”
“Perhaps as much as anything the bond is rooted in the realization that the war changed the U.S as it did Vietnam.”
- From Vietnam Now by David Lamb
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Thank you to Rachel Emery for her hard work in building this website.