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| "The Peace Park in unique
Because elsewhere in the world,
People remind the younger
Generations of the horrors of war
By building war monuments.
Mike is changing that tradition
By building a monument to peace."
- General Pham Hong
Son,
brother in law of
General Vo Nguyen Giap |
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Madison Quakers, Inc.,
a 501 © 3 tax exempt organization,
is the sponsor of all our projects in Vietnam
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| "Long
Shadows:
Veterans Paths to Peace."
Edited by David Giffey,
a veteran of the war in Vietnam.
Forward by Howard Zinn
Book and documentary film
describe the journey of nineteen
veterans from being warriors to
peace activists. Their wars
range from the Spanish Civil War
through the current war in Iraq. |
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Children of My Lai today
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| HOPE RISES FROM
THE ASHES OF MY LAI
Beginning with the My Lai Loan Fund, established January 10,
1994, the Madison Quakers have funded a series of projects in My
Lai. They include the My Lai Primary Schools, My Lai Peace Park,
medical supplies, and the Art Penpals project. Other projects funded
by the Madison Quakers are loan funds in seventeen other villages
(as of 2007), the construction of 'compassion houses', aid for ethnic
minorities, the Sisters Meeting Sisters project and more.
The objectives of these projects go beyond economic aid. For almost
40 years My Lai has been evoked only in the context of grief, anger
and recrimination. Before beginning our first project in My Lai
the Madison Quakers were resolved to break that chain of hatred
and to find ways to re-humanize people who had been de-humanized;
the Vietnamese people certainly, but also American veterans, anti-Vietnam
war protestors and others. By breaking the chains of hatred which
have kept us apart we begin to understand that we are more alike
than we are different.
We have shown over the years that if we can sit down with humility
and respect and a willingness to listen and learn from each other
then anything is possible. If hope can rise from the ashes of My
Lai it can arise anywhere.
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