As 2018 is going to close in a couple of weeks from now, we at Project RENEW would like to take a moment to thank you for your continuing support during the past year. We are happy to share with you some of the most encouraging achievements we have made with support from our donors and partners.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Project RENEW’s partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), one of the leading organizations worldwide in the field of humanitarian disarmament. The RENEW-NPA partnership has now increased our human assets in Quang Tri Province up to four EOD teams, one Non-Technical Survey team, 25 Technical Survey teams and two Battle Area Clearance teams.
In 2018, under funding of the U.S. Department of State and the UK Department for International Development, RENEW-NPA teams have found and safely destroyed more than 13,000 cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance through survey and clearance operations. 153 Confirmed Hazardous Areas consisting of over 100 million square meters of land have been defined and marked for full clearance. Our BAC teams operating in Hai Lang District have cleared more than 300,000 square meters of land.
We are grateful to the significant funding provided by Irish Aid through the Irish Embassy in Vietnam to sustain important Mine Risk Education outreach to keep children safe from the dangers of UXO.
As a result, in 2018 over 29,600 schoolchildren, 50% of them being schoolgirls, participated in different risk education sessions organized by Project RENEW and local Youth Unions with the aim of raising children’s awareness of UXO risks and equipping them with safe behavior guidance.
Project RENEW’s Victim Assistance and Disability Support Program continued to assist victims and people with disabilities whose living conditions are less fortunate than others.
Our Prosthetics and Orthotics outreach mobile program have examined and fitted 261 persons with disabilities with artificial limbs and other devices to help them restore their mobility and integrate into society. 21 families with disabled members were provided with breeding cows to raise in order to generate extra income. 45 blind people and other disabled persons in need of employment have been vocationally trained on how to make brooms to earn an independent income. With support from the Provincial Legal Aid Center, 1,006 persons with disabilities (46% of them are women with disabilities) have improved their knowledge of disability rights and pro-disabled policies through 27 public information sessions held in 27 communes of Quang Tri Province.
These results wouldn’t have been possible without continuing support from Irish Aid through the Irish Embassy in Viet Nam, and private donors through FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, other foundations, and individuals.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this year in Quang Tri Province, 2018, there has been not a single accident or casualty — nobody killed, nobody injured by unexploded ordnance. This is the first year since 1975, when the war ended, that Quang Tri Province has had zero casualties.
As the holiday season nears, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Sincerely, for the entire RENEW team,
Nguyen Hieu Trung
RENEW Coordination Manager
P.S. Please note: You can still make a year-end donation in support of Project RENEW’s beneficiary families, in time for a 2018 tax deduction in the U.S. Click here for more details.
