Media release follows;
THUNDER BAY -- You probably know the photo.
A nine-year old Vietnamese girl is running down a highway, fleeing the burning clouds that surge behind her. She is naked, her arms thrust away from her body. She has been struck by a napalm bomb that is now cooking her ponytailed hair and the skin of her neck, back, and left arm into a bubbling goo. Her mouth gapes in a scream.
This is an iconic photo of the Vietnam war. It shot across the media in 1972. It was instrumental in galvanizing American opposition to the Vietnam war. It won photographer Nick Ut a Pulitzer Prize.
But for Kim Phuc, the girl in the photo, the photo is one of pain: a moment that is seared in time and memory, burns that took years to heal, scars that bind her in pain. For the girl in the picture, to look at the photo is to relive her pain.
And yet, Phuc has, and does, look at that image again and again. In fact, she will be in Thunder Bay Sept 23-24, to gaze at the picture once again, with a local audience. And as we look at that iconic image, and see the scars that she continues to carry, Phuc will tell us the story of her life. She will describe the long and continuing healing journey that is her life.
Phuc says that her story is one that moves from Vietnam to Cuba to Canada, from pain, despair and disappointment towards hope, freedom and peace. Phuc narrates a story that moves from global war to inner peace. Phuc tells her story because it brings hope to others, and through others, to herself.
We continue to live in a world of war, of violence, of upheavals. And we need to be inspired by a belief in refuge and examples of it. This is why our Thunder Bay organization Nu-Vision Ministry Canada is partnering with Kim Phuc and her foundation. By attending this event, your donations will go to furthering their work in attaining global justice. You can find out more about Phuc’s Foundation and her work to bring healing to children of war at kimfoundation.com. And you can find out more Nu-Vision and its work in aiding vulnerable youth, both in our community and worldwide, at nu-vision.org.
Phuc will tell “A Story of Forgiveness and Peace” on Friday Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Selkirk Auditorium, 621 Selkirk St. S. She will also take part in a follow-up event, a breakfast at the Airlane Hotel Tiberio Room, on Saturday Sept. 24 at 9 a.m. At this breakfast, Nu-Vision members will also share news of their recent work in Haiti.
Tickets for each of these events are $25 and available online through the Nu-Vision’s website, or in person at the Nu-Vision office, call 766-9360.
