From: "Chuck Ward" <vetswithamission@backroads.net>
Subject: Re: "Winter & Summer Trips To Vietnam"

Dear Vietnam Vets and Friends:

Vets With A Mission is announcing three Vietnam trips in 2006!

First is a "Reconciliation Tour."

The second is a "Special Misson Team" trip to Da Nang.

The third is a "Humanitarian Team" trip also to Da Nang.

The Reconciliation Tour is for Vietnam vets only and immediate family. The dates are February 17 - March 11, 2006. Price is $3,499/peson, double occupancy. Deadline for sign-up by email for the winter "Reconciliation Tour" is November 30, 2005.

The Da Nang Mission Team trip with Seacoast Irmo Church is through Vets With A Mission. It has a limited number of volunteer opportunities available. The dates are June 23-July 7, 2006. The cost is $2,999/person, double occupancy.

Deadline for sign-up by email for the summer "Da Nang Mission Team" is December 15, 2005.

The Da Nang Humanitarian Team is for both vets and non-vets. The dates are July 6-22. Price is $3,199/person, double occupancy. Deadline for sign-up by email for the summer "Da Nang Humanitarian Team" is December 31, 2005.

What do you do if you are interested? First, sign-up by email to reserve a place on the trip!

Second, note that the deposit is $100 and non-refundable but applied to overall trip expenses. Send your deposit as soon as possible after email sign-up to:

VWAM
P. O. Box 202
Newberry, SC 29108-0202

In the memo section of your check note which trip the deposit is for.

Third, once a trip deposit is received a trip application will be returned to you.

If you have any questions about itinerary or specifics, please contact me at this email address or telephone at 803-405-9926.

"Chuck"
Charles Ward, Executive Director
Vets With A Mission
www.vwam.com

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Call For Submissions
Anthology of writings and poetry by UK transracially adopted people
From: Perlita Harris

Please email for a full "Call for Submissions" document for an anthology of writings and poetry by and for transracially adopted people that I am editing.

The anthology will be published in 2005 by the British Association of Adoption and Fostering. I am really excited about the project. It offers UK transracial adoptees a great opportunity to get our voices heard. If you know of any transracially adopted people (originally adopted in the UK), I would be very grateful if you could forward this on to them. Thanks!

If after reading the Call for Proposals you have any questions about the anthology, please do not hesitate to contact me either by email or on (w) 0117 954 6726 (please note, I shall not be in work between 20 March and 18 April, although I will be picking up my emails during this time).

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes,
Perlita
P Harris, School Policy Studies
Perlita.Harris@bristol.ac.uk

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What: Asian Adoptees Anthology
When: Deadline October 25, 2004 [may be extended]
Who: All Asian adoptees from any country

As adult trans-national international adoptees, we are now negotiating our identities and making sense of our lives in between and within different concepts of family - biological family, adoptive family and for many of us now, our own families. Each and every one of us have our own ideas and opinions about what the various kinds of families and identities mean, and there are no "right" or "wrong" answers.

We are now interested in collecting the voices of adult asian adoptees from a large number of backgrounds, in an attempt of giving other adoptees and general public a glimpse into the complex constructs, segments or fragments of who we are and where we're coming from.

In order to get you started, here are some suggestions for format and content:

- letters to or thoughts about birth-mother/family, incl. separation issues
- growing up in adoptive family/being different
- sexuality, relationships, partner, marriage
- own children
- biological and/or adopted siblings
- birthfamily reunions and the cultural differences experienced

How: Submissions accepted in English, German and the Scandinavian languages.
If possible, submissions will be published both in the original language and with an English translation (will be done by the editorial team). We are still seeking volunteers who have knowledge in a language other than the ones mentioned above.

Also, if you would like to be part of the administration of this project (all adoptees welcome), please contact us.

When: Deadline 25 October 2004

You will be notified of your submission's progress by the beginning of 2005. While we want all voices to be heard, the editorial board still has the final say in which works can be selected.

Please send all submissions or inquiries to:
INAvoices@koreanadoptees.net

Sincerely,
The editorial group, Truepeny Publishing
-Thomas 'Alien' Park Clement, President of Truepeny Publishing
-Christopher 'Tuan' Brownlee, Vietnamese Adoptee Network
-Kelly 'Tuyet' Brownlee, Vietnamese Adoptee Network
-Arun Dohle, Connected Indian roots
-Sunny Jo, President of K@W and Editor in Chief of Truepeny Publishing
-Hanna Sofia Johansson, The K@W KADcyclopedia
-Indigo 'Thuy' Williams Willing, Adopted Vietnamese International
-Eun Mi Young-Jackson, Vice President of K@W and Senior Editor of Truepenny Publishing

*Guest advisors outside the adoptee community may be called on to help us with some of the technical and content issues as required

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Lana Noone's upcoming Vietnam "Operation Babylift" programs and book signings for "Global Mom: Notes From a Pioneer Adoptive Family" by Lana Noone, with Byron, Jennie, and Jason Noone (Gateway Press, 2003).

For complete details please contact: noone@mailbug.com

December, 2004, Date and Time TBA
Asian Studies Department Presentation
Dowling College,
Oakdale, New York.

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Event for all Adult International Adoptees

Also-Known-As' Adoption Forum - Family and Adoption
Monday, March 8
and
Monday, March 18
from 6:00-7:30 PM

Zweig-DiMenna Companies
900 Third Avenue, 32nd Floor
(Ring doorbell)
Between 54th and 55th Streets


RSVP: By March 4th to JLieberthal@mail.alsoknownas.org.
For building security purposes, we must have a pre-registered list of attendees.

INFO:

Also-Known-As is sponsoring Adoption Forums twice a year. Adoption is a life long journey with complex emotions and issues. Acknowledging that our paths lead to different places, more adoptees are seeking a common ground to share our various experiences. Adoption forums enable adult intercountry adoptees to come together to share their experiences and feelings with each other. These forums are available to adult adopted people only. They are in no way a therapeutic group, but rather an opportunity to talk, listen, and perhaps learn something new.

Our first topic for this two-day forum will be about family: how we as adopted people define family; how we define our relationships with our adoptive and/or birth families, friends, partners and spouses.

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Adoptalk Meeting

March 13, 2004
Briarcliffe College
Bethpage, New York

6:30 PM	New Member Orientation
7:00 PM	General Meeting General Chapter business; welcome new children
8:00 PM	Refreshments Networking among attendees
8:15 PM	Discussion groups Please refer to information below

Main Topic: Domestic and International Adoptions
Come listen, share and learn.

Topic: Adopting From Vietnam
*Guest Speaker: Lana Noone, Adoptive Parent, Author of "Global Mom: Notes From a Pioneer Adoptive Family", "Humanitarian Award" winner for her website at:

www.Vietnambabylift.org

and motivational speaker will conduct this workshop. Come hear her success story about how she and her husband Byron formed their "Forever Family", and how she has continued to devote her life to teaching and educating people on adopting children from Vietnam and Korea.

Please contact Lana at: noone@mailbug.com for additional details, travel information.

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(MELBOURNE) From Street To Restaurant: Combating Youth Poverty In Vietnam
Wednesday, 31 March, 2004

Jimmy Pham, will discuss how he is breaking the cycle of poverty for street children through KOTO (Know One Teach One) Vietnam. KOTO is an innovative hospitality and life skills training program in Hanoi and is the main venture run by Street Voices, an Australian Charity, established to help street children living in Vietnam. Mr Pham is currently in Australia on an awareness raising tour with two of his star KOTO graduates and will discuss the concept behind KOTO before presenting a special cooking demonstration.

Website: http://www.streetvoices.com.au

WHEN: Wednesday 31 March
TIME: 6 - 7.30pm
WHERE: Basement Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, The University of Melbourne, Corner Swanston Street and Monash Road, Parkville

ENTRY: Free of charge (seating is limited)

RSVP: To reserve a seat send an email to events@asialink.unimelb.edu.au with "Koto" in the subject line.

ENQUIRES: Call Asialink on (03) 8344 4800

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In April, 2003, The Korea Club (The Danish Association of Korean Adoptees), held an international adoption research conference in Copenhagen under the title "The Meaning of Roots: Ethnic Identity & Biological Heritage".

The proceedings from the conference are now available and free to download (pdf file, 1054 KB) on The Korea Club's website: <http://www.koreaklubben.org>.

Mainstream research on intercountry adoption usually focus on the adjustment of adoptees into the culture of the receiving countries and is often loaded with particular normative viewpoints. In contrast, this conference started out by exploring the question of how adult adoptees integrate their different ethnic background and different biological heritage into their current lives.

About 200 people from 12 countries attended the conference which consisted of two full days. On the first day, keynote presenters from Norway, Great Britain, USA and Denmark presented research findings and The Korea Club with its experiences, thereby linking theory to practice. On the second day, a variety of workshops invited to interactive discussions on issues like assisted reproduction, adoption and ethics, stereotypes of trasracial adoptees, racism, search for biological family and imagined communities. The presenters come from different disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, sociology, law, communications, and cultural studies.

The conference proceedings include welcome talks, keynote presentations, panel discussion and workshop presentations (139 pages in total). If you are interested in ordering a print copy of the report, please send an email message to:

koreaklubben@hotmail.com

This message was forwarded from:
The Korea Club Board of Directors and Conference Team

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(MELBOURNE) The Legacies Of War In Southeast Asia - Environmental And Legal Perspectives
Thursday, 1 April, 2004

This first event in the 2004 Solferino Asia-Pacific Lecture - jointly presented by Asialink, MIALS and the Australian Red Cross Victoria - will examine the legacies of war in Southeast Asia. Panelists will include Mr Mark Deasey, Regional Manager of Asia, Oxfam CAA and LTCOL Roy Abbott CSC, Assistant Director, Operations International Law Strategic Operation Division, ADF. Mr Jim Backwell, International Humanitarian Law Coordinator for Australian Red Cross Victoria will chair the panel and facilitate discussion with the audience following the panelists' remarks.

WHEN: Thursday 1 April
TIME: 6.30 - 8pm
WHERE: Basement Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, The University of Melbourne, Corner Swanston Street and Monash Road, Parkville
ENTRY: $15 Full Price; $10 Concession/Member (Asialink and Australian Red Cross Victoria). Tickets will be sold at the door.
RSVP: Please send an email to solferino@vic.redcross.org.au.
ENQUIRES: Please call the Australian Red Cross Victoria on (03) 8327 7840 or Email: ihl@vic.redcross.org.au.

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Lana Noone
April 2, 2004

Lana Noone will be one of three Guest Authors to speak at the Nassau County American Association of University Women Spring Luncheon on April 2, 2004, at the George Washington Manor, Roslyn, New York. Lana will discuss her book "Global Mom: Notes From a Pioneer Adoptive Family", and will display the Vietnam Babylift Quilt, a shadowbox section of the C-5A Galaxy Babylift Plane, a gift watch bestowed upon the Korean adoptees by the President of South Korea, and artifacts, photos and original documents.

Please contact Lana at: Lana@Vietnambabylift.org for additional details.

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VAN to speak at parents group in McMinnville, Oregon
April 3rd, 2004

VAN is honored to participate on a speakers panel for a parent's group in McMinnville, OR on April 3, 2004 from 10.00a to 12.30p. Most of the parents who are involved with the group have adopted children from Vietnam. If you live in the Portland Metro area, or close to McMinnville, you are cordially invited to join us. First Baptist Church in McMinnville is gracious enough to host the event, the church is located at 125 SE Cowls Street in McMinnville.

Please feel free to contact Rick Silver at richard@van-online.org for more information. If you plan to be there, we look forward to meeting and seeing you, potluck lunch to follow.

Warmest Regards,
Richard V. Silver
Nguyen Quoc Viet
Treasurer ~ Membership Officer
Email: richard@van-online.org
Web: http://www.van-online.org

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Discussion on the Transracial Adoption Paradox
Friday, April 30 6:30-8:30 PM
NYU Cantor Film Center,
36 East 8th Street,
Theater 101, NYC
RSVP by April 27th online at http://www.apa.nyu.edu
Screening of "Unlocking the Heart of Adoption" by Sheila Ganz

SPACE IS LIMITED!

Most noticeably since the Korean War, Asian international adoptions by white American parents have resulted in yet another
version of the "typical" American family. International adoptions account for approximately 85% of all transracial adoptions, with the largest population being Asian transracial adoptees. From IKEA catalogues to Sears commercials, it is no longer unusual to encounter images of Asian children with white parents and siblings. The Transracial Adoption Paradox is that while adoptees are racial/ethnic minorities in society, they are perceived and treated by others, and sometimes themselves, as if they are members of the majority culture due to adoption into a white family (Lee, 2003). This discussion will explore difficult questions such as: how can parents help their adoptive children appreciate their Asian ancestry and understand what it also means to be Asian American? How are parents helping their adoptive children build healthy, strong senses of self? How do transracial adoptees and parents address racial/ethnic identity?

This discussion will be preceded by a 56 minute documentary "Unlocking the Heart of Adoption" by Sheila Ganz, chroniclng her journey as a birthmother, interwoven with diverse personal stories of adoptees, birthparents and adoptive parents in both same race and transracial adoptions, including a Japanese American adopted woman, a Filipino American adopted man and an African American adopted man with his Caucasian adoptive father. They stirringly reveal the enormous impact that the complex reality of adoption has on the lives of regular people. Historical footage is threaded through the film and serves as an illuminating background. For more information on the film, visit http://www.unlockingtheheart.com.

The roundtable discussion will include Sheila Ganz and individuals from Families with Children from China (FCC), Also Known-As (AKA), and the NYU student club Adoptees United.

Co-sponsored with Families with Children from China of Greater NY, Adoptive Families Magazine, Adoptees United and Unsealed Initiative.

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May 22, 2004

Invitation to book launch by young Vietnamese-Australian writers

The Chair of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and Liverpool Regional Museum, Mr John R. Marsden invites you , your family and guests to the BOOK LAUNCH

Cau Noi - The Bridge
Anthology of Vietnamese Australian Writing
Writers: David Phu An Chiem, Michelle Chuong, Khoa Do, Hai Ha Le, Hai Van Nguyen, Hoang Tranh Nguyen, Huong Thao Nguyen, Anh Khoa Tran, Matilda (Hang) Tran and Chi Vu

2:30 pm Saturday 22 May 2004
LIVERPOOL REGIONAL MUSEUM
CNR HUME HIGHWAY & CONGRESSIONAL DRIVE, LIVERPOOL
ADMISSION FREE

Exclusive: Book can be purchased at special price at the launch for $15 (normal price : $20) & writers will be present for book signing.

Since the fall of Saigon, 1975, three distinct generations of Vietnamese Australians - First, 1.5 and Second generation - have emerged distinctly all over the world. The 1.5 Generation belongs to people who are literally 'born in Viet Nam and made in Australia'. 'Cau Noi - The Bridge -Anthology of Vietnamese-Australian Writing' examines the complexities of the 1.5 Generation and the emerging works of the Second Generation of Vietnamese-Australians.

The process of developing this anthology has included bringing together of the editor, Ngoc-Tuan Hoang with ten commissioned writers who represent a range of disciplines and careers including film, theatre, performance, writing, law, sound engineering and poetry. In this book, each writer has to create the bridge for themselves in order to achieve equlibrium between the two realities - somewhere between the culture they inherit from their parents and the culture of the mainstream society.

Dr Mandy Thomas, Deputy Director, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University, points out " some unexpected connections and similarities that arise in all the pieces which speak to a universal human story. These are the threads of 'Vietnamese-ness', the intense ties to an unforgettable homeland in memory or in story, and the spirit of social justice that arises from the refugee experience which leaves an unmistakeable trace in every generation."

This anthology is a groundbreaking contribution to Vietnamese-Australian literature and worthy of literary merits because they are written not only with passion and honesty, but also with true intentions for literary innovation. The book will give reader opportunities to look into the strange cultural landscape of young Vietnamese-Australians and bring you on a journey along the wide spectrum of human feelings.

The book will be launched by Dr. Frank Bongiorno, Chair, Literature & History Committee, NSW Ministry for the Arts & Senior Lecturer in History, University of New England. Two special speakers - Thang Ngo, 1.5 generation and Sales & Marketing of SBS Radio and Michelle Chuong, second generation and Sydney Morning Herald Writer of the Year 2003 - will give insight into their own points of view.

RSVP By 18 May
Email admin@casulapowerhouse.com
Refreshments provided

Feel free to pass to your network. Thanks. Looking forward to seeing you all.

Cuong Phu Le
Asian-Australian CCD Officer
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre & Liverpool Regional Museum
PO BOX 190, Casula, NSW, 2170, Australia
Cnr Congressional Drive & Hume Highway
Tel: (02) 9824 1121
Fax: (02) 9821 4273
Email: cuong@casulapowerhouse.com

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March 9, 2005
Update

A Vietnam Babylift painting, by Vietnam Veteran/Artist Bernie Duff, titled "Heather's Homecoming-Operation Babylift" will be unveiled at the Vietnam Babylift 30th Anniversary Program, at the Vietnam Era Educational Center, Holmdel, New Jersey on April 2, 2005.

Bernie was an Army Medic in Vietnam from 1969-1970, and continued his Army career as an illustrator through 1976. He received a BFA Degree from the University of Louisville and has created a series of 20 acrylic paintings depicting people related to the Vietnam War.

Bernie is a Board member of the Sharon Lane Foundation, and will unveil several paintings of Sharon and the children of Vietnam at the March, 2005 Sharon Lane Clinic Ceremony Opening in Vietnam.

The 20" by 26" painting we'll unveil commemorates the arrival of Heather Constance Noone/Mai Ngoc Tran via "Operation Babylift" on April 23, 1975. Heather was critically ill at the time of her arrival, and, although her doctors made a valiant attempt to save her life, she died on May 17, 1975.

Please feel free to invite family and friends to attend the unveiling and 30th Anniversary Program.

Please contact:
Lana@Vietnambabylift.org
for complete details.

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