Disaster Spurs O.C. Vietnamese Aid Effort

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  The last time Bang Cong Nguyen tried to rally aid for disaster victims in Vietnam, he was roundly criticized in the Vietnamese American community in Orange County.

That’s because raising money, even for victims of tragedy in Vietnam, is not just the humanitarian task it seems. In the Vietnamese American community, where war-era tensions still run high, it can also be a political minefield.

But this year, the tragedy of Typhoon Linda, which left 3,700 dead and tens of thousands homeless, has prompted an unusually large outpouring of aid from the Vietnamese community stateside, a marked change from years past. So far, the community has sent $100,000 in emergency aid to the International Red Cross.

Last year’s attempts to raise money for flood victims in northern and central Vietnam were sharply attacked by many who viewed aid to the victims as aid to the communist government, said Nguyen, coordinator for Vietnam Relief, an effort involving several community groups.

Nguyen and other organizers in the Vietnamese American community think the strong support this year signifies a new attitude: namely the understanding that helping the people in Vietnam is not equivalent to supporting the government.

“I think with this year’s relief mission, we are changing the community’s course,” Nguyen said. Last year, “due to the political complexity, people couldn’t help too much. If they helped too openly, they’d be labeled communist sympathizers.”

In part, the magnitude of the tragedy--the worst natural disaster in Southeast Asia in a century--has done much to spur support from Orange County as well as cities like Houston and San Jose, places with the largest concentrations of Vietnamese Americans in the country, Nguyen said.

An estimated 100,000 homes and dozens of villages were wiped out throughout southern Vietnam. The International Red Cross estimated damage to be $200 million and rising.

The U.S. government has already donated $700,000 in emergency supplies and cash, the first major donation since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, according to a spokesman with the Vietnamese Embassy.

Other community organizers think that the large degree of help is also related to the fact that the typhoon hit the southern part of the country--where the majority of the emigre community is from.

“People here publicly don’t want to have anything to do with north Vietnam,” said Thanh Nguyen, head of the Social Assistance Program for Vietnam, an Orange County nonprofit group that provides aid for handicapped children. For the typhoon victims, the group did a special fund-raiser to collect emergency supplies, which were shipped off a week ago.

“They blame everything on the government there,” he said. “When we tried to raise funds, there were several negative reactions toward that effort. This year, because it happened in the south, we haven’t heard any objection or comments. If this happened in the north and the magnitude was this big, I doubt the support would be as much as we have been receiving.”

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Still, attitudes are changing, he said, because nonprofit groups that provide assistance in Vietnam have done much to reverse the perception that money raised in the U.S. for charity is funneled off by the government.

For example, several organizations last year banded together to raise $21,000 for flood victims and then went back to Vietnam to oversee the distribution.

“We proved that we are able to distribute help directly to the people,” Bang Nguyen said. “Last year, we videotaped it. Other people from churches and temples who came back from Vietnam have seen our work. They know we don’t give money to the government.”

Chi Tran, who heads another nonprofit organization that works in Vietnam, agrees that direct aid is the best way to convince the community to contribute. His group was gathering money to build a church in north Vietnam last year after the floods, and the idea was met with skepticism by people who didn’t believe the money was going to charitable purposes, he said.

“Maybe Vietnamese don’t believe I brought money to build a church. But now they believe it. Now it’s easier,” he said. “We show people how to give directly, and I think they changed their minds.”

Besides the money already sent to the International Red Cross, local organizations have raised another $50,000 that they plan to give directly to victims of Typhoon Linda. But the goal is an ambitious $500,000. And because of that, Vietnam Relief was formed to coordinate a larger effort, Bang Nguyen said.

The money being raised is planned for nonemergency needs, such as the rebuilding of schools and towns. Fund-raising efforts will be ongoing, with two major events planned through January, he said, adding:

“Helping the people is something they have to do despite what they think about the communist government.”