Thursday, October 6, 2011

The little girl of Vietnam



On June 8, 1972, a US fighter jet bombed the population of Trang Bang in Vietnam with napalm. Kim Phuc was there with her family. With her clothes on fire, the nine year old girl ran away along with other children. At one point, her clothes burned out. This picture was shot, at that moment, by the famous photographer Nick Ut.

Kim stayed in hospital for 14 months. The girl underwent 17 operations for skin grafts. Anyone looking at this photograph can see the intensity of the despair and human suffering created by wars (still raging in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Columbia, Congo, Iraq, occupied Palestine and Somalia), especially the effects on children and women.

Today, Pham Thi Kim Phuc, the little girl in the photo, is married with two children. She lives in Canada where she presides over the Kim Phuc Foundation where the mission is to help child victims of war. She is also an ambassador for UNESCO.

1 comment:

  1. Except that is wasn't "a US fighter jet" it was VNAF

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