The Vietnam War Remnant Museum

This is a tough blog post to write. I felt that given the history of Vietnam and the war that Australia participated in, that it was important that Michael and I see the Vietnam War from the perspective of the Vietnamese people.

I didn't take many photos as much of it was very difficult to observe and learn. Photography is such an important element of life and history to capture these moments and people in order to remember and learn from the atrocities, hope, resistance, and truths of the past.

They have documented in graphic detail the tortures, prisons, weapons and assaults by the US (and Australians) on the Vietnamese people. The Agent Orange room was the hardest for me to swallow.

There were children born at the same time I was born, completely deformed and impacted by this chemical, and the consequences of the Agent Orange operation will impact 5 generations of people (3 more generations to come) for 150 years minimum.

I'm so disgusted by this war crime. I'm even more disgusted that the US (and in Australia) continued for decades to use weakened versions of this chemical or our soils and crops in the form of pesticide and herbicide as Roundup, still spraying this poisonous garbage on everyone's crops, learning nothing from the intense suffering of the Vietnamese. Anyone who knows me well knows of my hatred of Monsanto, and seeing direct consequences in the most brutal of ways from their products just boils my blood.

We came out of this experience with a deeper understanding of this period of time, the resilience of the Vietnamese people and all the war and suffering they have gone through attempted occupations and civil wars, and are very grateful for the lives we have led so far in Australia.Read more