Vietnamese orphans

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33813, 9 April 1975, Page 16

Vietnamese orphans

’ Sir, —On Television One ■ news tonight two persons ; attending an Auckland meetI ing concerning Vietnamese orphans stated, when inter- , viewed, that there had been : no urgency and no way they i could help the Vietnamese ' until now. Perhaps they and others are unaware of the ( work of the Save the Children Fund, which has been working in Vietnam since ! 1966 operating a 100-bed . centre in Qui Nhon for wounded and malnourished ( children, and working close- ■ ly with the New Zealand ' surgical team. Half the annual costs of this centre are I paid by the New Zealand i S.C.F. as also are the salaries of eight New Zealand nurses who have worked there. Health visiting teams performing immunisations, medical and teaching work have been operating from Qui Nhon and Hue, and an orphanage aid scheme and sponsorship scheme were ' started in 1973. There have been many ways to help for those so inclined. — Yours, etc., C. M. MACCOLL. April 6, 1975. Sir, — Mr Shaw, the president of New Zealand University Students’ Association saidzthat “once and for all” the people of Vietnam showed their rejection of a regime created and controlled in Washington. But I will say that the present situation in South Vietnam showed “once and for all” that poor South Vietnam refugees have rejected the regime of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. The very tragic point is the message from the United Nations Secretary-General that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong had decided that permission be requirested for the evacuation of refugees from territory under their control. I think it is very unhuman to hold poor people against their will. This of course, is standard Communist practice. — Yours etc., SENIOR CITIZEN. April 7, 1975. Sir, — The National Coun- j cil of Churches seems out of ; touch with the reality of . South Vietnam. The mass ( murders by Communists in . Hue in 1968 are direct, ir- ■ refutable evidence of the j dangers the South Vietnam- , ese civilian population is , facing and it is no wonder . they are fleeing for what | amounts to their very lives. Reliable New Zealanders tell ( us that the -'light of the or- ' phan refugees is so appall- 1 ing that even loving good 1 Western homes are preferable to the present suffering. Many orphans are half-Euro-pean so Western culture in half their heritage anyway. •Television has shown us mothers desperately throwing their children aboard planes to get them out of Communist hands. These women are giving us a sacred trust — that their children grow safe and fre? away from the terror and reality of communism as they know it. — Yours etc., MOTHER OF FOUR. April 7, 1975.

Sir, — I am very concerned that the Government is even considering bringing Vietnamese war orphans into this materiallyorietated country. These unfortunate babies will become the latest link in a long chain of status symbols possessed by many families. Surely, if people are so concerned about their plight they will send money or other aid to help the North Vietnamese rehouse and rehabilitate the children with their own countrymen. There are many New Zealand children who desperately need a loving, caring home. If we cannot look after our own children satisfactorily, how can we hope to cope with children of an alien culture? — Yours etc., M. J. STEVENSON. April 7, 1975.