The Citizen, 2007-05-31, Page 12While attendance may have beenlower than hoped for, Kim Phuc’smessage in Auburn this past
weekend was no less inspiring.
Phuc spoke at Huron Evangelical
Missionary Church in Auburn last
Saturday night. The event had been
booked for months.
The church could only hold 350,
but unfortunately, nowhere near that
many came out.
Phuc, who now lives in Ajax,
Ontario, is no stranger to these
speaking engagements due to her
extensive work with the Kim
Foundation.
She began her presentation by
introducing her picture, one that
changed the face of warfare and the
innocent lives being lost in Vietnam.
The award-winning picture shows
a young Phuc running naked down
the street, skin burning with napalm.
With napalm burns over 85 per
cent of her body, Phuc was picked up
by a soldier who didn’t understand
napalm’s sub-skin burning and
doused her with water, only making
it worse.
With napalm burning between
800°C and 1,200°C, Phuc says the
photographer who took the picture,
Huyong Cong Nick Ut, saved her
life. After taking the picture, he put
down the camera and rushed her to
the nearest hospital.
Phuc was unconscious during her
trip to the hospital and was found
three days later by her parents in a
room, where she had been left to die.
At a hospital in Saigon, she
received frequent burn baths, from
which she said she would pass out.
Since then she has had 17 operations
to get to where she is today.
This, however, was not the full
extent of the pain Phuc had to go
through.
After her life-saving experiences
with several doctors around the
world, Phuc decided to enter
medical school, which she did soon
after in Saigon.
This was when the Vietnamese
government played a very prominent
role in Phuc’s life, one she didn’t
want them to play. They tried to
control Phuc, and use her for
propaganda purposes.
She was shipped all around the
world, eventually landing in Cuba
for six years, after asking for a quiet
place where she could just be left
alone and have her freedom.
“The importance of freedom: You
never know how blessed you are
here. Don’t take that for granted,”
she said.
Throughout her teenage and
college years, Phuc says that
government employees were
deployed to watch her 24 hours a
day.
This watchful eye continued into
1992, when Phuc was married to a
fellow Vietnamese student in Cuba.
When the topic of her honeymoon
came up, which she hoped to have in
Moscow, Russia, initially her
husband would have been allowed to
go alone, and Phuc would be held
back.
It was at this breaking point, when
Phuc decided to defect to Canada.
“I fell in love with Canada,” she
said. “But now I can tell you from
the bottom of my heart, I am proud
to be a Canadian.”
Defecting was not easy though.
She initially hid in the airport
bathroom until she gathered the
courage to collect her husband and
find a way to stay in Canada,
something she said turned out to be
easier than she thought.
After offering up her passport to
immigration, they said she could
stay. However, the border was closed
just six weeks later.
Phuc spoke extensively to the
church crowd about her long road to
forgiveness.
After accepting Jesus Christ as her
saviour in 1982, Phuc walked a long
road of forgiveness and joy to where
she can now call herself happy and
free of anger.
Footage from her documentary,
Kim’s Story: The Road from
Vietnam, showed the ultimate
forgiveness.
After being invited to a Vietnam
memorial ceremony in Washington
D.C., Phuc met one of the men
involved in the air strike that burnedher. He had fallen into alcoholismand felt terrorized by the picturewhich he felt he helped create.Phuc and the soldier reconciled,became great friends and dropped
suffering from both of their lives,
something they both said was
essential to carrying on.
Phuc’s picture was called The
Picture of The Century by Oprah
Winfrey on her special, chronicling
the best pictures of the past 100
years.She was invited to Chicago toappear on the show, something Phucdid after asking who Oprah was. Shelater called the talk show host “cute”after saying that she made Oprah
cry.
At the end of her presentation,
Phuc received a standing ovation
from all in attendance in Auburn.
She was also in attendance at the
Chapel’s service Sunday morning,
worshipping with the congregation.
PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2007.
Inspirational
Living piece of history, Kim Phuc, of the famous Pulitzer-
prize winning Vietnam photograph, was in Auburn to speak
about her life and her road to forgiveness. Phuc told the
congregation about her road to recovery, her life being
controlled by the Vietnamese government and eventually
her defection to Canada. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Woman’s message one of inspiration, faith
PUBLIC NOTICE
BLYTH HULLETT LANDFILL SITE
Notice to amend the fees and charges for the Blyth Hullett Landfill
Site.
Pursuant to the Ontario Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, Part XII Section
391 and Ontario Regulation 244/02, Section 4(1-3), the Board of
Directors for the Blyth Hullett Landfill Site will hold a public
meeting to consider amendments to the existing Schedule of
Rates. This meeting will take place during the Regular Board
Meeting, Tuesday, June 19 2007 at 5:00 p.m.in the Central
Huron Council Chamber, 23 Albert Street, Clinton, Ontario.
Further information may be obtained by contacting the Central
Huron Municipal Office at 482-3997 or email info@central-
huron.com or the North Huron Municipal Office 357-3550. A copy
of the proposed amended Schedule of Rates will be available at
the municipal offices and websites www.centralhuron.com or
www.northhuron.ca .
Richard Harding, Clerk Administrator
Municipality of Central Huron
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