Horror, Sleaze and Trash.

During the Vietnam War, the US dumped roughly 80 million liters of the defoliant Agent Orange across Vietnam. Now, four decades later, the dioxins continue to effect the lives of thousands across the country. In Danang and the surrounding countryside, many families are still being harmed by the storage of the chemicals at the airport and from fishing in nearby contaminated lakes and ponds. In Hanoi, the Vietnam Friendship Village is an Agent Orange orphanage and care center founded in 1998 by George Mizo, an American veteran of the Vietnam-American War. It houses 120 children and 40 veterans in eight homes spread across the small, intimate complex. The village, located just outside of the capital, is a place of both enduring hope and profound sadness. These children and families are all victims of the war, all suffering from the after shocks of the chemical substance.

Photo credit: Aaron Joel Santos