V-in-V (Indonesian Blogger in Saigon)

I met with Clint and Hung from the Amerasian Childfind Network tonight. Clint visits Vietnam a couple times a year to help Vietnam Veterans find their long lost Amerasian children. We still do not know the exact number of Amerasians left in Vietnam, but it could be as high as 7,000 based on some leads. We just do not know.

Clint helped me form the Amerasian Foundation back in 2003 and he was the one who encouraged me to move to Vietnam instead of Albania back in 2004. The Amerasian Foundation is not a search organization. Instead I refer my Vietnamese Amerasian cases to Clint and the Amerasian Childfind Network. My Filipino Amerasian cases get refered to the Amerasian Family Finder run by my friend Jenn, a Filipino Amerasian. Both Clnt and Jenn have been very successful. Last year, Jenn and I solved a case and helped two Vietnamese Amerasians find their Vietnamese mother after being separated for nearly 35 years (the mother lived just 5 minutes from my house in Saigon).

Since I arrived in Saigon back in 2004, roughly 20 Vietnamese Amerasians I have met have emigrated to the US. Many others still are refused entry to the US for various reasons. Many Vietnamese Amerasian cases are still unresolved here in Vietnam. There are Vietnam Vets still seeking their Amerasian child, the youngest being in their mid-30s now. Vietnamese Amerasians here are still trying to seek their fathers. In the Philippines, the numbers of Amerasians are up to the hundreds of thousands.

Right now a major issue for the Amerasian Childfind Network, Amerasian Family Finder, and Operation Reunite (an organization run by Trista, a Vietnamese Amerasians) involves funding. Searching for both fathers and Amerasians is not cheap. The costs get higher if Clint and Trista have to fly to Vietnam to investigate a lead. Nobody flies to the Philippines for leads, it is all done online.

For the Amerasian Foundation, it is easy, I just run my organization as an online entity. The costs to maintain a website are quite low. I end up referring most cases to Clint and Jenn. For Trista, Clint and Jenn, it is another story. They bear the costs of all searches.

Now I am trying to think of a way in that I and the Amerasian Foundation can help them before it is too late…

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