◆ SpookStack

VER em ee te ee oe ot ore! ne reenact aR ’ a 2 bebe ee Paros - ; eye, _¢ 7 3 - 7 oo = we ae . a -.J9 a ot ~ s- ' . +. - hail . a7 - . cee oe wae germans ee ert a AEE Stepp 6 cope pcmrnere ranted mas } . rh This hostel offers a home atmosphere and some educational and employment assistance where a bakery is operated. Other VISA personnel are working in Buddhist educationa institutions, two in the Saigon Children's Hospitel and-others in medical programs in the Pleiku area involving immunization and drug distribution. Work assigmments often changes, however, and it is difficult for nex VISA arrivals to enter into a work assignment promptly. This is because the objective is not work for work's sake but to find an assignment in which a sensitive interpretive job can be done. ~ One can only feel efter discussions with many Vietnamese that the Quaker :program in Vietnam is a valuable contribution. For example, Dr. Ton That Thien and Au Truong Thanh expressed a strong desire and concern that Quakers continue to trarlh dn Gauth Us stron fe ¢hatr weit P4 ? TT uaek heaes stivac wn sa hacia ta = Weare Se er iw wey el avy d41D WELK JID 64+ yeu gw 2 eee wT v” understand what is going on and enables you to remain in touch with those of us who are struggling to devise alternative means to this war." There has been concern among some American Quakers as to whether or not the basic anti-war position of Quakers is understood in Vietnam. It is here that one of the most remarkable changes has taken place within the year seperating my two visits to Vietnam. Quakers are very well known to many large sections of the Vietnamese commmity. Not only has the almost two years of the VISA and Quang Ngai programs achieved #@ measure of acceptance and understanding but also the numerour Quaker visitors to Vietnam plus the newspaper ads and book and the general posture of Quakers with respect to the war have made clear our position. The voyage of the Phoenix has elso reinforced our position. The Phoenix has had a particularly striking effect in the Buddhist community where it is felt the voyage highlighted the repressive Situation in which Buddhists found themselves and indicated a Quaker understanding ef it. While the voyage of the Phoenix has produced some hostility in same quarters, on balance it has reinforced the position occupied by Quakers with respect to the war. JI came away with the feeling that when all of this is over, if the American government would like to recoup in some small way a tiny measure of what has been lost in relations between Americans and Vietnamese, it would be an astute move to appoint a Quaker ambassador to Vietnam. . 2.