(VNF) - On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius on September 13^th visited and handed over gifts to children affected by Agent Orange (AO) dioxin at the Vietnam Friendship Village, Hoai Duc district, Hanoi.

Addressing the event, he said the festival offers a good opportunity for foreigners to learn about Vietnamese culture, history, people and language.

The US ambassador said he was very happy and thrilled to be visiting Vietnam Friendship Village and welcomed Mid-Autumn Festival earlier with children. "Mid-Autumn Festival is a special festival because it is the children's New Year's Day. Nothing is as important as nurturing and caring for our children, "the Ambassador said.

He hoped children at the Village are cared, nurtured well as many other children, have fun, go to school and feel the love of people around, especially in the mid-autumn festival day.

Ambassador Ted Osius talked with war veterans at the village (Photo: zing.vn)

On this occasion, he talked with war veterans under treatment in the village, recalling his visits to the central province of Quang Tri, a fierce battlefield during the war, and noting his hope that there will no victims of war-era bombs and mines in the locality.

The US and Vietnamese Governments have reached consensus on dioxin cleanup at Da Nang and Bien Hoa airports, he said, informing that the work has been half-done.

The ambassador voiced his support for the Vietnamese Government’s policy of putting the past behind and looking towards the future.

The Vietnam Friendship Village, about 11 kilometres west of central Hanoi, was founded by the late George Mizo, an American veteran whose main goals were to promote peace and reconciliation between the U.S. and Vietnam.

They provide vocational training, medical care, and a home for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, and Vietnamese children, young adults and veterans with a range of maladies presumed to be caused by AO./.

The US Embassy presented an industrial cooker to the Village

“The performances by the children were amazing, and making mooncakes with them was a lot of fun; although I was told my moon cakes still need a little work!” The Ambassador wrote in his Facebook page.

Minh Phuong