MOTHER’S DAY IN THE MINEFIELDS

As war rages on in Ukraine, Heidi Kuhn, CEO, Roots of Peace, will take bold footsteps for peace in Vietnam on Mother’s Day to raise global awareness of the long-term effects of war on innocent civilians nearly 50 years after The Vietnam War ended. 

Heidi was invited to Vietnam, to meet with the Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta for the historical opening of the first three Rotary Clubs in Vietnam; Rotary Club of Saigon, Saigon International and Rotary Club of DaNang. As a proud member of the Rotary Club of San Francisco #2, she was greeted on this Mother’s Day weekend by Ms. Kieu Nguyen, first woman President of the Rotary Club of Saigon.

The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, yet the legacy of war continues with hundreds of thousands of landmines and cluster munitions buried beneath the soil which has maimed or killed over 100,000 innocent footsteps long after the guns of war have been silenced.

In 1975, at age 17–only a few weeks after the Fall of Saigon—Heidi was selected as a Rotary Club of San Rafael exchange student to the Rotary Club of Utsunomiya, Japan. No women were allowed to join as members of Rotary Clubs anywhere in the world at this time, so she was one of the first to break the ‘glass ceiling’ for Rotarian women.

Her experience living with Japanese families opened her eyes that peace was possible when former enemies who fought against Americans in World War ll could become friends.

Heidi returned home as a teenager determined to pursue an education for peace by attending the University of California at Berkeley earning a degree in Political Economics of Industrial Societies, and has taken bold footsteps for peace across the globe as CEO of Roots of Peace.

Life goes full circle, as she returns to Saigon this week to spend Mother’s Day with the children who are victims of landmines and ‘Agent Orange’ chemicals left behind as a legacy of war.

As a mother of four and a grandmother of six, Heidi hopes that her footsteps for peace will remind the world of the impact of war on future generations. War rages today in Ukraine, and if the escalation continues, mothers 50 years from now will face the same destiny for their children in 2072.

On this Mother’s Day, Roots of Peace stands in solidarity with Ukrainian women and children who are now blowing up along ‘humanitarian corridors’ as they desperately escape amidst the guns war.

Together, may we turn MINES TO VINES—replacing minefields with vineyards and orchards worldwide.

Onward in Peace!