Quang Ngai is a provincial town lying on the coast in the middle of Vietnam. The whole province was badly devastated during the war. This devastation created many thousands of war victims which included a large number of amputees who were children. Quang Ngai is just six miles from where the My Lai Massacre took place. In some areas unexploded mines still cause casualties. The economy is mainly farming and fishing, and the weather takes its toll on rice production and people, causing a lower standard of living for the population.
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Quang Ngai Province has a population of some 1.3 million. Between 3,000 and 4,000 are amputees, and some 20,000 others are disabled, mostly from the effects of the war, but also from ongoing post polio, congenital deformities and traffic or work related injuries.

Quang Ngai does not have even one fully staffed adequate center. In comparison, the state of Maine, also with a population of 1.3 million, but fewer amputees and disabled, has a least seven fully staffed orthotic/prosthetic centers, and they are all busy.

© 1999 Roger Marshall, Completing the Circle