LEN
ALDIS, the Secretary of the Britain --Viet Nam Friendship Society (BVFS) has
passed away at his home at Tomlins Grove Street, London. He was 85.
A peace campaigner known throughout the
world, Aldis made great efforts to help Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims in
Vietnam.
In a statement on Saturday 28th November , local police
said they were called by Aldis’s friends who were worried that he had not
answered nor responded to phone calls recently. The campaigner was then found
inside his house and pronounced dead at the scene.
Len Aldis first went to Vietnam in 1989
and returned annually to assist people who had suffered in wars, particularly
those living with the effects of Agent Orange, a toxic chemical the US sprayed
on Vietnam during the war.
Len Aldis worked hard to raise funds for
the victims, even braving the cold on winter days to sell souvenirs to raise
funds. He has raised around £56,000 since 1989 and sent the amount to help the
disadvantaged through the Vietnam Red Cross.
In 2009 Aldis launched a website to gather
and send signatures to US President Barack Obama and US congressmen to demand
justice for the AO/ dioxin victims.
Aldis was often invited to universities to
talk with students about the AO-related issues. He also raised the matter
during his meetings with the local people in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and
France.
He said there was much work to be done to
support the AO victims, adding that he would continue performing activities to
help the British people as well as international organisations to understand
better the serious consequences that AO has caused to the Vietnamese people.
In a letter to Aldis on his 80th birthday
in 2010, the then Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Pham Gia Khiem, said that the people and the Government of Vietnam
would always hold Aldis’s personal as well as the BVFS’s friendship and support
for Vietnam in high regards.
The campaigner was honoured with a
Friendship Order by the Vietnamese President in recognition of his work.
VNS
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