Kim Phuc, 2005

Kim Phuc, the 9 year old child, is now over 40 years old. Her story continues to captivate people who have wondered about her. Her life was forever changed by one horrifying moment during the Vietnam War. Phan Thi Kim Phuc was born in 1963 and lived in a small village called Trang Bang located 25 miles west of the capital city Saigon in Vietnam. Kim's village was invaded with napalm bombs and she was badly burned. Her clothes melted off her body as she ran down the road in pain. This Pulitzer Prize-winning image of terrified children is etched in so many people's memory. Later in life, Kim began studying medicine. Her studies were halted in 1984 by authorities. They insisted that she needed to speak to journalists about her experiences as a child thrust in the midst o the war. After an appeal to the Vietnamese government in 1986, she was allowed to go to Cuba to continue her education. Married to Bui Huy Toan, a North Vietnamese student also studying in Cuba, the newlyweds headed for Moscow for their honeymoon. On the October 1992 return flight to Cuba, she sneaked off the plane while refueling in Gander, Newfoundland, defected to Canada and sought Canadian citizenship. Kim's life story now demonstrates the power to forgive. Though she did not go back to continue her medical studies, she has found her purpose in life, "to share the importance of having a relationship with Christ, as well as knowing the importance of forgiveness and freedom."