Fellowship Hall

Kim Phuc shares story of pain, forgiveness

A powerful, inspiring testimony of forgiveness, by a woman who has come to symbolize the pain and suffering of war, captured the attention of the nearly 500 guests at the first annual Burlington Leadership Prayer Breakfast on April 26, 2007.

With a voice that radiated serenity and peace, ‘The Girl in the Photo’ Kim Phuc shared how, on the morning of June 8, 1972, she was engulfed by flames as a South Vietnamese jet dropped napalm – a fuel that burns as hot as 1200-degrees C.

With her clothing burned from her body, Kim ran naked from the napalm blaze, and directly toward journalists and war photographers. Before putting aside his camera to offer help, Associated Press photographer Nick Ut captured a Pulitzer Prize winning image that instantly defined the suffering of the Vietnam War.

Vietnamese war 'orphan' Thanh Campbell from Hamilton, guest speaker Kim Phuc, Burlington Mayor Cam Jackson, and businessman Harry Voortman, at the first annual Burlington Leadership Prayer Breakfast.

"The next day, that picture was around the world. It changed the way people saw the Vietnam War, and it changed my life forever,” Kim said. “The pain was so terrible, and my body was so badly burned, but my feet were not – and that allowed me to run out of the fire and save my life.”

Pausing to reflect on how God protected her even before she became a Christian, Kim read from Psalm 56:13 – “For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”

Kim went on to share the story of her lengthy treatments, her journey to becoming a Christian, the circumstances that ultimately led to her and her newlywed husband defecting to Canada in 1992, and then of her meeting with Vietnam War veterans.

"The doctors may have helped heal my body, but there was a lot of anger and hatred inside me. Only the power of God’s love in Jesus Christ could heal my heart.  He had the power to forgive my sins, and He has allowed me to forgive my enemies.”

Burlington’s Mayor Cam Jackson, who as a Member of the Provincial Parliament had previously chaired the Queen’s Park Prayer Breakfast, began the morning by saying “this is the day the Lord has made, and in the name of Jesus Christ I thank you for coming together today to celebrate our spirituality.”