April 2004: AVI founder and director Indigo is now legally known by the name Indigo Willing and is living in Brisbane, QLD

Feb 2006: Things have been busy after being joined by a new family member!

Queen's Birthday Honours List 2006  recognises Adopted Vietnamese community! 

On the Queen's birthday Indigo Williams Willing became the  recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General  Division: 'For service to the community through the establishment  and administration of Adopted Vietnamese International', Awarded by  the Council for the Order of Australia and Approved by His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of the  
Commonwealth of Australia AC CVO MC (Ret'd), June 2006.  Nominators are kept confidential and the process typically takes up to two years for the  
council to research nominees before a decision is made.

Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI) was officially launched in  Australia on April 2000 on the 25th Anniversary of the end of the  Viet Nam War.  AVI grew in heart and nature from the input and  
inspiration of groups such as ICASN in Australia, and both Mam Non  and The Vietnamese Adoptee Network in the USA. AVI's mission is to  
learn from and offer support to adopted Vietnamese as they explore  their sense of identity/ies, heritage and diversity.  AVI also  encourages the adopted Vietnamese community to share their  
experiences and nurture stronger relationships with their families,  the wider trans-racial adoption community, the Vietnamese Diaspora  and other cultural communities through community projects, research  and online activities.  Projects included a group return trip to  Vietnam in 2001, a growing e-resource library on all things related  to adoption from Vietnam, an e-group, a national list for  
Vietnamese war adoptees to register on, and a searching for birth  parents guide and register.

Indigo writes: This acknowledgment does not belong to myself as an individual but more to the many amazing Vietnamese adoptees who show courage and insight to reach out and explore their history and support one another using new technologies such as Internet networks and follow on things such as events and reunions. There are also many people out there in the wider adoption community combined who well and truly deserve recognition. This real honour is a reflection of the hard  work the whole adoption community has done to come together, to  create positive bridges between the old and the new lives and  
communities they have, and to making new ways for future  transnationally adoptive families to thrive in their diversity.

Within the Australian adopted Vietnamese community there are, of course, some very amazing people who really set out to make a  
difference. For example, Lynelle Beveridge, who began ICASN and Analee Matthews  who acts as AVI's national communications manager.  Also,  contacts like Tran Van Heeswyk and  Saran Portolesi from South Australia and Sue-Yen Luiten from  Western Australia, who do the wonderful work of helping us keep us  all in touch with there local activities.

There is also the  exciting art, screen writing, acting and directing of Dominic  Golding who did the well reviewed play "Shrimp" recently and who is  now travelling in Vietnam. Such people and their tireless work are  inspirational to adoptees and general public alike.

Then, we are all so lucky to learn from so many brave individuals  who, in emails, writing or through media interviews, have shared  how adoption from Vietnam has shapes their lives. Some of these  
people include Cath Turner, Veronica Stanley, Hoa Stone, Kim Paige, Jamie Fry,  Michael Purling,
Faith Elzon, Jen Fitzpatrick, Jen Szetho,  Suanne Prager, the Wunderles, Kim Edgar, Emma Pham, Emma  Brockett, Zion Mitchell and Christina Tinker-Casson.  Plus there  are those like Kym Blackwell, Glen Kelly, Jaye B., Kim  Catford, Simon Keogh, as well as many others on  
the AVI national listing of adopted Vietnamese war orphans in  Australia who have also come into contact with the community to  offer things like advice, friendship and support.  Many of these  
people also regularly provide their time for mentor programs or for  groups that help educate adoptive parents whose children come from many other  parts of the world.  They are really giving back to these new  Australian families and I am so very lucky to know them.

In addition, there are the people who are not adoptees but do much  by contributing to the community's ongoing pursuit of well being,  
freedom of identity and self-discovery - from former volunteers of  the Babylift and pilots such as John Douglas, plus the VIetnamese community includng Cuong Phu Le and Trung Nguyen and Mai Nguyen.  It is important to  acknowledge how we as adopted Vietnamese are part of this great  community of people who help, care and truly value one another.  
It's an honour to be a part, however large or small, of these  special peoples lives.