Scripture Untangled

Season 10: Episode 4 | Kim Phuc | How Did the ‘Napalm Girl’ Find Hope in Scripture?

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Kim Phuc Phan Thi is known around the world as “The Girl in the Picture.” In 1972, at the age of 9, she was immortalized in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph that shows her screaming and running naked down a road in Trang Bang, Vietnam, after having her clothing burned off by napalm. A living symbol of the atrocity of war, she is the founder  of The KIM Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing funds to support the work of international organizations that provide free medical assistance to children who are victims of war, violence, and deprivation. 

Mrs. Phan Thi has suffered many hardships since that day in 1972 including several years of painful burn therapy, but her spirit has always remained strong. Inspired by the physicians who helped her survive, she decided to become a doctor; but her premedical studies in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) were interrupted in 1982 when the Vietnamese government removed her from school to act as a “national symbol of the war.” Four years later the government permitted her to continue her studies in Cuba, but health issues put an end to her plans to become a doctor. 

It was in Cuba that Mrs. Phan Thi met her husband, Toan. They married on September 11, 1992. While on the way back to Havana after their honeymoon in Moscow, the couple defected to Canada during a one-hour layover in Newfoundland, Canada. They now live near Toronto, and Mrs. Phan Thi travels the world as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace. 

Kim Phuc Phan Thi has received seven honorary doctorate degrees from universities in Canada, Australia, the United States, and Mexico for her efforts to help children and end world conflict. She is an Honorary Member of Kingston Rotary, an Honorary Member of St. Albert Rotary, a Member of the Advisory Board for the Wheelchair Foundation, an Honorary Member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, a Member of the Advisory Board of Free Children’s Foundation in Canada, and the World Children’s Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Mrs. Phan Thi is also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the 2004 “Order of Ontario,” as well as the International Peace Prize presented in Dresden Germany, February 2019. 

Kim is the author of Fire Road, her personal memoir, which has been translated into ten languages.

Lorna Dueck has explored the intersection of journalism and Christianity for over 30 years. Her most recent full-time role was as CEO of Crossroads Christian Communications, Inc. and the show, “Context with Lorna Dueck”.

Lorna was a regular commentary writer on faith and public life in Canada’s leading national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, and is a frequent media commentator. She has travelled the world reporting on church-led response to humanitarian crisis.

Lorna earned a Master of Arts in Evangelism and Leadership from Wheaton College. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from Trinity, Tyndale and Briercrest Universities. Lorna has received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for contributions to Canadian society.

Lorna and her husband Vern live in the Toronto suburbs, have been married over three decades, and delight in the adventures of their grown son and daughter.

Learn more about Lorna Dueck

Twitter: twitter.com/lornadueck

Website: lornadueckcreative.com