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June 8, 1972, is a date that Kim Phuc Phan Thi will never forget.
It was in the middle of the Vietnam war. Kim Phuc was just nine years old when an American military advisor coordinated a napalm bombing of Kim's village by the South Vietnamese.
"The soldiers yelled at us to run," said Kim Phuc. "I saw the airplane was so fast. So close. So loud. I turned my head. I looked up, and I saw four bombs landing. Suddenly the fire was everywhere around me. I was just so scared."
Kim Phuc says the fire burned the clothing off her body and left her with third-degree burns over half of her body.
"I thank God for that moment that my feet weren't burnt, so I was able to run out of that fire," Kim Phuc explained. "Then I saw my brothers, my cousins and some soldiers. Together we kept running and running."
Eventually, Kim Phuc felt too tired to run anymore, so she stopped and cried out that she was too hot. This moment was captured on film by a photographer on the road. That photograph would forever change the way the world looked at the Vietnam war.
"I remember one of the soldiers gave me some water to drink. He tried to help me and poured water over me. It was at that moment I lost consciousness. I don't remember anything else from that day."
After she passed out, Kim Phuc says she was taken to the hospital and placed in the morgue.
"My mother found me in the morgue. Of course, everyone was expecting to bring my body back to the village for burial, but then miracles happened one after another," said Kim Phuc. "God was not finished with me yet. I was able to find hope and eventually find Jesus."
Kim Phuc says her journey to Jesus was very unusual. She was raised in the Cao Dai religion.
"I was the fourth generation in that religion. I was devoted to that religion," Kim Phuc explained.
In 1982 when she was unable to go to school. She says her hate, anger and bitterness built up a hole in her heart to the point she thought of suicide.
"I went to the library because I couldn't go to school anymore. I was searching for purpose in my life," said Kim Phuc. "How can I move on? How can I have peace in my heart?"
She went directly to the religion section of the library and read each book, the book that stood out the most was the New Testament.
"The more I read, the more questions I had," said Kim Phuc.
Around Christmas in 1982, Kim Phuc's brother-in-law invited her to a church service. She says it was on that day that she gave her life to God.
"After the service, I went to the altar. I opened my heart. I prayed and asked Jesus to be my saviour."
She says that was a turning point in her life. She says her heart changed, and her enemy list quickly changed to a prayer list.
Kim Phuc has since moved to Canada and started up the Kim Foundation. She says the foundation is a way for her to give back in return for all the help she received. It also provides a means for her to promote peace and forgiveness.
Most recently, Kim Phuc travelled from Poland to Regina to give hope to the victims of the war in Ukraine.
"I share with them, many of them teenagers and young children, to hang on and not give up hope," said Kim Phuc. "It was very emotional."
She says she has more mission trips planned in the future, but until then, she will continue to spread a message of hope.
Today on Connections, Kim Phuc shares her powerful story of hope.