Today's blog starts with some excellent, excellent news:
The young boy Viet, pictured in the previous post, is home.
His older sister travelled from her village down to Saigon, where Viet has been working for a child trafficker. Viet's family had no idea what was happening to him; they thought he was going to school and living in a youth center. Instead, he was selling flowers in the tourist district until 4am every day. Every cent he made was going to the trafficker.
But he's home. Blue Dragon's lawyer, Van, travelled to Viet's village to make sure the return home would go smoothly - and it did. Viet is a slave no more.
Viet's school principal has even agreed to make an exception, and allow Viet to rejoin the class, after four months away!
With the good news, almost inevitably, comes the sad. From Viet's village, at least another dozen children have been taken south to work. And none of the parents knew that their children were being exploited: they all thought that they had sent their sons and daughters off to a better life.
Today the village is filled with weeping parents, sad and ashamed of what they have inadvertently done; unable to sleep, knowing that their kids are being forced to work through the night.
However, a process has started, and it isn't over yet. Lots more will be happening in coming days and weeks. There are many more kids who need to get back home...
2 comments:
You're doing a great job. Like you said, the parents and the villagers ar e indeed sad about what they have let happen to their kids, but now because of just one boy returning, the entire village is aware of this! So the chances of traffickers succeeding in that village are probably very slim now, right? So many more children from that village have been saved from exploitation in the future. See, even one child returned home makes a difference. Good luck to you in the awesome job you do!
Though I'm sure it's hard when you think of the bigger picture, remember that you just helped save Viet's world. You should celebrate that fact and know that you are inspiring others!
Post a Comment