Trang, aged 17, is wearing the pink shirt. This is her family's business: her mother, disabled by a bomb during the American - Vietnam war, relies on this "shop" as her sole source of income.
When I first met Trang and her mother Thanh, they were living in a house on this site. It wasn't a great place to live, but it was better than a tent. A couple of years ago, when the slums were demolished, all the slum owners were compensated - except for Mrs Thanh and her little family. So they erected this tent and now sell tea and drinks to workers from the nearby Long Bien market. A short time later, Trang's father died, so she dropped out of school to help her mother in the shop.
The photo below shows Trang three days ago.
Trang and her mother Thanh were desperate to find a way to get out of their awful circumstances, so they came to Blue Dragon and asked us to help Trang get some vocational training. We were able to get Trang into a hair dressing course, and this week she has VERY proudly graduated. She's even been offered a job in another business!
Trang is all smiles. Things are looking up now; she has the skills to hold down a decent job, and she's motivated to do well.
A big difference between then and now.
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1 comment:
Love the "Then and Now" story. What a difference Blue Dragon has made in this family's life. :D Makes me smile BIG.
Blessing the work of Blue Dragon's hands...
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