Sunday, April 07, 2013

Gone Fishin'

When the Blue Dragon blog goes quiet for a month, you can be sure that a lot has been happening!

In recent months I've been out of the habit of keeping the blog updated, and it's now at the point of great embarrassment. During March I was in the USA with one of my team, fundraising and talking to people about the work of Blue Dragon. It was a great time, and we were met with huge enthusiasm in Colorado, Texas and Florida, but it's also great to be home in Vietnam.

To everyone who we encountered along the way in the States: Thank you. The hospitality, friendship and generosity we were shown was most touching. We now have a whole lot of new friends across the country... which means we'll just have to head back that way soon!

Here in Vietnam, Blue Dragon's work with street kids and victims of human trafficking has continued to grow - both in numbers and complexity. On the trafficking front, we've had a few recent successes with rescuing young women who have been trafficked into China, bringing them back across the border, and then working with the police to arrest their abductors. Although the world of human trafficking seems sometimes to be a 'bottomless pit' that will never end, there is real satisfaction in putting whole rings out of operation and knowing that countless more victims-to-be are now safe. Surely that's the most effective 'prevention' program possible.

At Dragon House, where Blue Dragon cares for Hanoi's street children, we have some new faces every day, with new boys and girls meeting our Outreach team and coming to the centre for food, care, and a place to stay. Since Blue Dragon started back in 2003, we've reunited almost 150 runaway children with their families, and that number is now increasing at an increasing rate. As Hanoi develops, the social problems are multiplying rather than diminishing, and so our work has become more important than ever.

So despite my quietness on the blog, much has been happening and it's time for me to get back to blogging more regularly. Keep those comments coming or email me at michael@bdcf.org - I try to respond to every message I get.

Have a great week,

Michael Brosowski

No comments: