Working boy

At age 11, "Binh" was working on the streets of Hanoi.

During the day he would go to school, but at night he would be out selling trinkets by Hoan Kiem Lake, along with his mother who kept a watchful eye over him. Binh enjoyed the freedom of working on the streets, but he wasn't there for fun: he was there to help his family pay the bills.

When Blue Dragon met Binh in 2011, he was eager to join our activities and grateful to receive financial help so that he didn't have to work any more. He was able to focus on his studies, and took up some sports such as kung fu and dance.

Anyone seeing Binh at the Blue Dragon centre would see a boy full of life and happiness. His smile dominates his face, and when he's dancing on stage or in front of a crowd he energises everyone in the room.

But something has been bothering Binh for a couple of years.

Underlying his happy demeanour has been a concern for his family. He has been worried that, while he is learning and having fun, he hasn't been sharing the burden of caring for his mother and sister. Even though he is still a teen - soon to turn 17 - he feels the need to start a career and begin earning a salary.

And so, at the start of July, Binh took up an apprenticeship in a local restaurant. The owners are well known to Blue Dragon and wanted to give Binh a chance, so we knew he was going in to a job where he would be well trained and well looked after.

A month on, Binh is still beaming that huge smile. He loves his job, he feels empowered to now be supporting his family, and he is still taking part in the dance and sports activities at Blue Dragon. He has found the path that he wants to be on.

Transitioning from being a 'street kid' to being a full time student and then on to an employee is never easy. It takes a lot of determination and a lot of hard work. But for Binh, so far all the signs are good that he is going to give this his best.

After his first day at work, he went home and wrote on Facebook: "From today, I will change." He wanted to tell the world that he is growing into a young man who cares for others, looks after his family, and makes a contribution to society.

And doesn't the world need more people like that?


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Reunion

Over the weekend, I travelled with Blue Dragon staff to Lang Son, a northern province of Vietnam bordering China.

We were on a journey to reunite a teenage boy, "Quang", with his family. Quang had run away from home and the Blue Dragon Outreach Team had found him on the streets of Hanoi. Fortunately we met him within a day of his arrival in the city; street kids here are routinely approached by pedophiles and their pimps, sometimes within hours of getting off the bus. Our strategy is to keep a presence on the streets as far and wide as possible in order to find kids as soon as they arrive.

Quang had come to Hanoi because of problems at home. As a baby, he was given to another family to raise, and deep down he has always felt a resentment at being handed over like that. I guess that nobody has ever explained to him why it happened.

Although he was raised by a family who cares for him, he has never felt that he belongs. As teenagers do, he has been acting out and subsequently has been labelled as a troublemaker. In reality, all he wants is to be loved.

As he ran away from home, Quang took a motorbike owned by his adoptive family. He planned to ride it all the way to Hanoi, but was stopped by police in the very first town he reached. The police confiscated the bike, and Quang continued by bus to Hanoi, where he met Blue Dragon.

After a few days at our shelter, Quang agreed to go home, although he was pretty nervous. He lives in a very remote village, accessible by a dirt track which cannot be used when it rains. They have electricity, but the connection is feeble and blackouts are common. The level of education is extremely low: Quang himself has only finished Grade 4. As an ethnic minority village of the Dao tribe, many people do not even speak Vietnamese.

The road to Quang's village.

 

Along for the journey were 3 Blue Dragon teens who we took for a break from the city. All are high needs kids who have lived on the streets and are now in shelters but need a lot of care.

We had a 6 hour drive to get to Quang's home, but stopped for lunch on the way at the home of a young man named Minh. Minh was one of the original Blue Dragon kids back in late 2002; he was a shoe-shine boy on the streets of Hanoi, supporting his family financially, and he moved into our very first shelter, The Big Room. Now Minh is married with 2 beautiful children of his own, and runs a bakery in Lang Son province. His business is booming, and it was wonderful to see the new life he has created for himself.

Minh's bakery in Lang Son province.

Finally we made it to Quang's village, and the difficult journey was well worth it. Nestled in the mountains, Quang's home was extremely poor but with an astounding natural beauty. His adoptive family was glad to see him home and willing to work through the problems that they face. Blue Dragon offered to help recover the motorbike, which was still in the police station, and we'll stay in touch with Quang in coming months to make sure he's OK.

Quang's home, made of mud brick. His family runs the town's only store.

 

The view from Quang's front door.

By the time we left, everything was not resolved but the family was talking and committed to helping each other. And so we began the long journey back to Hanoi, leaving Quang with his family.

Along the road home, one of the Blue Dragon teens spoke up. He said that seeing a village like this, and a home so poor, reminded him that there are people less fortunate than himself. This is a powerful lesson for a boy who has grown up in an abusive and unloving family, and who at age 15 is already covered in scars from knife fights.

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation has so far reunited 256 runaway children with their families. Not all reunions have been so complex and remote as Quang's, but many have - indeed, many have been much harder than this one.

Getting a child safely home to their family, and out of the dangerous life on Hanoi's streets, is always worthwhile, no matter how difficult the journey may be.


www.bluedragon.org

The courage to dream

Last week, Blue Dragon's Rescue Team completed their 100th rescue of a girl trafficked into China and sold to sex slavery. In today's blog, we look back at the story of one of the first young women we rescued. Names have been changed for confidentiality.


In 2011, Hanh was a first year university student and four months pregnant. With the prospect of becoming a single mother, she was anxious about the future and didn't know where to turn for help. When a kindly woman offered friendship and guidance, Hanh was most grateful.

But instead of helping Hanh, the woman trafficked her to China where she was sold to a brothel. Her dilemma of how to deal with being a pregnant uni student had become a nightmare of being held prisoner far from home, with no prospect of escape.

The brothel owners forced Hanh against her will to abort her baby. Three days later, she was put to work with her first 'clients'. Looking back, she still cannot talk much about the horror she experienced in those first days and weeks. She had never imagined that anything like this could happen.

She was kept as a sex slave for 11 months until Blue Dragon and Chinese police rescued her.

 

Hanh crossing back into Vietnam

following her rescue from the Chinese brothel

After bringing Hanh home to Vietnam, we provided her with counseling and support, including legal advice and medical treatment. Her university was reluctant to accept her back, so we visited them with some officials and persuaded them to let her return to her studies. According to the law Hanh should have lost her student status, but the school considered the exceptional circumstances and re-enrolled her.  

Life was starting to go well for Hanh, and she was doing her best to focus on her course when her old boyfriend got back in contact. She was reluctant to see him at first, with all that she had been through, but finally accepted him back.

 

A few months later Hanh made a shocking discovery. Her 'boyfriend' was actually married and had a family in the countryside. Everything he had told her was a lie. Hanh immediately told him that their relationship was over; his response was to threaten to kill her if she left him.

Blue Dragon and the police met with Hanh’s boyfriend and cautioned him to stay away from her. He had thought that she was weak and easy to frighten; but seeing the support she had behind her was enough to scare him away for good.

 

Facing yet another traumatic experience was too much for Hanh. She dropped out of university and returned to her village, finding a job in a local factory. She despaired that her life would never amount to anything; she had lost so much.

 

But through all this time, Blue Dragon stayed in touch and talked to Hanh regularly. When she told us a year later that she had always dreamt of being a teacher and wished she could go back to university, we again persuaded the university to let her return.

Hanh taking part in a 3-day therapy program organised by Blue Dragon

 

After three years of Blue Dragon’s financial, legal and psychological support Hanh is lnow about to enter her final year of study. A year from now, she will be looking for a job as a mathematics teacher.

Few of Hanh's friends have any idea of what she has been through. Seeing her on the street, or in class, or at the Blue Dragon centre, she looks like any other young woman and fits right in with the crowd.

But to face every day and to dream of the future takes incredible courage for Hanh. She may never receive any accolades, yet she surely is a hero for making so much of life despite everything she has endured.

 

 www.bluedragon.org

News Roundup: June-July 2015

An occasional roundup of news stories about the issues impacting kids in Vietnam and around the world. 


Local news

UNICEF discusses the ongoing need to help children in Vietnam, beyond the Millenium Development Goals.

Children are being recruited for "Vocational Training" only to be used as slave labour.

Many families in Vietnam believe that sending children to work is more useful than sending them to school.


Across the region

Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia announce a crack-down on human trafficking.

Cambodia continues to take a strong stand against child sex tourism.

The disparity between male and female births in China is driving the trafficking of women from other countries.


International

The UK continues to be a major destination for children trafficked by crime gangs.

A bleak view of the impact the Trans-Pacific Partnership will have on slavery.

Nepal worries about a potential rise in human trafficking following the recent earthquakes.

www.bluedragon.org

Devious

When "Hien" was trafficked in early June, her family in central Vietnam was devastated.

Aged 19, Hien fell into a trap set by another young woman who took her across the border of China with promises of a good job, but instead sold her to a brothel.

Hien's mother had no idea what to do; she reported the case to the police, but with no knowledge of where Hien might be, there was little they could do.

Just 2 weeks later, the trafficker rang Hien's family with an offer: for a payment of 15 million Dong (about $750 USD), Hien would be returned to her family.

Hien's mother immediately set off to the north with all the money she could find and borrow. She believed that this was her one chance to get Hien home.

Before reaching the border, Hien's mother rang a relative who happened to be a journalist who has worked with Blue Dragon on the issue of human trafficking in the past. The relative encouraged her to contact us, and once we were in contact we were able to investigate quickly.

It became clear to us that the trafficker had no intention of returning Hien; instead, she would take the money and lure the mother into another trap, to be sold as a bride to a Chinese husband.

Working with both Vietnamese and Chinese police, we caught the trafficker in the act of receiving the money and then trying to trap Hien's mother. It was a dramatic afternoon, but with a good result: Hien's mother was safe, and the trafficker was in handcuffs.

But where was Hien?

The trafficker quickly confessed to everything and told what she knew of Hien's location. The Chinese police immediately began a search, but it was 3 days before she could be found. They were 3 very tense days, particularly for Hien's family. However, the police located her and got her out of the brothel that had enslaved her.

Hien is now back in Vietnam, with the horrific ordeal behind her but a long road to recovery ahead. Blue Dragon's Psychologist has already started working with her, and the Legal team has helped her to give statements to the police.

Hien's rescue, and that of her mother, has ended well; but this story could have had a disastrous ending, had the mother fallen into the trafficker's devious trap.


www.bluedragon.org