Street Kids in Vietnam

Trumped!

2012-01-30T10:33:00.003+07:00

After posting on Thursday that I am to receive a medal, one of our students sent me this photograph on Friday:

He's on a scholarship to an international school, and he won THREE medals at a sports day last week.

I think I've been trumped!

A medal!

2012-01-25T21:33:00.000+07:00

So there we have it. Now someone's gone and given me a medal.

It's Australia Day today, and I've been appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for my work with street kids and victims of trafficking. This is an award from Australia's Governor General, and yes I will actually be receiving a medal like this one:

This is great recognition for the work that my whole team of staff and volunteers has put in over the years; and it's definitely an award to be shared with the Blue Dragon kids. It can go right alongside their football trophies and school certificates.

For everyone who has lent a hand, donated their hard-earned money, and sent us encouraging words over the years: Thank you. You can be proud of this, too.

I do have a confession to make, though. When the Governor General visited Vietnam last year, I was invited to her reception but didn't attend: instead I went for pizza with one of the street kids. Well, it was his birthday, and he'd never had anyone celebrate that before. (I'm assuming the GG isn't actually going to read this - and anyway, the medal's on its way, right?).

What it's all about

2012-01-22T14:11:00.004+07:00

Today is the last day of the Lunar calendar. Throughout Vietnam, millions of families are finishing off their preparations and returning to their ancestral homes to spend the coming days together.

As a foreigner who has lived in Vietnam for almost 10 years, I enjoy watching the traditions and festivities, although I will never really be part of them. The great joy for me is having time to catch up with kids who I haven't seen for a while, hearing how their lives are going, and sharing in their joys and sorrows.

Two weeks ago I was in Hue, in central Vietnam, to celebrate Tet (Lunar New Year) with the kids we've rescued out of garment factories in Ho Chi Minh City and returned home. About 80 children and teens were there, all from villages around the coast which are targeted by child traffickers looking for cheap labourers to sell to the factories.

While I was making a short speech to the kids, one of the teen boys stood up to interrupt. He had something he wanted to say.

This was a boy named "G", about 16 or 17 years old (but without a birth certificate, age is just a guess). I met G back in 2008 - he's the boy featured in the first photo on this blog entry. G has never been trafficked, but his family was being approached by the traffickers and, frankly, it was hard for them to refuse. G and his younger brother lived with their mother in a tin shack which had recently been blown away by a typhoon. Neither of the sons had been to school; neither could read or write a word.

When you live like that, it's very easy to accept the "help" of a kindly stranger who comes offering a chance of training and employment. But of course, the "help" means 18 hours per day in a garment factory, learning nothing and earning a few cents per day.

So we built G's family a new house, and they went from living in this:

... to living in this:

That was a good start, but definitely not enough. G and his brother were too old to start in First Grade at school, so we found a teacher to come to their home and teach them basic literacy and numeracy. Later, when we opened a community centre in their village, they were able to join in many more classes and activities.

And later still, we started a small project in their village teaching families how to raise fish in the local lake to earn a better income. G's mother joined the project, and 2 years on she knows all about feeding the fish, preventing disease, finding buyers for her product, and so on. It's all very technical, but with this knowledge she's able to earn enough money that she and her sons do not have to go hungry any more.

With G getting a little older, he's thinking about the future. Although he doesn't know exactly what he wants to do, he's enrolled in a preparation program for a hospitality course. This means he now lives in Hue city, about 45 minutes from his home, and studies English every day. Just a few years ago he was illiterate; now he's learning English!

So there we were at our Tet party, and G stood up to speak. I was shocked that he had the confidence to do so; this is something completely new. The children were just as surprised as I.

G spoke for only a minute, but what he said was beautiful. He wanted to say thanks for all the help he has received, and to express his hope for the future.

Such a small thing, but for G to stand up and speak like this was a momentous act of bravery. Later, he came to me privately to say thanks again.

And this is what it's all about. For all of the difficulties, the setbacks, the failures, and the regrets, G's own personal success - which is his very own success, and not something he needs to thank anyone for - is a reminder of all of the good in our world.

There is hope.

The most beautiful night of the year

2012-01-14T13:59:00.007+07:00

Friday night was the annual Tet Awards celebration for Blue Dragon's kids in Hanoi. And what a night it was.

The Hilton Hanoi donated its ballroom for the event, and about 400 kids came to join in our once-a-year party.

Much of the day was spent setting up...

... and the stage was set by 6pm!

Then the kids started turning up, and everyone wanted their photo taken...

We kicked off with a speech by one of Blue Dragon's older guys, who now studies in New Zealand and was back in Hanoi for the new year:

Speeches over, it was time for some singing and dancing!

Everyone had a great time...

...and, just as importantly, each of the kids was recognised for their progress and achievements throughout the past year:

We finished up with a closing speech, and yes that's me in an ao dai:

Then came the food, which seemed to disappear very quickly!

A beautiful night, to celebrate the lives of 400 beautiful people.

End the campaigns, now!

2012-01-07T09:51:00.004+07:00

Last week I mentioned that my team and I are thinking about starting up a new branch of our work, focused on rescuing Vietnamese people who have been trafficked into China.

We've already completed a few rescue trips - the first was in 2007, and the most recent was in December - but it's always been in response to a particular call for help rather than part of any plan. We don't have any funding for these trips, or staff. We just do them when we need to, and so far they've worked really well.

From our earliest days, I've always seen Blue Dragon's role as looking out for the kids who nobody else is looking out for or nobody else can help. These girls and young women we've rescued so far definitely fit into that definition; in each case, we've been certain that if we didn't go to get them, nobody would have. And for me, that's enough justification to go and help.

The strange thing is, though, that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of charities, NGOs, multilateral programs etc etc throughout this region that have 'anti-trafficking programs'. The United Nations estimates that the human trafficking industry is worth about $10 billion a year. I can't help but wonder: what is the 'anti-trafficking' industry worth? I suspect it would be far more than $10 billion. Are charities thriving on the back of the trafficking industry?

From where I stand, there seems to be a spectrum of 'anti-trafficking' programs. At one end, there are the small, hands-on initiatives where charity workers roll up their sleeves and do the dirty work. These organisations aren't usually well known, and their budgets are small. But they're doing the work and they can show you the people they have helped. Here in Vietnam, one such charity is the Catalyst Foundation. I'd like to believe that Blue Dragon falls into this category too.

At the other end of the scale are the organisations with massive marketing power behind them, huge funding, and fantastic websites... but which can't really point to anyone they've actually helped. These are the organisations which tell you "We don't get involved in individual cases," and work on mass campaigns which, by no coincidence, heavily feature their name and logo.

My own view, which I hold passionately, is this: Mass campaigns are a waste of time. And yes, MTV Exit, that includes you!

I have no doubt that they get the message to many people, but their impact is minimal. I mention MTV Exit because, curiously, so many NGOs have jumped on this bandwagon... but who does it reach? None of the 157 boys, girls, or young adults we've rescued so far have even heard of MTV. Many don't have TV at all. The concerts and videos are brilliantly produced and very compelling, but provide no call to action and don't reach the people they need to reach. All at a massively high cost. That money could have much greater impact elsewhere.

The MTV Exit website declares: "40,000 youth joined in the fight against human trafficking with After School and The Click Five." No they didn't. 40,000 youth enjoyed a concert. And if it was anything like the Vietnam concert a couple of years back, it was meant to be free to the public but scalpers were selling the tickets outside for $10 each.

Apart from my own rantings, I haven't found much criticism of this campaign, or others. The NGO world here in Asia is soaking it all up. Why could that be? Well, for starters, the numbers look great. 40,000 people attended a single event in Cambodia! The donors will love that! Sadly, that's how much charity work is designed - around numbers rather than results.

Some of the greatest successes that I have seen, though, have come from small group discussions, chats with villagers, often over a cup of tea or a bowl of rice. No slick marketing, no mass appeal, just a heart to heart talk from one human being to another. And you know what? That approach is massively effective.

Blue Dragon has been rescuing trafficked kids from central Vietnam 2005. They get taken to Ho Chi Minh City and put to work under the pretext of "training", but it's just slave labour.

Our experience is that, except in one case, we need to organise just 2 rescue trips from any one commune (a collection of villages) in central Vietnam before the trafficking from that commune stops. Two rescue trips are enough for the local people to realise the dangers of sending their kids away with the traffickers. Once the trafficking has stopped, the people need ongoing support to send their kids to school, and to earn an income. That's all it takes to end trafficking, which has been going on for decades.

The anti-trafficking industry needs to take a long hard look at itself. This addiction to campaigns needs to end. NGOs, charities and governments need to stop talking about 'programs' and start talking to people.

Yes, it's dirty work, but the only way to stop trafficking is village by village, and sometimes house by house. Everything else is just fluff.

Seven plus 1

2012-01-05T10:33:00.008+07:00

We had some good news yesterday, with Blue Dragon staff locating and freeing 7 children from garment factories in Ho Chi Minh City.

The children, aged from 12 to 15, are all from a district of Hue province in central Vietnam. We went in search of them having received a call from their local government leader, who had heard of our work in other districts and asked if we could help deal with the trafficking problem in his area, too.

The kids will be returning to their homes this morning, following the overnight train trip home. We'll have a welcome party for them, and then this Sunday the children will take part in the new year party for all of the Blue Dragon kids in Hue, at the Best Western Premier Indochine Palace. I'll be there on the weekend to meet them, and join in the party - which I'm very much looking forward to!

My staff have reported a couple of interesting incidents that occurred during this rescue trip. As expected, it was a difficult trip; the factories are working overtime in the lead-up to Lunar New Year (Tet), so will do all they can to prevent us from taking their slaves away. But one factory owner recognised our team from 3 years ago, when we took a child from his factory, and he invited them to go and look at his factory now. He no longer employs children; only adults.

That was an unexpected, but very nice, encounter! We're wondering now if we can recruit that man to join our work!

The second incident involved another factory owner who suspected that we were coming - people in Hue new that we were looking for trafficked children and somebody must have told him. He had one child working for him, and he was so worried about us coming that he sent the boy home the day before the Blue Dragon team arrived, just to avoid any problems.

Again, this too was unexpected, but we're happy to hear it. So today 8 children are back home, and now our work of helping them resettle in their communities begins.

Late update: I've just received some photos of the factories the kids were living and working in. Here are 2 images that give an impression of the conditions.

The end of the year as we know it

2011-12-29T17:28:00.005+07:00

The calendar on my wall is still open to October. My mind is still switched on to August. Everything else tells me December is about to end.

This has been another fast moving year at Blue Dragon.

2012 will be the Year of the Dragon. Symbolically, this is exciting for us: this is our year. And we do have a few big announcements coming, but I fear saying anything too soon. So instead I'll make the prediction that this will be a huge year for Blue Dragon in Vietnam. Huge, I tells ya.

Having said that, 2011 has been a big year too.

We started on a terrible note, with the sudden death of one of our kids: a 10 year old boy named Toby Hai. At our coming Annual Tet Awards ceremony, we'll be marking a year since Toby Hai left us, but he certainly remains in our thoughts. From that awful low, things could only improve.

2011 was the year that 3 Blue Dragon teens headed to New Zealand to study; 2 of the boys studied English over 6 months, while the third joined a Business Diploma course, and did so well that the college offered him a second year of study.

Our fight against human trafficking landed some powerful punches this year. We reached the milestone of having rescued 100 kids early in the year, and since then have rescued a further 42. This included our biggest ever rescue: 23 children and youth from ethnic minority villages in the mountains. Although I don't get too hung up on the numbers, these figures are significant. Each young person we get out of a factory or a brothel is a life changed, and another blow to the filthy industry feeding off their vulnerability.

In Hue, a province of central Vietnam, we have set our sights on ending the trafficking of children to garment factories altogether. And in doing so, we want to ensure that the factories don't just start getting kids from other areas; and also that the kids from Hue don't end up getting trafficked to other industries. We plan to do this properly.

Of the kids we've rescued so far, a growing number include teenage Vietnamese girls we've rescued out of brothels in China. Earlier this month we brought back 4 more girls and young women who were tricked and kidnapped, to be sold to brothels. Whereas with the garment factory trafficking we believe we can put a permanent end to the trade, we are still just starting to get involved in this cross-border crime. All we know is that we've had some good success so far; not only in getting girls back, but in cooperating with both the Vietnamese and Chinese police, and then in helping the girls to resettle in Vietnam.

So we face the question now: What does this mean for Blue Dragon? Should we get more involved in this issue? When so many other agencies have anti-trafficking programs, is there a need for us to have one too? This is a question we need to wrestle with in coming weeks and months.

We've also been really pleased with the development of our Outreach work to street kids. Late in 2010 we were talking to a big funding agency from Singapore, which cooperates with a Hong Kong foundation, about securing funding to expand our services to reach runaway kids and others living on the streets. We went through the bizarre experience of being asked to submit proposals and conduct a survey and then finally be told that they wouldn't help because I am not famous enough - or as the woman put it, "Nobody knows who you are." (I couldn't help but wonder what she thought when CNN named me as one of their Heroes of 2011).

So instead we asked our supporters around the world to help, through a major appeal in June. Our donors dug deep and ended up giving 3 times the amount that the "major foundation" was ever prepared to consider. The result is that our Outreach work has grown from a single staff member to 3, and we're close to doubling the number of kids we meet every week. Many of the stories of these kids are incredibly moving; these are the children who nobody else is looking out for, but they're good kids and deserve a chance.

Personally, I am proud of each and every child we reach on the streets, and I am equally proud that our friends around the world have made this possible. Thank you.

Another part of our Outreach work is our soccer team, Blue Dragon United. Originally the soccer was a way to reach street kids, but as things have developed over the years the team has been embraced by youth living in a slum area close to Hanoi's Red River. Rather than street kids, the majority of the 50-60 kids who turn up each week are living in an area riddle with heroin, crime, and gangs. These, too, are a group of kids who need a helping hand. A highlight of the year was definitely our 1000th game of soccer... that's a lot of football!

The year is ending well, with news of a wedding and quite a few reunions between Blue Dragon and kids we've helped in years past. In fact, 3 of the 4 stories I wrote in November were of catching up with 'old friends'. Christmas has been great, and now for a long weekend.

Come Tuesday, it's 2012 but not quite a new year. That doesn't come until January 23, when the Lunar New Year (Tet) is celebrated throughout Vietnam. As always, the end of a year is a good time for reflection... on successes and failures, achievements and regrets, and on the road we've traveled as well as the path ahead.

It's been a good year for Blue Dragon because we've created real, lasting change for so many kids. We have over 1300 girls and boys in our care now.

But the great news is that we can hope for an even better year to come.

A wedding!

2011-12-29T16:50:00.003+07:00

Four years ago, the Blue Dragon family was devastated to learn that one of our kids, an 18 year old named Ngoc, had been stabbed and left for dead by the side of the road.

He was attacked by a gang which mistook him for someone they were out to kill; fortunately they weren't as competent as they were violent. The story as it unfolded can be found here; scroll down to the first entry named Cut on December 7 2007.

Ngoc survived, and went on to finish high school and go to university.

Today, Ngoc came to Blue Dragon to hand out invitations... to his wedding next week. Ngoc's getting married!

Inside the factories

2011-12-28T21:01:00.003+07:00

Ever wondered what it's like for kids who get trafficked to Vietnam's garment factories?

Here's a rare shot that Blue Dragon staff were able to capture inside a factory that exploits kids from central Vietnam.

The party!

2011-12-25T22:22:00.003+07:00

Christmas day with the Blue Dragon kids was a blast.

This was my 10th Christmas in Hanoi, and I was very happy to spend pretty much the entire day with the kids. We started with our usual football match... then headed to The Garden shopping centre for a party organised by some good friends there... and finally went to the Botanic Park for a gathering of about 150 girls and boys.

Loads of fun. The pictures tell the story better than I can.

I'll put up more pictures of the day on Facebook during the coming week.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Depth

2011-12-21T08:44:00.003+07:00

Yesterday morning, a few Blue Dragon staff were huddled together around a table deep in conversation. Our Outreach team leader, 2 lawyers, and a social worker. Something was happening.

When they were done, I asked what was going on. The Outreach leader explained that he had come across a young girl being used as a slave to earn money on the streets here in Hanoi. She had been living with her father in a rented room, and when her father died the owner of the building informally "adopted" her - but not out of kindness.

Her new "mother" pulled her out of school and sent her out to beg and sell gum on the streets. If she doesn't make enough money, she's beaten and abused. So much so, in fact, that one of her neighbours was very happy to come and tell us everything in the hope that we can do something. Anyone familiar with Asian cultures would know it's quite rare for a neighbour to speak up about somebody else's "private business."

This is an appalling case, and the little girl has been very open with us about her desire to escape from this abuse. As a foreign charity, we don't have any power to intervene directly in such a situation, but we do have various means of getting involved and calling on the authorities to assist, so we hope to have a good resolution within a few days. Until then, the "adopted mother" knows that we're monitoring the girl's wellbeing, which is enough to ensure some temporary improvement.

Since I last wrote about the 4 girls we recovered from China, there have been several arrests of traffickers, and more to come.

The girls have all returned to their homes but are staying in contact so we can get them to hospitals for medical treatment and support them as the search for their traffickers continues. Each was trafficked by different people, and in different ways. One was met by an elderly woman at a bus station, who offered to take her to pray at a pagoda, and then arranged her abduction. Another was kidnapped by a friend of her family, promising to introduce her to a well paying job on the border with China after 2 of her relatives were hospitalised due to an accident.

We may be a long way from finalising these cases - there will be much more work to do in coming months - but we're well and truly on the way.

And among our sponsored children out in rural Bac Ninh province, we recently had an opportunity to bring 5 to hospital for health checks, thanks to a private donor. The 5 were chosen as they each had a long term ailment, and the great news is that 4 of those 5 have an excellent chance of recovery.

One of the 5 is in hospital today, having the first in a series of surgeries on her ears. She's a Grade 7 student and has never been able to hear properly, but incredibly she has gotten through school by lip reading. She's obviously a very bright and determined student. However, the hospital believes that she should be able to hear almost normally with surgery and follow up treatment.

These 3 cases we're dealing with are good illustrations of the sort of work we do. The situations are complex and sensitive; a lot of attention to detail is required for us to get things right. Most of all, to help these kids, we need to develop solutions with depth. There are no simple solutions, no quick results. But with a lot of hard work and a team approach, we stand a good chance of making some lives a whole lot better.

The look

2011-12-10T06:41:00.001+07:00

We have some great news to start the weekend.

Blue Dragon staff have found a teenage girl who was kidnapped from southern Vietnam and sold to a brothel in China. Last night, the girl was in her father's arms in a Chinese police station, overcome not only with terror but also the relief of being suddenly free.

Three other girls were in the same brothel, and have also been released. The traffickers are in custody - well, some of them. That's a good start.

The girls will be back in Vietnam in coming days. Once they're safely home, I'll be able to write more about the story behind their abduction and rescue.

What I can say is that this is one case that we didn't hold out much hope of resolving. It sure is nice to be wrong.

Going in to it, we had all sorts of doubts. To begin with, the information was incredibly scarce. The girl had made some calls home to her family, but she didn't know where she was, other than 'somewhere in China'.

Compounding our doubt was the fact that there is some urgent work facing our team in Hanoi. The lease on our children's centre expires in the middle of 2012, and we've been searching for a new place for months, with no progress. Finally we have found a possibility - a vacant block of land in the right area - and we need to start negotiating with the owner to come up with a plan. If we don't secure a new location, our centre will be closed and so will the office. This is a significant problem.

Putting aside our long term needs aside to search for a kidnapped girl, having almost no information about her location, was no small decision.

A lot of charities in Vietnam talk about their anti-trafficking programs on their websites, but most - particularly the big ones with all the resources - don't get involved in "individual cases". They help police and government with training. This is more sustainable, they say.

Such training is important, no doubt, but when faced with a mother and father who are desperate to find their daughter and have put their house up for sale just to raise the money they need to travel to China and look for her... well, what could we say? "Sorry, but your daughter doesn't fit with our organisational priorities at the moment"?

In making our decision to go on the search, a staff member said to me: "If you could see the look in the father's eyes right now, you would see why we have to do this."

There's no arguing with that. So we made the decision, and the girl has her freedom back.

Blue Dragon / Red Stocking

2011-11-26T07:22:00.000+07:00

December is a crazy month for many people around the world: the end of the year, plus Christmas, mean sometimes endless celebrations, as well as copious preparations for parties and finishing off our year's work.

In Vietnam, the madness spills over into January, with Tet (Lunar New Year) being the major annual holiday for the country.

All of this means a lot of frenzied and excited activity around the Blue Dragon kids!

For the past few weeks I have been on the road a lot, mostly away from Vietnam, and I am very much looking forward to getting back to Hanoi in coming days and seeing all the kids and staff again. It's a bit odd, but as time goes by I get more and more homesick for Vietnam during my trips away.

We have a lot to celebrate at the moment. Throughout the year, our work with kids who have been trafficked has grown considerably; another rescue trip is planned for coming weeks. The effect of this is to keep up pressure on the people who traffic children, and the businesses that exploit them. We're going to keep that pressure up until they stop trafficking children.

The new year will bring us the Year of the Dragon - a special and significant year for the whole country, but with particular meaning for us. This is our year! We're hoping for great things!

And of course, anyone who has been on our website or Facebook recently will be aware of our Christmas plans: Blue Dragon / Red Stocking. We're inviting people to not only fill the stockings of their friends and family, but also to remember the kids in Vietnam who would love a gift of something simple: health care, clothing, freedom.

I'm optimistic that I will have some good news to share in coming weeks about developments in our work for the kids of Vietnam!

Dropping by, growing up

2011-11-11T22:40:00.007+07:00

Over the years I have written many blog posts about Blue Dragon's work in reuniting runaway kids with their families. It's a great part of what we do, and hugely important.

Children and teens who run away are highly vulnerable to all sorts of abuse. The sooner we get them off the streets, the better.

Once they are home, my team does not always hear from them again. We manage to stay in touch with some kids, but others may change their phone numbers (that happens a lot in Vietnam!) and if they live far from Hanoi, we might not get the chance to see them again.

On Friday last week, Blue Dragon's lawyer, Van, was in the countryside helping a trafficked girl with a legal issue, and it occurred to him that he had been in this area before.

Some years ago, Van had had quite an adventure taking a runaway boy named Cuong back to his family. I wrote this story about what happened in September 2007.

So on Friday, Van decided to drop in and see how Cuong was going!

Cuong is 18 now, and a very happy young man. He works with his father on building sites and since returning to his family after his stint on the streets, Cuong has had no further problems at home.

Interestingly, he remembered all of his Blue Dragon friends by and was interested to know how they all were. Van rang me, and I had a chance to talk to Cuong over the phone for a few minutes.

It sure is a nice feeling to catch up with a kid we helped 4 years ago, and to know that his life is on track!

Cuong and Van in 2007...

Cuong and Van on Friday!

The return

2011-11-07T21:46:00.005+07:00

Last week I wrote about the many reunions that we were involved in, or a part of, in central and northern Vietnam.

Today most of my team is back in Hanoi, with the mountains now just memories, and I have had the chance to see photos of some of the trips that the Blue Dragon staff undertook last week. I'd like to share some of the photos of just one of these trips: a journey to reunite a teenager with his family after 2 years of living on the streets.

This trip highlights the challenging work we do, as well as the beautiful results that we can achieve.

About a month ago, our Outreach team came across a 17 year old boy - "Bac" - who had been living on the streets after running away from his home, up in an ethnic minority village near China. He's been doing odd jobs, sometimes on the streets and sometimes on building sites, all while carrying in his heart the terrible burden of missing his family intensely.

Bac's story isn't unique, but it is terribly sad. Living in poverty, dreaming about the big wide world beyond the mountains, one day the buffalo he was tending broke loose, and Bac decided that this would be a good time to start exploring the world!

A lot of kids come to Hanoi dreaming of the bright lights, but all they end up with is muck. Being from an ethnic minority background, and homeless and broke, Bac could find nobody willing to help him or befriend him.

He was in for a tough couple of years.

When he finally did meet Blue Dragon's staff, Bac's initial reaction was to be cautious. He didn't know who we were, and experience had taught him to be wary of smiling strangers. It took a few weeks before he started opening up about himself, and eventually he was ready to accept our offer to take him home.

And just like many of the runaway kids who need our help, Bac was from far, far away. Almost 700km away, it turned out.

Back in June we called out to our supporters around the world to ask for funds for this very work. Helping kids in such lonely and dire situations takes a lot of effort and resources. We don't get quick results; there are no overnight successes in Outreach work.

One substantial need was for us to buy a 4WD. This was a big move for us. There's nothing I despise more than charities which buy expensive new cars for nothing more than to take their CEO to fancy restaurants around town. It happens far more than anyone would believe.

We have had a little car for about 4 years, but it has been struggling to cope with the demands we put on it. Our staff are forever on the road taking kids home to their villages, so after a few near accidents and too many occasions like this we put out a call for help to get a car that would really serve us.

We have only just bought one, a Ford Explorer, and this trip to the mountains was its very first test. But wow, do I feel justified in the decision to buy it...

These shots were taken by one of the staff who accompanied Bac home. I think I can confidently say we have put this car to good use!

However, even the car had its limitations... the last leg of the journey had to be done on foot. Here are some shots of the walk!

It took 2 days to get there - and another 2 days to get back. The staff have returned to Hanoi exhausted, but proud of what they've achieved.

Some other photos they took along the way give an insight into what the area was like. This is not what visitors to Vietnam normally get to see along the well worn tourist roads. The final photo is of Bac's house.

There are some more photos that I would like to post here, but it wouldn't be right to do so. At the time that Bac saw his little sister again, there was an incredible release of emotion. The 2 were overwhelmed as they embraced, and through the images I can almost hear their wails of regret and sorrow.

One of the staff happened to be standing a few feet away with a camera in hand when the sister appeared unexpectedly; this is not the sort of thing we would usually stand about photographing. If I was to describe the moment in music, it would be to Train's Drops of Jupiter: "Did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

Part of me would like to publish these images, because I want people to know how real our work is. A few months ago we asked for money to help street kids - and this agonising embrace as a brother and sister reunite is the result of that. Two years lost, but a new future grasped, and it's thanks to people around the world who dug deep when Blue Dragon asked for help. That's a butterfly effect all of its own.

However, this was a deeply personal moment so I know that I should not put the images up.

Tonight Bac is home, and now when he dreams of his future he can share his dream with his family.

No more life on the streets; his days of exploring the world are done for now.

I never thought I'd see you again

2011-11-02T15:16:00.005+07:00

The last 3 days have been full of beautiful and sometimes emotional reunions.

As I wrote on Monday, our Child Rights Advocate, Van, is up in the mountains of Dien Bien province meeting the 23 kids we rescued from factories a month ago, while I have been in central Vietnam catching up with the children around Hue and Hoi An who are part of the Blue Dragon family.

One fantastic encounter last night was at Streets restaurant. On Monday I mentioned that one of our Hue girls is about to start training there; last night I saw Nam, who used to live in the Hoi An Children's Home, and who is about to complete his 18 month program there.

The founder of streets, Neal, has given us a glowing report about Nam's progress... not just in his obvious cooking skills (and the food at Streets is amazing), but more importantly in his confidence. We were sad to say goodbye to Nam when he left the Home, but Streets has been the best thing that could have happened to him.

It was great to hang out at the Home on Tuesday and today, catching up with kids who I have known for years and meeting some who have just been living there for a few months. All of the kids are from extremely poor families and have a range of needs which are better met in a group home than in the community. For these kids, living at their own home would almost certainly mean they could not go to school.

Apart from reunions, I was thrilled to meet someone new: a 5 month old boy named Long. His dad is the man I refer to as "Baby Nam", the first street kid ever met in Vietnam, back when I was here on holidays in 1999. No longer a Baby, Nam has his own shoe shop and family. Long was adorable, and I swear he wanted to lay like this - it wasn't just my general incompetence with babies!

While I have been in central Vietnam, a lot has been happening across Blue Dragon. Our Outreach team is on the road right at the moment taking home a boy from an ethnic minority village who ran away from home 2 years ago and then couldn't get back... so lived on the streets of Hanoi. It's a 1400km round trip, way up in the mountains, so this is a pretty big trip!

And I have been hearing lots from Van up in Dien Bien province. The families are deeply grateful that he has come back to see them. He's been distributing basic supplies, including instant noodles, just as a show of support, but these items are so highly valued that one mother said she would keep them aside, for a time when she is ill, so that she would really make the best use of them.

There are lots of stories that I could tell about what's been happening up there in the mountains, but one really stands out. The little guy in the picture below, "R" was one of the kids we brought home in October. Van was walking through his village, and the boy saw him from a classroom window (yes, some of the kids are back in school already!).

On seeing Van, R jumped up and raced out of the school to greet him. He was wearing his Jetstar hat, which the airline had given to all the kids when they flew home. Clearly this, too, is a prized possession.

R was overcome with emotion at seeing Van back in the village. His opening words were "I thought I'd never see you again."

If that doesn't inspire me to do my best for these kids, then what else could?

North and central

2011-10-31T18:00:00.005+07:00

Tonight I am writing from Hue, in Central Vietnam, where Blue Dragon works with children who have been trafficked to work in factories. I'm on a quick trip to visit our staff and kids - soon I head south to Hoi An to catch up with children at the Hoi An Children's Home.

The 2 kids I met with today were both very happy girls! One, named V, is living in a pagoda on the outskirts of Hue. I've known her family for a long time, and we helped one of V's older brothers return home to Hue in 2006 after being trafficked to work on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

While V's family is in pretty good shape these days, Vi is severely hearing impaired and so is constantly harassed in her village. She's treated as a fool, denied education, and shunned by the other kids. So now she spends most of her time living in a pagoda and returns home every other weekend. She's studying now, and is treated with much more dignity than ever before in her 15 years. And she was positively beaming as she showed me off to all her friends in the pagoda!

It was also very nice to meet another of the girls, T, who has been studying English and basic skills in a training centre. T was overjoyed for 2 big reasons. First, she was able to speak to me in English, for the first time in her life - man, was she proud of that! And second, she's just been accepted into a charitable training program called Streets, which trains disadvantaged youth to prepare them for great jobs in the hospitality industry. There are lots of applicants and not many places, so she really deserves to take some pride in that achievement!

Meantime Blue Dragon's Child Rights Advocate, Van, has been trekking through the northern mountains to catch up with the 23 kids we just recently rescued from slavery in garment factories. A big part of his visit is to keep the families assured that we are still thinking of them and still committed to helping them.

Everyone is doing well, and the kids are really happy to see Van again. He was right there with the police when they raided the factories about a month ago, so all the children feel a very strong attachment to him. On the phone this afternoon, Van told me that many of the families are worried about the coming winter and are short on food supplies, so we'll get them some basic supplies on Tuesday.

It's great to be catching up with the children and their families - I only wish I could spend much more time out here in the provinces, much more often!

... and now a Post Script:

A few hours after writing this I arrived in Hoi An, and went for a stroll through the old town. Lucky for me, I stumbled across an old friend...

Kieu was the very first kid who I helped in Hanoi. I met him back in 2002, before there was any idea of starting a charity. At the time I met him, I thought I would be leaving Hanoi within weeks and would never be back!

Kieu was working like a slave in a hole-in-the-wall noodle outlet in Hanoi's old quarter. I know it's common to see young people hard at work, but this was exceptional. His job included washing the bowls in a basin which was carved into the floor, which meant that he had to reach down below ground level to work. Talk about back breaking!

His conditions were clearly awful and he was always tired. The final straw, though - and this was some months later - was when he was at work covered in chicken pox. Kieu was 13 years old. He should have been home asleep, not working 16 hours per day in a noodle restaurant!

The picture below shows me and Chung, Blue Dragon's co-founder, with Kieu around the corner from where he worked. We convinced his boss to let us take him for a walk to buy some ice cream, so that we could secretly ask his permission to get him out of there.

You might think, given the highly questionable fashion statement I was making that day, that Kieu would have had second thoughts... but he was only too happy to get out of that place.

His boss wasn't quite so happy. But that was not high on my list of concerns.

So... what's Kieu doing in central Vietnam? How is it that I ran into him tonight?

Well, he works at Green Mango - a very classy restaurant in Hoi An. And he doesn't just work there; he's the head chef, with a staff of 10 under him. Not bad for a 22 year old!

If only your old boss could see you now, Kieu.

Thanksgiving in Singapore

2011-10-28T09:08:00.001+07:00

A quick call out to our friends in Singapore!

Come and join in a Thanksgiving dinner on November 20!

In my own words

2011-10-26T11:11:00.002+07:00

Today we're kicking off a series of short films we've made here at Blue Dragon, in which our kids tell their stories in their own words.

We'll be uploading these on to Facebook, but for those who are not on Facebook the films are also being put up on the Blue Dragon home page.

A new film will appear each week!

Heroes

2011-10-24T06:28:00.000+07:00

Earlier this year, CNN named me as one of their 2011 Heroes. This was a great honour not only for me, but for my whole team working along side me.

One thing that the CNN award didn't acknowledge, though, is that I too have my heroes. Many of them, in fact.

They are the girls and boys who I meet each day, who have struggled so much to have what many of us take for granted and do everything they can to make their lives better.

They are kids who have every reason to give up, but don't.

One of my heroes is in New Zealand at the moment, studying a business degree at the National Technology Institute. His name is Chinh, he's 21, and he has had a really tough life. I could write a very long post about all the problems he's had to put up with until now.

I met Chinh when he was 14 and working on the streets of Hanoi to support his family. But today I don't want to write about the hardships he's faced; I want to write about a mountain that he's conquered.

Last week, Chinh graduated from his first year at college. Despite having to drop out of school when he was barely a teen, and despite all of the obstacles that life has thrown in his way, Chinh came top of his course. Number 1.

Chinh is in the centre, along with Anne and Isaac from NTEC.

Do you see why this guy is a hero to me?

But that's not all. For coming first, Chinh was awarded a gift of $100. This is hugely helpful to Chinh, who has been working part time jobs in restaurants and cafeterias to make ends meet. However, he contacted me immediately to say that he wants this money to be given to Blue Dragon children at the upcoming Tet Awards night.

One of our prizes on this night is for kids who have done particularly well at school. Chinh would like his money to be divided among this year's award recipients.

What a beautiful thing for him to do.

Chinh, congratulations on coming top of the business course. You are an amazing young man with the whole world at your feet. You're my hero.

Joy

2011-10-18T06:12:00.003+07:00

How's this for a photo to get you smiling?

Our staff recently stumbled across this image, which won a prize in a competition on the theme of Joy by local photographer Hoang Quoc Khanh.

It caught our attention as one of the boys is from Blue Dragon. What a great moment this photo has captured! Oh, to be that age again...

Inspiration

2011-10-15T08:34:00.005+07:00

Late last night I received an email from one of the Blue Dragon boys, "Ton."

I'm in Singapore at the moment, catching up with friends and supporters, so it was nice to get a message from Ton. He's about 14 and has had a pretty tough life, but so far he's been able to keep on the right track.

Last night, Ton was asking if I would help him buy something. I couldn't understand what he was asking, so he sent me a photo.

It was a photo of a stun gun. He says he's afraid of being robbed because he lives in a bad part of the city, and he wants to protect himself.

In contrast, I have spent the past 10 days or so visiting international schools whose students have been supporting Blue Dragon. Each in their own way has done something amazing to help the kids in Vietnam.

The German European School uses its annual swim gala to raise the funds that we need to teach swimming to Blue Dragon kids. (About 10 children drown every day in Vietnam - learning to swim is massively important). The French School students create Christmas cards and sell them to support the children at our drop in centre. Some children from Chatsworth International presented me yesterday with $10.80, which they raised by making and selling origami items in their spare time.

Presenting to Grade 7 at the French School of Singapore

During the week I also received some emails from schools in rural Australia, including Narara Public School - a very small school on the Central Coast of NSW, where the students raised over $1100 by holding raffles and selling food... including this extraordinary cake! (I have never seen anything like it!)

The Blue Dragon cake at Narara Public School

I find all of this incredibly inspirational, because for all of the mess that our world is in - for all of the wars, and financial collapses, and child trafficking and corruption - the world is still full of kids who want to make things better.

On Thursday night I sat in a hall at United World College (UWC) watching brilliant dance and music performances, created entirely by the students, to celebrate UN Day. There were Korean pop dancers, American hip hop, Hungarian traditional dance... even a tribute a Bob Marley. I sat with tears in my eyes, stunned by what young people are capable of.

Which brings me back to Ton and his dream of protecting himself with a stun gun.

Ton is just as capable as any teenager of making the world a better place. Had he been born somewhere else, in another family or another time, he might be the one raising funds for kids in need rather than needing to receive the help from Blue Dragon.

I find it so sad that this little guy feels worried enough about his safety that he would ask me to buy him a weapon. That's not the world I want to live in.

My time in Singapore has certainly inspired me, and in a way it's reinvigorated my hope in humanity. But in a few days time I will be back with the Blue Dragon kids, where there is still so much to do - and so much need to bring that hope to children who seem to have so little to hope for.

What I see

2011-10-07T20:12:00.003+07:00

Among the many kids Blue Dragon helps (about 1,100 at last count!) are some beautiful teenagers who happen to be hearing impaired. They're good friends, studying, playing, and sharing life's difficulties with each other.

Over some months, we have had a terrific volunteer named Cate Gunn teaching photography to this group of kids. Her project culminated last week in a Pecha Kucha presentation - the first of its kind in Hanoi.

The kids' images, as well as some explanations, are on Cate's Tumblr site, here. Definitely worth a look. And below are just a few shots of the presentation itself.

While the photos by the kids are amazing, the growth in confidence of the 5 teens involved in the project is what's most inspiring.

Hot dog!

2011-10-05T07:01:00.001+07:00

After all of the 'heaviness' of events recently, here's something that brought a big smile to my face the other night...

One of the kids we work with in Hanoi is a 15 year old boy who has been living and working at Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Old Quarter. (I'll call him "Thu"). At times, he cooks and sells sausages for tourists.

Thu has been studying English at Blue Dragon, and from his lessons and the slang he has picked up on the streets he knows enough to deal with foreign customers.

But on Sunday he asked me to explain a very strange request he'd recently had...

Thu knows what a "dog" is. And he's heard the phrase "hot girl" and "hot boy" plenty of times - a teenage way of admiring someone beautiful.

So he wanted to know... why on earth would a tourist ask him for a hot dog??

All home

2011-10-03T06:57:00.001+07:00

Thank you to all of you who have been following this story and sending comments and messages of support over the last couple of weeks.

I'm happy to say that the 23 trafficked children are all home now - back with their families in Tuan Giao district of Dien Bien province, north west of Hanoi.

Here's how it all came to an end...

To save the 2 day journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi by bus or train, Jetstar donated the flights and we were able to fly the kids north on Thursday afternoon. Blue Dragon's Chief Lawyer, Van, flew with them (as he has been working closely with the kids) along with 2 police from Dien Bien province. Their presence has been important because the ultimate goal is to have the trafficker (a woman) and the factory owners (her sons) prosecuted. Their factories have already been shut down and they've each been fined heavily (including some compensation payments to the kids), but we want to see these people in court - and eventually in prison.

Once everyone had landed, I met them at the airport and we hopped on a bus (also donated - this time by Peak Adventure Travel, formerly known as Intrepid) to head to the city of Tuan Giao in the district of Tuan Giao. "City" is an exaggeration, of course... After an 11 hour bus ride through the night, we arrived at a tranquil town where many people still wear their traditional dress, or at least head scarves, and nobody seemed to understand a word I said. (After nearly 10 years in Vietnam, I hope to do better than that!)

Although the police in Ho Chi Minh City had taken statements from the kids already, the Tuan Giao police needed to take them again. They appear to be building their own case against the trafficker, and I can see a possibility that there will be 2 separate sets of charges.

The process was very quick: police and various officials had set up a room where children about 10 children could be interviewed at a time.

By that time, family members had started to arrive from the villages, so there were sporadic reunions over the course of a few hours. During these, the true state of the families started to become clear.

On the bus ride up we had bought a box of bottled water. As soon as no adults were looking, the kids pounced on the box and within seconds all of the bottles were gone.

No problem, we wanted the kids to have them... but it was a bit odd that nobody seemed to be drinking.

Once we were in Tuan Giao and the parents started to arrive, we could see why.

One of the boys, V - among the smallest of the children - had used some of his compensation money to buy some simple gifts for his mother. His father had long since died, and V had gone to Ho Chi Minh City hoping he would somehow be helping his mother. If not for the police demanding that the factory owners pay compensation money, she wouldn't have received much at all.

Among the gifts that V handed over was a bottle of water, taken from the box on the bus. He and his mother live in such poverty that a mere bottle of water was treated as a prize possession, a sign of love from son to mother.

And most telling of all was that V's mother had no idea how to open it. One of the policemen, seeing her try, stepped over to open the bottle. How small and humble I felt at that moment.

The children and their family members wanted nothing more than to get home, so they left around midday on motorbikes arranged by the local government.

Van and I wanted to go out with them to visit each of their homes, but with the threat of a tropical storm looming we could only go as far as the first village, which was about 45 minutes by motorbike. This is the 'richest' of the villages, and it was really disappointing that we couldn't get out further and see more families.

Along the way, I shot some film from my camera to get a sense of the countryside we were in.

And once we reached the village, I was able to capture some images of the homes that the kids lived in. The film below shows a typical house in this village.

Not one of the houses that we entered had electricity or running water. The floors were bare dirt, and the finger-wide gaps in the walls made me shiver with the thought of the coming winter.

I can see why the trafficker chose to come up here to get these children. She assumed that nobody would notice, or care. She believed that even if someone did notice, and did care, that they wouldn't possibly put in the effort required to find the kids way down the other end of the country and bring them home.

It turns out she was wrong on all counts. Quite a few of us noticed, and cared. And we were more than willing to travel the length of the country several times over in order to find, protect, and bring them home.

In coming weeks my challenge is to work out what to do next.

The kids left their villages because someone came along offering them the promise of a better life. But it was a lie, a cheap trick with nothing more in mind than exploitation.

They've been working up to 18 hours a day, every day, for many months; they're exhausted, they have been through hunger and beatings and verbal abuse. Now we've taken them home to their families.

But will life be better now? Somehow, it has to be. We have to find a way, or else we'll have lied to the children, too.

Heading home

2011-09-29T15:13:00.003+07:00

Some quick (and good!) news today... the 23 trafficked kids are heading home.

As I write, they are in Ho Chi Minh City on the way to the airport. Jetstar has donated free flights for them, saving us well over $1000 and a 2 day bus trip. My staff and some police are flying with them. I can only imagine how they'll all be feeling... these kids have never seen an airplane before, let alone flown in one!

In a couple of hours I will meet them at Hanoi's airport and then head back to their villages with them. It's a 12 hour bus ride, but again one of our friends here in Vietnam has offered to help. Peak Adventure Travel is providing the bus for free, once again saving us a small fortune.

The really good news in all of that is we can now use the donations you have sent us for the direct care of the children and their families.

Once the kids are home we will start planning out a map of how to help them for the longer term. We need to address the issues that lead them to being trafficked in the first place.

But that's all for tomorrow. For today - the kids are going home!

Discovery

2011-09-28T15:13:00.001+07:00

Here's an article about Blue Dragon that has recently appeared in Vietnam Discovery magazine. They don't have this online, so I'm posting as images... just click the 2 images to make them bigger!

Preparing for the journey home

2011-09-28T06:36:00.001+07:00

A quick update tonight about the 23 (yes it's gone up!) young people Blue Dragon has been helping over the past week.

In the next few days, we need to get them home. They are all still in Ho Chi Minh City, staying in shelters which are looking after them very well... but now the kids just want to get out of there and see their families again. Having worked as slaves in garment factories - some for 7 months, some for 2 years - they can't wait to get out of the city and return to their villages.

The map below gives an indication of what lies ahead. I hope to have some good news very soon about how we're getting the kids home. For now, you'll just have to withstand the incredible suspense!!

View 23 trafficked kids in a larger map

I know that for me and my staff, this rescue operation has been both rewarding (there's NOTHING like seeing the smiles on children's faces when they are told they are free to see their families again), and also very draining at times. There have been setbacks and fears, and just by looking over my posts here and on Facebook you can see how often the information has changed - 32? 19? 22? 23!

And meanwhile, all the rest of Blue Dragon's important work has been continuing at a frantic pace. My writing lately has focused on this case, but plenty has been happening in other areas too. I hope that soon I'll be able to 'fill in some of the gaps' of what else has been going on!

I will be posting again when the kids are headed home - hopefully soon, and hopefully quickly!

22 smiles

2011-09-23T23:21:00.004+07:00

What a week of twists and turns this has been!

It's ending well, although with much more yet to happen. So a brief update.

I'm writing tonight from Ho Chi Minh City. It's great to be here, and while I was frustrated earlier in the week at being so far from all the action I can see that the kids we've rescued have been in very good hands.

On Tuesday, Blue Dragon staff worked with various police departments to locate and rescue 15 children from Dien Bien province who were trafficked to work in garment factories. (If you're not familiar with Vietnam's geography, Dien Bien and Ho Chi Minh City are opposite ends of a very long country).

On Thursday, another 3 children were found. These 18 children, along with another 4 who had run away from their factory last Friday, have been through some terrible times but they know that their ordeal is over now.

Of the 22, only one of the kids speaks fluent Vietnamese. Most speak a little, but they are from an ethnic minority which speaks a different language and has its own customs and culture.

Being slaves in garment factories is not a part of that culture.

I am yet to find out very much from the children; this morning I spent some time with them and didn't want to start questioning them, as they've all been giving statements to the police. I figured they'd prefer to have a laugh then retell their stories, and I happen to be outstanding at playing the fool so the kids got a few laughs.

What I did gather, though, was that it's no exaggeration to say that the kids have been held as slaves.

One of the boys, about 15 years old, has been in a factory for 7 months.

Since the day he entered the building, he has not stepped outside. Not even once. His skin is pale from being indoors with little sunlight. For 7 months.

Apart from being a fool, I can also be a real wimp. I had tears in my eyes when he told me this. I'm not sad, though; I'm angry. The people who kept that boy locked away, working for a few dollars per month ("if he completed his work satisfactorily"), deserve all the punishment that's headed their way.

One thing that did stand out to me, though, was that the kids have been trafficked and held captive by just a few people: one trafficker and her 2 adult sons. By contrast, there are now dozens of people working together for their welfare: police, Blue Dragon staff, and even some friends around the world who have sent money for the children.

The kids have had an awful time, but what I saw today was 22 smiling, happy young people who just can't wait to get home to their families.

Safe, but not well

2011-09-20T21:19:00.003+07:00

The day has ended very differently to what we planned!

As I wrote on Sunday, Blue Dragon staff headed from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on Monday night to start looking for 34 trafficked children. These kids, aged 10 to 16, were reported as having been taken from 2 remote rural villages in northern Vietnam to work in garment factories in the south.

Frustratingly for me, I had to stay behind in Hanoi. I'll be heading south on Wednesday afternoon, but it was important that I stay out of the way while the police and Blue Dragon staff carried out the surveillance on factories... And OK, I confess that I do kind of stand out, being a big white Australian bloke and all...

Two things developed, however, quite differently to expectations.

First, we found out that there were not 34 kids, but 19. And 4 of them had already escaped from a factory on Friday, so our job was to find 15.

Although it was definitely good news, I was perplexed to hear this. The very significant difference seems to mostly have come from language barriers: the villagers who reported the trafficking don't speak Vietnamese, and with a very low level of education they appear to have reported to us a list of every child and young adult who has left their villages in recent months. This included men and women in their 20s who had gone to work in the city, but were not necessarily trafficked.

Second, today turned out to be much more than just a search for the kids. As has happened with some previous rescue trips, one thing quickly led to another and soon our staff and the police were raiding 3 garment factories and getting all of the children out - in fact, it happened so quickly that we were all taken by surprise.

It was incredibly frustrating for me to be in the office getting text messages and phone updates throughout the day when I really wanted to be there in the thick of things... I needed to get some exercise this evening just to release the tension and use up the adrenalin that's been flowing all day.

I am hugely relieved, though, to know that the kids are safe. They're together in a shelter being well looked after tonight, but they are not in good health. It's evident that they are malnourished and have been locked up in factories for some months, with no free time or opportunities to get outside into the sunlight.

They are not well, and are going to need some care. But caring for kids is something Blue Dragon happens to specialise in!

I won't have many updates for the next 24-36 hours. The police now need to gather evidence and statements and work out how to proceed from the legal point of view. Vietnam introduced a new law on trafficking back in March, so the authorities haven't had much chance to test how it applies to cases like this.

Because it's now a legal matter, I can't say too much... But it's safe to say that thing aren't looking too good for the traffickers...

Once the police have done their work, we've got to figure out how to get the kids home. It's a long way from Ho Chi Minh City to Dien Bien province, and the kids are in a pretty fragile state.

So now that they're free, we'll just take one thing at a time.

And a quick P.S... We've really appreciated all the kind comments and messages of support that have appeared on our Facebook page today. Thank you! These are noticed and valued!

It's on

2011-09-18T07:12:00.002+07:00

Friday saw an unexpected development in our search for the 34 trafficked children.

High up in the mountainous village where the kids come from, a parent received a phone call from a child care worker in a province near Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

4 of the 34 had somehow escaped their traffickers and were picked up either by a friendly local or perhaps by a police officer and taken to a shelter. The first thing they wanted to do, naturally, was ring their mothers.

We have no idea yet how they escaped or how they ended up in the shelter. We've held off questioning them over the phone because we don't want to scare them. We are complete strangers, after all.

On Monday night our operation will kick off. Thanks to this escape, we're now in a (presumably) better position to find the remaining 30... assuming that these 4 can lead us back to their trafficker, and that the trafficker is still there.

We're expecting that it will still take some days of work; there is still a lot to do, and we want to be sure that the trafficker is caught and punished. We're still not certain what sort of work the kids are doing.

But we're going ahead. It's on.

THANK YOU to those people who have already sent donations for this. Whether it's $10 or a few hundred, it will help.

We are still in urgent need of more funds to arrange this rescue, and I invite our friends around the world to help out with this. You can donate here or drop me a line if you want to ask more: bluedragon@bdcf.org.

I'm excited and nervous about what's to come. Here's to hoping we can get these kids home.

Where are our children?

2011-09-14T20:42:00.002+07:00

Ngoc was just 13 years old when we rescued him from the streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

Worn to exhaustion, he walked the streets throughout the night, selling roses to drunk partygoers in the city's tourist district. Every dollar he made went straight into the hands of the traffickers, who sat down the road watching the children they had brought in from the countryside.

That was back in 2005. He was the first child we rescued from traffickers. We've rescued 109 now, and Ngoc is a role model of a young man working in a restaurant here in Hanoi.

But the trafficking continues. Since lifting Ngoc out of his slavery, we've rescued girls from brothels and helped scores of kids get out of garment factories. Last year we undertook a rescue operation to find 3 girls who had escaped a brothel in China and were hiding in fear of their lives, over a thousand miles from their homes in a foreign land.

We've had some success so far, as well as some setbacks and disappointments.

Today we're facing a new challenge - something on a scale we haven't dealt with before.

About a week ago, the Vietnamese police contacted us to get involved in a case of children being trafficked from remote villages. When our staff arrived, they found 2 extremely poor communities in the mountains which had been approached by a single trafficker, a woman, offering to give the children a 'better life'.

These villages are remote and very, very poor.

Altogether, she took 35 children, saying they were headed to Ho Chi Minh City for training and jobs. The kids were aged just 10 to 15.

A few weeks ago, one of the children returned to the village: a 15 year old girl. She was pregnant.

The villagers immediately realised that something was wrong and put out a call for help. They are desperate and alarmed, but have no idea where their children really are.

Families coming to register the details of their missing children.

It seems incredible to you and me that anybody could let their children go with a complete stranger. But keep this in mind: in each of the 2 communities, there are just one or two people who are literate. Vietnamese is not the language of these villagers; they belong to a tiny hilltribe group with its own language and customs.

These people know virtually nothing of the world outside of their mountain-top villages.

Now we're in the midst of planning to find the remaining 34 children. We have almost no information to go on, but until now we've been pretty good at tracking down trafficked kids even without any solid leads. I guess I should say we're "cautiously optimistic."

Our main worry is that this trafficker has gone to such unusual lengths to get children for the factories. There are many places in more accessible locations where traffickers can find vulnerable families. Taking the kids from these remote areas was expensive and time consuming... Which makes us think that whatever the motive, there must be considerable profit in the work.

We fear that the children are in serious danger.

Assuming that we can find them, there's a lot involved in the rescue of these children. Their Vietnamese language skills are fairly basic, and they're going to be frightened (and possibly traumatised) - so caring for them in the first days is going to be absolutely critical, and very complex!

And then there's the issue of accommodating 34 children in Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days, before taking them all home from one end of the country to the other.

These are the sort of things we're thinking about at the moment!

I don't often do this, but I need to ask for donations for this rescue trip. We're estimating that we need about $3400, and so far we have one very generous donation of $400 to kick us off. If you can help, drop me a line - bluedragon@bdcf.org - or head to the Blue Dragon donation page:

http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/donations/

It's a lot of money all up, but in fact the cost is just $100 per child, which is pretty small considering the impact this will make on their lives. Every dollar will help!

I do have to emphasise that we're still in the planning stages, so by all means hang on to your money until I am sure we're going ahead. I'll post more in coming days, and you're welcome to email me with your 'pledge' so I can get back to you when we have more information.

There's a lot of uncertainty about this case, but what I do know is this:

34 children are missing, and we've got to find them.

Behind the scenes...

2011-09-14T13:52:00.002+07:00

Blue Dragon's newsletter, Dragon Tales, has just been released.

This edition explores our Child Rights work, looking behind the scenes at the team responsible for Blue Dragon's advocacy work and rescue operations.

It's a good read (as always!). If you're not on the mailing list, get in touch - info@bdcf.org - and we'll email you a copy.

A long search

2011-09-09T07:55:00.000+07:00

Something special happened yesterday morning in the northern city of Hai Phong: a 13 year old boy, who has been out of school for years and living on the streets, started his first day of Grade 2.

A hugely important part of Blue Dragon's work in Hanoi is our Outreach service, which involves looking for street kids and offering them help. Just like our work with rescuing trafficked children, our Outreach brings us into contact with young people in utterly desperate situations.

To really be successful, we need to find the kids within a couple of weeks of them arriving in Hanoi. The sooner, the better.

Over the past few months, though, we have been working with a tiny 13 year old, T, who has been on the streets for over a year - and much to our own surprise, we seem to have achieved a pretty good result.

I've written about T several times on Facebook, but it's only now that we have the full story.

T grew up in a very poor family on the outskirts of Hai Phong city; his parents divorced when he was young (which is a big deal here in Vietnam) leaving T and his older sister with their mother.

Although the mother did her best, she couldn't keep on supporting both children, so in 2007 she sent T to live with his father in Hanoi, and she kept on looking after her daughter at home. Because of her financial difficulties, she moved about from rented room to rented room.

Shortly after T arrived in Hanoi, his father remarried, and as often happens in Vietnam, this meant the children from the 'old marriage' were no longer wanted. T was sent to live in a pagoda, where he stayed for over a year.

The pagoda wasn't a great place for him though. After being bullied and neglected, he finally ran away to live on the streets. His father and step-mother had moved away, so he couldn't find them, and he had no idea how to contact his mother.

T survived by collecting scrap on the streets.

Little did he know, but back in Hai Phong things had gone badly for his mother and sister. His mother one day vanished - she left their home in the morning and simply didn't return. T's grandmother, who brought the sister to live in her own home, believes the mother was trafficked. There's no evidence that she deliberately abandoned her child, as she left all her possessions behind. She just disappeared.

By the time Blue Dragon's Outreach workers met T, he had been living rough for over a year. I could write a novel about the troubles he had living on the streets.

We knew it would be difficult to help him: any child who has lived so long on the streets has great difficulty settling back in to a house with rules and expectations. But T did so remarkably quickly. We provided him with a place to live while our staff, including our Child Rights Advocates, started the search for T's family.

This turned out to involve an awful lot of detective work. We thought we were looking for his mother, of course, and we drove T to Hai Phong to look for the last places he knew she lived. That first trip was futile; he couldn't remember where they had been living, and we were to learn later that she was long gone anyway.

After more than a month of enquiries and searching, we located T's grandmother - a breakthrough! Once we were sure it was her, we bundled T into a car and headed off for the reunion.

It was a beautifully touching moment: the tiny kid seeing his sister and grandmother for the first time in years, but also finding out that his mother was missing and nobody had heard from his father.

How can a 13 year old deserve to get news like that? Some things in life just aren't fair.

When it came to to leave, T was worried. Did he really want to live in Hai Phong again? He'd never lived with his grandmother... would they get along? Would she be too strict? And what of all his friends back in Hanoi?

So we made an agreement: we would leave him with his grandmother for 2 weeks, then come back and talk again.

The 2 weeks passed, and grandma rang to say that T wanted to stay with her. She was thrilled, and deeply appreciated an offer of financial support from Blue Dragon to help look after him. Grandma now had 2 grand children to look after, and no income at all - she was really doing it tough!

And then for the final step: Getting T back to school. Apart from the fact that he has only finished Grade 1 and he's now a teenager, the biggest hurdle was that according to Vietnamese law he didn't meet the criteria to study in a regular school. At first the school accepted him, but then realised they really shouldn't... and so early this week we got the call that his application had been rejected.

But, hey, that's why Blue Dragon employs lawyers!

Yesterday morning one of our Child Rights Advocates headed back to Hai Phong to meet with the school and help them see how they could accept him... and so they did. T had his first day in school, and by all reports everything went well.

I am hesitant to say "case closed" - there's a long long road ahead - but for today, I am happy to say that things have turned out about as well as we could have hoped. I wish we could find T's mother, but for now he is with his grandmother and sister, and he's back in school.

At least now he has a chance of a better life.

The big day - 1000 games!

2011-08-28T14:18:00.000+07:00

Today was a big, big day for Blue Dragon...

Our soccer team, Blue Dragon United, has now played its 1000th game!

We organised a tournament through the morning, and although it was very hot the kids had a fantastic time. We were joined by teams from the Hanoi Youth Football League, which has been great to us over the last couple of years so we invited them to join in and make our big day even more exciting.

Staff and kids alike joined in...

We had a warm up...

... but most kids were warm enough and were looking for some shade...

Everyone had a great time...

... and the U13s finished with a penalty shoot out:

(I promise to set up a Flickr account some time this coming week to make it easier to see photos on my blog).

... and here's the radio interview from Thursday, in which Blue Dragon's Outreach Worker Vi and I were interviewed by Howard Sattler on 6PR.

It really was a great morning. More pics to follow soon.

The story of Blue Dragon United

2011-08-26T05:00:00.002+07:00

This is a big week at Blue Dragon. We started with the rescue of 8 children from factories, and on Sunday we'll play our 1000th game of soccer with street kids.

1000 games! That's quite an achievement.

Our football started early in 2003, before we even had formed Blue Dragon Children's Foundation. At the time, there were just a few of us, all volunteers, finding ways to help Hanoi's street kids. Spearheading the movement to help the kids were Chung Pham, Gonzalo Serrano, and myself.

We were teaching English and holding weekly classes in art, maths and yoga, while also providing occasional meals and healthcare. With no money and no space to meet, we could see that we were very limited in the number of street kids we were able to reach out to.

One day, Gonzalo - a Spaniard with a passion for soccer - suggested that we could help a whole lot more kids if we took to the field. That would solve the problem of space, and with football being the unofficial religion of Vietnam we were sure that the kids would be interested.

And so we found a dirt field that we could rent and spent a few days riding around the city on our motorbikes handing out flyers to street kids.

Every kid we spoke to was interested and promised to come. We were off to a huge start! And then, on that first Sunday, we arrived at the field... and just 3 boys turned up.

Regardless, we had a great game and committed to playing again the next week.

Each week, the number of kids coming grew. Within a month, there was a steady core of 15 street kids turning up... and then 30... and then 50. These days, up to 80 kids come along each week to play.

We needed a name for the team, and so Gonzalo suggested we adopt his old team's name: Real Betis. We thus became Real Betis Vietnam, and even received an official letter from the Real Betis Club in Spain allowing us to do so (thankfully!). The picture below featured in the Vietnam News in 2003.

Later, we switched to a blue uniform:

... and today we have an orange / blue uniform, which can be seen on the Blue Dragon United website.

Just a couple of years ago, we decided to change our team name to Blue Dragon United, as the kids didn't have a strong affinity to the Real Betis name any more, and we wanted to relaunch the team to give it a new energy.

Our 1000 games includes tournaments we've joined, such as those at the United Nations school and the Hanoi Youth Football League. Although our kids are much smaller than most of their peers, we've won a few awards over time, and the trophy we won in 2010 has pride of place in the Blue Dragon office.

We've had some special guests turn up at the field...

... and over time, we've watched many kids from football grow up, become young adults, and some have even become Blue Dragon staff.

The soccer is great fun for the kids, but it's also a chance for us to reach out to kids who we otherwise wouldn't know. Some of the kids we meet are worried about coming inside the Blue Dragon centre until they know us well. Nobody's afraid to turn up to a football field, though.

And so this Sunday at 8am we'll be having a very big game, with plenty of food and drinks, a few awards, and a whole lot of fun. I'll post some photos on Monday. Let's just hope for great weather!

8 kids out of the factories

2011-08-24T07:03:00.000+07:00

I'm happy to report that we're now finishing up a rescue trip to Ho Chi Minh City with some good results.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Blue Dragon's plan to end the trafficking of children from central to southern Vietnam to work in garment factories. This week's trip was a part of that plan - to keep on getting kids out of factories and back to their homes, where they belong.

Before taking the kids home, we first need the support and permission of their families, who are in Hue province. We do this by talking to them in their communities with representatives of their local government and Red Cross. A typical "meeting" looks like this:

Not all parents agree, unfortunately; and some initially think their children are fine in the factories but change their minds when they see the kids who we rescue and bring home. In the early stages of planning this trip we were hoping to bring home at least 12 kids. But we couldn't get the permission of all of the parents, so had to be satisfied to bring home 8.

Once we have the parents' permission, we head to the south to the industrial areas where children are often put to work in appalling conditions. The images below were taken yesterday on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City.

And so we have enabled 8 children, aged 13 to 15, to leave these factories behind and return home.

Now for the next stage of our work: ensuring the kids can stay with their families, return to school, and live in safety with their communities.

The lost brothers

2011-08-16T00:23:00.000+07:00

Last week, one of Vietnam's national newspapers ran a compelling story about a young man in Hai Phong City who begs in public places for money.

The man, "Dinh", was aged 23, but in the photos looked no older than 14 or 15. The article told the shocking story of how Dinh's older sister had introduced him to heroin 9 years previously - when he really was aged 14 - and how he had been separated from his family, reduced to begging from strangers, ever since. By all accounts, he'd had a terribly difficult life.

Shortly after the article was published, Blue Dragon staff received a telephone call... from the journalist who had written the article. She had tracked down one of Dinh's distant uncles, who told her that he knew where Dinh's younger brother was living: The Blue Dragon Shelter.

It turned out that Dinh is the older brother of a 16 year old Blue Dragon boy: an orphan (who I will call "Ton") who we first met living on the streets back in 2006.

Ton had brought himself up on the streets, living with gangs and finding shelter under bridges and in abandoned houses. His parents had died, but he knew little about them - or about himself. When it came time for him to make a birth certificate, he had no idea of his actual date of birth, so he rang me to ask if he could use mine. Every birthday I have had since then has been much more meaningful!

For the first few years that Ton was with Blue Dragon, his behaviour was impulsive and often wild. He could be heard throughout the entire building - sometimes you could hear his booming voice down the street. Learning to live in a house, and follow simple domestic rules, was a massive challenge. There were countless setbacks, as well as tremendous steps forward, but we never knew which direction Ton would take.

To his credit, while almost all of his old friends have ended up in prison, or on heroin, or both, Ton has stayed out of trouble... Or, at least, avoided being caught! School never worked out for him, but he's been learning hairdressing and in the last couple of years has calmed down to the point that nobody could ever guess his troubled past without being told.

But a constant burden for Ton has been the issue of his family.

In 2009, we found an uncle and started unraveling some of the details of Ton's life. He'd been severely neglected as a child, abandoned by just about everyone, and left to fend for himself. There's still so much that we don't know.

Regardless, Ton has longed to find his family members. He has memories of brothers and sisters, but despite our best efforts he's only ever heard rumours of where they might be and what they are doing.

Until this telephone call.

On Sunday, we finally had some concrete information that Ton's brother Dinh has been begging at a particular bus station in Hai Phong, which is a few hours drive out of Hanoi. One of our staff headed straight to Hai Phong with Ton to look, but 6 hours of waiting and asking around yielded nothing. Ton was deeply upset, thinking that perhaps there was no hope after all.

On Monday lunchtime, though, the journalist called back: she was with Dinh, on a bus, heading to Hanoi.

Ton and Dinh have not seen each other for 9 years. So much has happened in those intervening years that cannot be said in any words. Ton is elated at having finally found a brother he loves and has worried about endlessly; but also confused and frightened at the burden of his brother's heroin addiction. He just doesn't know what to make of it.

Added to this is the news that their own sister introduced Dinh to heroin. Ton has no idea how to feel about that. He's been desperately hoping to find his sister, now in her mid 20s, since I first met him - so what is he to think of her now?

Ton has been with Blue Dragon for so long that Monday's reunion has impacted all of us. The staff share Ton's confusion and sorrow, as well as his joy.

In the next few days, we will work out what to do next. Dinh seems like a lovely young guy, and in talking to him in the afternoon it was instantly clear that he's never had people care for him before. Will he want to enter a rehab program? Will we be able to get him in to one? (He has absolutely no personal registration papers, which are essential). And how will Dinh's sudden appearance impact on Ton's own dream of finishing a hairdressing course and getting a job?

There are many questions now, but no answers just yet.

Sometimes we spend our lives for searching in vain for something that appears out of nowhere, long after we have given up hope. Ton and Dinh cannot believe they've found each other; but after so long apart, they're each now wondering what their future will hold.

Now for the good news

2011-08-11T16:14:00.004+07:00

I came across this info recently on another blog - see here for more info.

Amidst all the bad news we see every day, here is a list of what's getting better in our world.

Let's hope their 2020 projections hold true!

Caught in the net

2011-08-11T13:26:00.001+07:00

If you're on Blue Dragon's mailing list, you'll have received a message this morning with some very good news.

In short, we've been involved in helping 2 teenage girls who were trafficked from Vietnam to China and sold to brothels. Our support has enabled them to return to their homes and start getting on with their lives... and we've also been able to bring most of the trafficking ring to justice. The one remaining person involved appears to have fled the country, so is now on an Interpol watchlist.

We're really pleased to have been able to achieve all this, and it's tremendously satisfying to see the girls starting to resume a normal life.

A fascinating 'sideline' to this story is the role of the internet in human trafficking.

Most cases we have dealt with involving the trafficking of girls to China has involved the internet in some way or another. Typically, the traffickers are meeting girls online and becoming their 'friends' via chat rooms. They then arrange to meet in person, show some generosity, and eventually take them on a holiday or shopping trip near the Chinese border. The final step is to say "Let's go shopping over the border," or "I have a really good friend who lives just on the other side of the border," and the girl is kidnapped.

In this most recent case, though, the internet also played a role in the escape of the 2 girls. After they had broken out of the brothel, they found themselves in a Chinese city over 1000km from Vietnam. Just as a chat room had been the start of their troubles, the same chat room was their best chance to reconnect with their families back home and call for help.

Each trafficking case that we get involved with teaches us new lessons - and no matter what we see or hear, each case reminds us that we have so much more to learn.

We only hope that each new case we work with can prepare us better to help the girls who are being targeted by traffickers, and find new ways to counter the trafficking before it even takes place.

Under the wing

2011-08-08T06:36:00.004+07:00

Blue Dragon was featured in yesterday's Relax magazine of the Sunday Canberra Times... Click on the images to see the larger file sizes.

Student accommodation

2011-08-02T08:37:00.000+07:00

With the new school year starting in Vietnam, Blue Dragon's residential programs are preparing for new children who need a home in order to go to school.

In both Hanoi and Hoi An, we have homes where kids can live while they study, attend training, and start jobs. These homes are important not just as accommodation, but as social programs too. They give kids a safe place to live and grow until they don't need our help any more.

Recently a Blue Dragon staff member was traveling through a rural region and came across the makeshift huts pictured below:

He was shocked to learn that these huts were 'student accommodation' for kids who lived far from town and couldn't afford to travel each day, or to pay for room and board.

And it gets worse - not only did the kids live here, but they lived here unsupervised and unsupported. The oldest was just 16 years old; the youngest was 7.

What a powerful reminder that the Blue Dragon homes are so important... and that we need to offer our help to more children around Vietnam!

Some new houses

2011-08-01T06:25:00.000+07:00

Some good news to start the week!

We're very proud to have finished building 2 new houses for families in Hue (Central Vietnam). Each house cost about $2000, and both families have been victims of child traffickers in the past.

The "Before and After" shots tell quite a story!

This is the house of a teenage girl who was trafficked to a garment factory...

Before...

After...

... and this house is where a 15 year old boy who was trafficked lives. It's one of the worst houses we've come across in recent times - far worse than the photo suggests!

Before...

After...

We don't put the Blue Dragon logo on the houses we build, because we see the homes as belonging entirely to the families, but during the week we'll have a small celebration with the families, their communities and the local Red Cross.

I think that a small party is well and truly in order!

Hope and disappointment

2011-07-29T07:39:00.002+07:00

This blog has been a bit quiet in recent weeks, largely because there's been so much happening.

At the moment, the Blue Dragon kids are starting to go back to school. Last weekend, over 650 children in rural Bac Ninh province received their text books, school bags, and other school gear, all paid for by sponsors from around the world. (See a few photos here).

Among the many happy stories, Blue Dragon staff have been working with some teen girls who escaped sex traffickers in China earlier this year and returned to Vietnam. One of those girls started back at school on Wednesday, and she's so excited to be studying again that she can't contain herself.

Just a few months ago, she never thought she'd ever have a 'normal' day again in her life. None of the students or teachers at her new school have any idea of what she's been through, so she really has managed to blend back in with the crowd and is getting on with her life.

We've had some scary moments, too: one of the kids who frequents our centre went missing for a few days, and the only other children who had information about where he might be are profoundly deaf and hearing impaired. Some of the Blue Dragon staff are quite proficient in Vietnamese Sign Language, and it was fascinating watching them talk to the kids and gather information, sorting out 'imagination' from 'actuality' - not an easy task! Fortunately the boy returned after several nights, rather embarrassed about the stir he'd caused, but completely unharmed. Phew!

Our legal team have been kept on their toes with some cases of kids who have been arrested, or facing court... We seem to have just gone through a month of teenagers going in and out of detention.

We're all very happy to welcome back one boy, T, who was released from reform school last week and has returned to Hanoi with a new vigour. With a little support from our team, we hope that he'll stay on the right track. (He's one of our best soccer players, too, so the timing is great with our 1000th game coming up. T was all smiles when he realised he was home in time for that!)

It's always disheartening for us to see young people (usually boys) we've worked with over a long time getting caught up in crime, and eventually finding themselves in trouble with the police. At times it's like a slow motion car crash - you can see it coming but you can't do anything about it. And the regret that follows is just as inevitable.

A few days ago I received a letter from a young man, "Minh," in prison for drug offenses; Minh was very close to me as a teenager but just couldn't kick his heroin habit and is now serving a 4 year sentence. His letter spoke of 'disappointment and sorrow'; he hardly dares to hope yet for better times ahead.

At Blue Dragon, we see such different worlds every day. There are so many kids, young people, and families who find a way to make it work. With a little bit of help, they do all they can to get out of poverty and better their futures through education or training. But there are also those who just can't seem to make it, or who don't believe that they can ever make it and give up on themselves.

I can't judge them, though; and time after time I am caught surprised by kids 'turning the corner' and making a change when all seemed lost. My job is to keep on trying, and keep on hoping, even when 'disappointment and sorrow' is all that seems to be left.

Towards a goal

2011-07-25T09:33:00.003+07:00

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I blogged... there's been so much happening that I haven't known where to start! So: more posts to follow this week (for real) with some stories about what the kids have been up to.

A few weeks ago I wrote that I was working with my staff on a plan to end the trafficking of kids from central Vietnam to the garment factories of Ho Chi Minh City. Since 2005 we've been getting kids out, and putting a stop to trafficking village by village in Hue province, but we want to see now if we can put a stop to this trade in children altogether.

I know that a lot of people who read this blog have supported our anti-trafficking, so I think it's only right that I share what has come out of that meeting, and give an overview of our plan.

First the bad news: we don't believe that we can completely end the trafficking. We can't take it from its current level right down to zero. Why not? Well, for the same reason that Australia, and the US, and every country on earth has human trafficking... People do bad things that we just can't control.

But we do believe that, given a time frame of about 5 years, we should be able to get as close to ending the trafficking as anyone can. If I have to put a target on it, I'd say we aim to reduce the trafficking by at least 80%... but that just raises the question "80% of what?" There isn't much data on how common this problem is. One of our goals is to try to get a more complete picture of how widespread the trafficking is by arranging community meetings where local people can talk with us about how many children from their village have gone to the factories, both now and in the past.

After some lengthy discussion about what impact our work has had so far, what's been working and what's failed, we came up with a set of 5 'conditions.' Our thinking is that the trafficking will come to an end when:

1. Children and their families no longer want or need to go to work in the factories.

This is a big one. To achieve this, we need not only some poverty alleviation work and income-generating training, but also some significant work on the local culture. In many of the villages we work in, we find that families consider it 'normal' to send their children to work in factories. This is not typical of Vietnamese culture, but is a sub culture specific to these areas that have long been targeted by traffickers. We'll need to help the families and communities change their minds by showing them the reality of factory life in Ho Chi Minh City - it ain't pretty.

2. Factory owners no longer want to employ children.

To achieve this, we will need to keep on taking the kids out of the factories - because every child we take home represents a significant expense for the business, and some weeks of lost labour. We also need to work with the police and Vietnam's Chamber of Commerce so that we're not alone in changing the minds of the factory owners.

3. The traffickers are too scared to continue their work.

If we can keep the stories of child abuse in factories alive in the newspapers, and if the police will arrest and prosecute the traffickers, they'll pretty quickly find a new career.

4. The general public considers child labour and trafficking unacceptable.

Again, the media will have a big role to play in this. Already the tide of opinion has started turning against having children in factories.

5. The government actively enforces the law.

Just a few months ago, a new law on trafficking was passed by the National Assembly, and for the first time trafficking within Vietnam is considered a crime. But of course, just because it's a law doesn't mean it's enforced. We'll need to work more closely with the police to enable them to go after the traffickers and shut down factories which use children.

Clearly, this isn't our action plan - just the set of goals we need to reach. We also need to be sure that, in reaching these goals, we don't simply end up with children from central Vietnam being trafficked to other types of work, or the factories filling up with kids from other regions. We really need to solve this problem by coming at it from all angles at the same time.

Even though we don't think it's realistic to achieve 'zero trafficking', we do believe we can change the context so that trafficking is no longer a common, widespread issue, but rather an occasional aberration.

In coming months and years we'll be rescuing more kids from factories, opening more community centres in the villages being targeted by traffickers, working more closely with the government and media, and spending more time getting to know the families who need our help.

It's bound to be a lot of hard work, but if we really can achieve these goals there's no question that it will all be worth while.

The thousands

2011-07-07T16:12:00.003+07:00

Every month, my staff collate data on the kids they have helped, and we produce a simple list of our results which gets added to our email signatures. It's just a nice way of letting people know what we're up to.

This month's figures are below, and there are a couple of really exciting developments...

To date, Blue Dragon has:
Sent 2,036 kids back to school and training
Provided accommodation to 109 girls and boys
Served 221,930 meals
Built or repaired 45 homes for families
Distributed 21,475 litres of milk
Handed out 24,714 kilos of rice
Reunited 85 runaway children with their families
Taken 753 kids to a doctor or hospital
Put 5 teens through drug rehab
Obtained legal registration papers for 567 children
Rescued 101 trafficked children
Placed 62 teens in jobs
Played 936 games of soccer!

First, we've now helped more than 2000 children go to school. Woo hoo! (And if we say that we help each child go to school for 4 years, on average, then that means we've helped Vietnam with 8,000 years of schooling... right??)

And second, as I mentioned a couple of months back, we are quite close to playing our 1000th game of soccer. Looks like "the big day" will be in late August, and already the kids are hassling us for details of how we'll celebrate!

Apart from telling our friends around the world about our progress, these numbers are also a good reminder to my team here in Vietnam that we really are getting somewhere and making a difference.

And speaking of making a difference, I have returned to Hanoi after 3 days in Hue of planning and strategising. In coming days I will post again about the direction we will take with our anti-trafficking work.

I am a bit excited about these plans, though I am not sure that they're going to make riveting blogging!

Dreaming of endings

2011-07-03T22:55:00.000+07:00

Ngoc was 13 when I met him, late in 2005. He was tiny and exhausted, selling flowers on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Normally he'd start work around sunset, and walk up and down outside tourist spots and nightclubs until 2 or 3am.

His traffickers, some middle aged women, had brought him from his village in Hue province, in central Vietnam. Every flower he sold was for their benefit; his "payment" was a place to sleep on a concrete floor and some plain rice or noodles a few times per day.

If he didn't sell his quota of flowers each night, he was rewarded with a beating.

Angered by what I saw, and shocked by the compliance of 2 other charitable organisations with this trafficking, I asked one of our volunteers to help me find a way for Ngoc to escape and get back to his family. That volunteer, a uni student named Van, is now Blue Dragon's Chief Lawyer.

We found a way to get Ngoc away from the traffickers, and in doing so learned that his situation was not an isolated case. Dozens more kids just like him had been brought from central Vietnam to the south and put to work as slaves, mostly under the pretense of 'vocational training'. The parents were extremely poor - often living in tin huts or tents on beaches - and were easily convinced that their children were being offered an opportunity to escape from grinding poverty.

And so, in addition to helping street kids, Blue Dragon started helping kids who had been trafficked.

Six years on, we've rescued 92 kids who have been trafficked for slavery within Vietnam. The trafficking rings that took Ngoc and his friends to Ho Chi Minh City to sell flowers are long gone; we interrupted their business so much that they just gave up. We've effectively ended trafficking in 4 communes of Hue province, but there's still a huge trade in children from Hue being taken south to work in the garment industry.

The question for Blue Dragon remains: Can we end this trafficking of children from Hue to the garment factories permanently?

If we could bring down one trafficking ring, can't we bring down some more? And if we could end trafficking from 4 communes in Hue province, then can't we end it in all communes?

These aren't just hypothetical questions... These are the issues that my staff and I will be talking about this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Van and I are in Hue now, to meet with our staff who are based here. We intend to come up with a strategy that will put a permanent end to the trafficking of children from Hue to the garment factories.

It won't be easy; and we're going to need a few years to really make an impact. But it's time for us to take this dive into the deep end. Our work so far has had some terrific results, and I am proud of what we've achieved. However, I think we can put our knowledge and expertise now to an even more powerful end.

Why is it important?

It's all about the kids. Ngoc is a young man now, and he has done brilliantly for himself. Although he had never been to school when I met him, he has since gone on to study a few years of primary school, and now works in a restaurant in Hanoi. He's an excellent chef, much loved by his employer, and he is one of the most responsible Blue Dragon kids yet. He's a great role model to all those around him.

There are just so many more Ngocs out there. The photo below is of some of the other trafficked kids we've rescued and have gone back to full time study. Last week our staff invited those who achieved excellent school results on an outing to a bookstore. The idea was for each of them to buy whatever reading material they wanted... but they saw some painting activities and decided to have a go at that, too.

These are kids who were working 18 hours a day in garment factories not so long ago. The chance to go to a bookstore, buy whatever they want, and join in some art activities must have seemed like a ridiculous fantasy - but why shouldn't they have the chance? Why should such a simple pleasure be denied them?

Dreams can indeed become reality; and my dream is that kids from Hue don't have to sell their childhood to produce cheap clothes in Vietnam's factories. Over the coming days, my challenge is to figure out how to do this!

We made it!

2011-07-01T09:17:00.002+07:00

Back in May, Blue Dragon launched an important funding appeal. We needed to raise money to expand our outreach services for street kids.

For the last year or so we have had one Outreach worker, a young man who once worked as a shoeshine boy himself. His job has been to go out at night to the places where street kids hang around to look for anyone who needs help and make sure the kids know where to come if they have trouble.

In particular, he looks for the little kids and those who have newly arrived in the city, before they get caught up in the gangs and prostitution.

It's difficult and sometimes dangerous work, but I feel pretty strongly that it's also extremely important. And having a single staff member with all of that responsibility really isn't good enough. For every kid we meet, there are many more who we don't have the time to get to.

In Outreach, every case is urgent. Letting kids fall through the cracks can have severe consequences. This means that we need to have Outreach staff on call 24/7... Street kids don't normally stick to the 9-5 routine!

And so we conceived of holding an appeal to raise the money needed for expanding the service. The total goal was about $67,000: enough money to hire 2 new staff for 2 years; provide food, clothing and emergency care for the kids we find; offer a counseling service; and buy a 2nd hand car so that we can drive the kids back to their homes and reunite them with their families. (Nearly all of the kids on the streets of Hanoi have come from the countryside - often way up in mountainous regions).

I am HUGELY PLEASED to say this morning that we've made it. Our friends and sponsors around the world have agreed that this is important work, and sent the funds needed to double the number of street kids we reach every week.

We'll be contacting all of the donors in coming days to let them know. Donations have come in amounts from $5 to $15,000 - and every one of them has been greatly appreciated.

To our donors: Thank you. It's time now for the Blue Dragon team to get working on reaching more street kids and making good use of the support you've shown us.

A trip to the sea

2011-06-23T12:50:00.003+07:00

They went, they swam, they conquered!

Blue Dragon's annual "Excellent Students Trip" was a great success. In total, 46 Blue Dragon kids traveled to Cua Lo Beach for 2 days of fun as a reward for their excellent results and behaviour at school.

The pictures say it all...

The "Tug of war" game ended up attracting the
entire beach to watch and cheer them on...

OK, I have no idea what's going on in this picture, but everyone looks happy

The games went on into the night...

Could this little girl look any happier??

The whole crowd on the beach

Outrageous

2011-06-15T12:55:00.005+07:00

Child trafficking in Vietnam is rife.

Since 2005, Blue Dragon has been helping kids escape traffickers and get home to their families. So far we have helped 92 children escape from trafficking within Vietnam, and 9 girls and young women escape from sex trafficking in China.

When I say "trafficking within Vietnam," I mean kids being taken from their homes - almost always under false pretenses - to be put to work as slaves. The first kids we rescued were selling flowers in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City; these days most of the kids we go looking for are working in garment factories.

We haven't even started on the issue of kids being trafficked to work in cocoa plantations or gold mines.

A report out by World Vision today finds that "for every trafficking victim subjected to forced prostitution, nine people are forced to work." And yet, because of the brutality of sex trafficking and the attention it has had in the media, most work by charities and agencies around the world focuses exclusively on stopping the sex trafficking. Relatively little work is being done to help the kids who are slaving away in the factories and farms, for little or no pay, in horrid conditions.

(See Tim Costello's article on this issue here).

This week, one of the Vietnamese newspapers has run a feature on the issue of kids in garment factories. The images they've captured are quite moving (and, from experience, I know how difficult it is to capture such footage - the factory owners do not appreciate people turning up with cameras).

Have a look at the article here - Tuoi Tre News - but a translation of the text is below.

Child Labor Article, Tuoi Tre Newspaper June 2011

... and here's the video clip with subtitles:

Anyone with half a conscience must be outraged by this.

School's out

2011-06-10T08:37:00.003+07:00

The school year has ended here in Vietnam, and at Blue Dragon we like to celebrate our kids completing each year of school.

Last weekend we held the 'Closing Ceremony' for all the kids we support out in Bac Ninh province. These kids are part of a program we call Stay In School, because that's exactly what we help them to do: stay in school!

Bac Ninh is a rural province, not far from Hanoi but with a significant problem of students dropping out of school and subsequently being trafficked for labour exploitation. I once spoke to a truck driver who told me how much money he could make by transporting children aged under 16 to Ho Chi Minh City to work in factories. The bounty back then was about $25 per child.

We started helping kids in this area back in 2004. At first we were supporting just 75 children, mostly girls (as they are at higher risk than boys of dropping out of school). These days, we are helping close to 600, and our sponsors around the world pay for their uniforms, school fees, health insurance, books and stationery.

Our sponsorship system ensures that we help not only the individual children we've identified as needing support, but also the entire school. The students we support are spread across over 25 schools, from Grades 5 through to 12. So far we've built 2 libraries and provided desks, teaching equipment, and a whole range of supplies that the whole school community can benefit from. Next on our list is to build toilet blocks in one of the primary schools... and we're starting to offer university scholarships to the year 12 graduates, too.

At the end of the day, it's the kids who are most important, so last Sunday we took the opportunity to congratulate them for their success. Because there are so many kids, we held 2 ceremonies - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There was some singing and dancing, a few games on the stage, and of course gifts for everyone.

Holding an event like this shows the kids how important we think their success is. Those who did particularly well at school received a special certificate, but regardless of how they went everyone received some gifts to take home.

The 'Closing Ceremony' is a simple affair - well, as simple as an event for 590 children and teens can be - but it's an important way for us to acknowledge that the kids can and do succeed at school, in spite of whatever difficulties they may have in life.

Kids arriving for the Ceremony...

The community hall is packed!

These are the kids who did particularly well at school.
Each receives a certificate and extra gift from us.

The kids love to get up and sing!

A word of thanks

2011-06-10T05:34:00.002+07:00

In recent months, Blue Dragon has been coming across many runaway children who've come to Hanoi from rural areas.

These are often very small children, aged up to 14 but tiny and looking frightfully vulnerable on the streets of the city.

Increasingly, we're finding that parents of runaway children are coming to Hanoi to look for their children, and the police are advising them to come and see us. This is something of an honour, and of course something we're more than happy to help with.

One such family from Hung Yen province approached us last month, desperate to find their son. They were plastering the city with "Lost" posters, having no other ideas of what they might do.

Thirteen year old Tri had run away after a small problem at school, and one small problem grew into a bigger problem... Eventually Tri was much too frightened to go home, but we were able to reconnect the child with his parents, and after a tearful reunion Tri went home and back to school.

Another happy ending!

Shortly after, Tri's father, Mr Han, sent us this letter - with the rough translation below. (I've removed identifying info, such as the full name and address). I thought this was worth posting...

Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
Dear: Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation
Date: April 10, 2011
My name is: Han (35 years old)
Address: Hung Yen province

I would like to send my sincerest thanks to all staff at Blue Dragon because you helped me find my son, Tri. During the time my son away from home, he was cared for, and helped a lot by Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. And Blue Dragon also provided me all of his information, then helped us find our son.

Once again, on behalf of my family, I sincerely thank everyone in Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.

Sincerely

Mr Han

Launched

2011-06-08T16:13:00.004+07:00

Yesterday the Blue Dragon team did something we haven't done before: We launched a couple of books.

Over the past months we have been working on this as a side project to our legal advocacy work. Since about 2004 we've accumulated a wealth of experience in protecting the rights of children in Vietnam. Our work has included advocating for children in court... helping kids and their families obtain birth certificates... supporting young people who have been victims of crime... and even enrolling kids in school in cases where the schools have tried to deny them access.

So we wrote a book about all of these experiences, enticingly called: Guidelines for good practice in providing legal advocacy services for children who are in conflict with the law in Vietnam.

We then went a step further and wrote a comic book for kids, called Truoc Dot - or Slippery Slope - about a teenage boy getting into trouble with the police. Apart from the story, there's specific information for young people who are arrested.

Both of these publications are available for free on our website:

http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/publications/

The Guidelines are in both English and Vietnamese.

We're hoping that this launch will be a good start to helping other organisations in Vietnam learn from our successes and our mistakes.

Greening the Blue Dragon

2011-06-06T08:26:00.003+07:00

Blue Dragon's Hue staff have been teaching the village kids about looking after the environment - starting with creating a garden right in our Youth Centre.

It's early days, but the kids are keen!

Choices

2011-06-02T14:39:00.004+07:00

When Blue Dragon started back in early 2003, we were focused on helping street kids get off the streets and back into school or vocational training. Some were old enough to get jobs, and their most popular choice was in hospitality, where jobs are relatively easy to come by.

Over the years, the horizons of the kids coming to us have broadened. We're supporting one teenage girl to study Civil Engineering at university; we have teens studying Business Management, motorbike mechanics, and languages.

And, of course, we still have kids interested in hospitality and vocational training.

Our challenge is to help the kids with their career choices. It's rarely easy for young people to decide what they want to do with their lives; even moreso for kids who believe they don't have any chance at success anyway.

To deal with this, the Blue Dragon psychologist has been organising career orientation programs, involving field trips to places of business, and arranging weekend workshops at the Blue Dragon centre in Hanoi. Last weekend about 30 kids turned up to learn about a range of job options, including:

- cooking, with a presentation by a former street kid who now works as a chef at Don's Bistro

- mechanics, with trainees and staff of VIP Bikes sharing their experience

- hairdressing

- sales and marketing

- web design

... and a presentation about becoming a Social Worker, by one of our own.

Altogether, a very successful day!

The struggle

2011-05-20T16:22:00.003+07:00

The last week has been pretty exciting.

Emails from around the world have been pouring in with heartfelt expressions of thanks and support. My whole team has been humbled by these; I only hope people realise how much these mean to us.

I'm on the road, and have been catching up with supporters in Western Australia, including Shenton College, some Rotary Clubs, and a couple of radio interviews.

Being 'on the road' is important to our work. Blue Dragon has no office or staff outside of Vietnam, so for us to raise the funds that we need to do our work, I need to get out and meet up with our supporters at least ince a year.

But as I travel about, each day reminds me that my heart really is back in Vietnam with the kids.

Of course, I like to write about the success stories on my blog - the stories of kids who make it, who change, who get out of terrible situations and thrive. These are the stories that get me going in the morning.

But very often, it's the stories of the kids who are really struggling to get by that occupy most of my time and attention. Being far from Vietnam, I rely entirely on my staff to keep me informed, and there's no greater joy than getting their emails with updates.

We've had 2 kids leave our Shelter this week, which is awfully hard on us. Both are kids who have lived for long periods on the streets, but have been with us now for 18 months and 4 years respectively. They've mostly been doing pretty well, but in the last weeks they just couldn't hold it together, and left for the streets.

Within days, they came back to ask for forgiveness.

Our hearts are bursting to say yes, to take them back, but we need the kids to know that their relationship with us really matters; that they can't just come and go. (For both of them, this is not the first time this has happened). And so, with the summer holidays beginning, we've told each of the boys to return to their villages where they have only distant relatives, and come back to us in a month.

This will be a tough month for them, but we want to see them do it. We want to see them struggle for a better life; take control of themselves and make a change.

We only hope that this strategy will work. And so, while I am in Australia, the 2 boys are in their villages. I guess each of us has to struggle with being away from where we want to be, and believe that our time away will be worthwhile.

The Spotlight

2011-05-14T08:26:00.003+07:00

This week has certainly ended on a high note, with Blue Dragon's work being featured on CNN:

CNNHeroes.com

We haven't received a great deal of media attention until now, so it's quite exciting for our team to watch how people respond. So far we've been stunned by the outpouring of support from people around the world, and in particular people of Vietnamese origin living in other countries. (Thank you!)

I was in Ho Chi Minh City when the story broke, and a few hours later I caught up with a boy named Vu who I met living on the streets over a year ago but who now lives in a shelter and goes to school. He had no idea of why I needed to answer 50 emails - he clearly hasn't been watching CNN! - and really just wanted to go out for a sinh to (fruit shake). So the emails had to wait a while.

Although much of the focus of the story is on my own role in establishing and running Blue Dragon, the spotlight really needs to be shared with those people who have worked alongside me over these years: the volunteers, the staff, the donors, and all those who have made a contribution along the way.

And then, of course, there's the kids, who give meaning to what we do. Kids like Vu. Without them we're nothing.

So far...

2011-05-09T14:09:00.001+07:00

Here's what Blue Dragon has done since we started in 2003:

To date, Blue Dragon has:
Sent 1,928 kids back to school and training
Provided accommodation to 109 girls and boys
Served 213,425 meals
Built or repaired 42 homes for families
Distributed 17,923 litres of milk
Handed out 23,454 kilos of rice
Reunited 84 runaway children with their families
Taken 733 kids to a doctor or hospital
Put 5 teens through drug rehab
Obtained legal registration papers for 557 children
Rescued 101 trafficked children
Placed 62 teens in jobs
Played 918 games of soccer

... I think we need to start planning our celebrations for the 1000th game of soccer!

The centre of the universe

2011-04-29T10:54:00.004+07:00

A few weeks ago, I read a novel by Alan Philps and John Lahutzky: The boy from Baby House Number 10.

It's a terribly sad story about children with disabilities being abandoned and neglected in Russian institutions. Not a feel good story at all, but it is true and ends beautifully for the young man who is the focus of the book.

Throughout the novel, one of the narrators used a phrase several times that really caught my eye. When speaking of a little girl or boy who had given up on life and was either dieing or wasting away, the narrator would comment: "She was not the centre of anybody's universe."

Here at the Blue Dragon centre in Hanoi, I can see many kids who have come to us just so they can be the centre of someone's universe.

The really street-hardened kids usually do this by being loud and aggressive; they've learned over the years to take what they need by force, but once they're with us they gradually calm down. When they see that we care for them and pay attention to their needs even without their wild behaviour, they transform into completely different children.

Others come through our doors with their total lack of confidence written all over their faces. We have one young girl with us now, about 12 years old, who has been handed from family to family, used as a slave, abandoned and neglected. She sits on the carpet of the drop in centre playing card games with the staff so so quietly that nobody could guess the inner turmoil she must experience.

Increasingly we're meeting young teenage boys who have no male carers or role models other than gang members and drug dealers. These boys long to be the centre of someone's universe, and that longing makes them incredibly vulnerable to being exploited.

One of our staff, the young man who does our Outreach Work, always has half a dozen kids around him - teenage boys who have been abandoned or run away from home and want nothing more than a big brother to talk to and hang out with. From my point of view, it's much better that the kids find their "Big Brother" figure among the Blue Dragon staff than among the gangs around the Long Bien bridge.

We all need to be the centre of somebody's universe. For street kids in Vietnam, the most important role that Blue Dragon staff can play is letting the kids be the centre of ours.

Plans, plans, plans

2011-04-22T10:34:00.005+07:00

I have just returned to Hanoi after a few days on the road in Hue and Hoi An. It was great to visit the kids we're helping in central Vietnam, catch up with the staff, and I even squeezed in a day riding down the Ho Chi Minh trail in a jeep with Rally Indochina.

Some of it was like this....

And then other bits were like this....

Overall, it was a brilliant day!

Back in Hanoi now, we're preparing for the end of the school year, which means kids are studying for exams and some of the older teens are thinking about what to do next. University? Jobs? Training? More schooling? It's great that we can offer them so many choices.

At the risk of sound like an advertisement, I want to mention a couple of events coming up in Australia and New Zealand.

First, in Wellington there'll a book fair held on Saturday May 7. More info is to be found here, on the Blue Dragon NZ website. The organisers are looking for donations of books and CD, and are happy for people to promote the event - the more people come, the better the day will be!

And second, there'll be a dinner in Melbourne on Tuesday May 24. This is being organised by a friend who used to volunteer with us. Intrepid has donated a grand prize for the event - a 10 day trip through Vietnam!

As always, lots happening...

The ride

2011-04-18T07:08:00.000+07:00

You may have read of the Rally Indochina bike ride from Hanoi to Hoi An; 14 travelers from around the world riding Urals through some astonishingly beautiful countryside to raise money for Blue Dragon.

The trip is a bit more than half way now. One of the organisers has been uploading photos to his flickr site - they're definitely worth checking out.

There'll be more photos added each day. And if these pictures make you want to get on a motorbike and start riding through Vietnam, keep an eye on Rally Indochina. This is their first such rally - not their last.

Hip Hop of the day

2011-04-16T08:09:00.000+07:00

A couple of kids showing their moves in the Blue Dragon centre...

When the floodgates open

2011-04-14T06:00:00.000+07:00

One of the Blue Dragon boys - let's call him Trung - has increasingly been acting out in recent weeks.

Not that he's usually an angel ("he's a character" is what we would politely say in Australia), but Blue Dragon staff have noticed a fairly rapid shift in his behaviour. As each day goes by, Trung has been becoming increasingly aggressive, and throwing tantrums over the smallest problems.

Today I called him in for a chat with our most senior social worker.

We started out by watching a YouTube clip of a cat cuddling a dolphin. Just to let Trung know that this was not going to be a conventional "You've done something wrong and need to be punished" kind of chat. It seemed to work.

Then we got down to business.

We started by asking Trung if he had any idea why he was behaving like this. "You're not usually aggressive like this," we explained. "This is really unusual for you. Any idea what's been causing you to act this way?"

Straight away Trung launched into his justification: This person said that to me; that staff member did this wrong...

But clearly this was not the reason. So we put to him a proposition.

We know that Trung has had some major family issues in the past few months. He's recently had some experiences which have left him feeling alone and uncared for; still just a little kid, Trung has discovered that he'll be growing up without a mother, father, or even an extended family to call on.

Very gently, very tenderly, we put the question to Trung: Does he think that these experiences might be causing him to behave this way now?

Trung didn't need to answer with any words. No sooner had we asked the question than a floodgate opened and the tears started flowing.

Talking to Trung today was just the beginning of what will be a long healing process for him. Healing? Well, I hope so. Maybe it will just be 'coping', but I have to be optimistic and believe that he can get through this. Without a family to believe in you, it's very hard to grow up believing in yourself. We do our best here at Blue Dragon, but I know we can never take the place of a loving family.

Our work at Blue Dragon is so much more than running activities and providing material support. Some things we do just can't be quantified or measured. But those little things we do from day to day, those chats with the kids behind the scenes, really are what Blue Dragon is all about.

Re-sold

2011-04-04T22:09:00.003+07:00

This article has appeared today in Thanh Nien News, one of the main Vietnamese newspapers:

Re-sold into slavery

In short, the article explores the complexities of combating child trafficking, as experienced by Blue Dragon and two other great organisations, Catalyst and AFESIP.

Apart from this being a good, well researched article, it's worth pointing out that the very topic of domestic child trafficking was pretty much off-limits just a few years ago. The very fact that the newspapers are interested in the issue, and can cover it as openly as this, is a terrific sign of progress.

Not particularly good news for the traffickers, though...

Off the streets and off to Auckland

2011-04-02T14:19:00.000+07:00

Late in 2010, three Blue Dragon boys, all former street kids, flew to New Zealand on scholarships...

This is their story!

News from Vietnam

2011-04-01T12:44:00.006+07:00

Having been on the road for a few weeks, it's great to be back home in Vietnam where all the action is. Every time I go away and come back, the kids seem to be a bit taller and more grown up!

Lots has been happening, including celebrations in Hoi An for International Woman's Day...

... workshops for kids, parents, and government officials on issues like study techniques and children's rights....

... an art event for country kids who we sponsor to go to school...

... and, of course, Earth Hour.

Two of our young guys who were studying in New Zealand on scholarships have just returned to Hanoi and are looking for jobs. One is applying to work in another charity, which is great to see, and the other is likely to apply to some restaurants. Their English is amazing now, so I don't think they'll have much trouble getting good jobs.

I have a job!

2011-03-21T08:13:00.005+07:00

Vinh was just a small boy when he first turned up at the Hoi An Children's Home back in 2003. His mother lived in the poorest village of the district, across the river from ancient Hoi An, and was so poor that she had no hope of supporting Vinh through school.

Mrs Diep, the director of the Home, took Vinh in; this was in the days before Blue Dragon was involved at the Home and the elderly Mrs Diep was looking after all of the kids pretty much by herself.

Throughout his schooling, Vinh stood out as being conscientious and hard working. He really wanted to make the best of his opportunity at the Home.

Blue Dragon started working at the Home in 2007, when Vinh was just finishing off his final school years. His older brother had also lived at the Home, and their mother was so appreciative that she traveled to see Mrs Diep one day to say: "This Home has saved my children." A pretty powerful statement for a mother make.

When Vinh completed Grade 12, his eyes were set firmly on university, and a wonderful sponsor named Michael from Auckland (along with a few good friends) was happy to put up the funds to support him - not only for his uni fees, but also for his living expenses. And Vinh, through sickness and through health, just kept studying away.

Vinh has just finished his degree at the Ho Chi Minh City university of Computer Technology.

Two weeks on, he's landed a job with an American company in Danang, just a half hour drive from Hoi An.

Vinh is just so excited - all his dreams have come true. All he wants to do now is share this news.

Van, a social worker at the Home who has known Vinh for some years, wrote to me over the weekend:

From the bottom of my heart, I am so happy for Vinh. I can see how much he has been trying
in his life, he has showed us that when they got a target of their life, no matter what life is
difficult with them, they will try their best to make it better and better.

Considering all the bad news on the TV lately, I thought that this was worth sharing.

Below is a picture of Vinh - hard at work!

The roadshow

2011-03-17T15:44:00.003+07:00

I'm in Hobart now, in the final days of my trip to Australia and New Zealand. Although I am here on business, I'm having a terrific time and wish that I could stay here longer!

During the past few weeks, most of my work has involved speaking at schools, Rotary Clubs and on radio. It doesn't seem like work at all - in fact it's mostly been a lot of fun, albeit very tiring at times.

My hope on these trips is to raise money for the work of Blue Dragon, of course, and also to raise awareness of the issues we deal with in Vietnam. To keep our costs low, I've been really lucky to have flights from Jetstar, and a couple of families have hosted me in their homes. Here in Tasmania, one wonderful family have not only given me the run of their house, but their car as well, which is most fortunate considering I'm covering about 200km per day.

In these past few days, I have had a couple of quite touching experiences. My time in Tasmania is almost entirely about visiting schools and speaking - about Vietnam, about Blue Dragon, and about the kids who I see every day at our centre. While some of the schools I visit are fairly well-off independent schools with beautiful facilities and students from generally privileged backgrounds, I've spent just as much time in local public schools where most students are from disadvantaged backgrounds themselves. I've even been off in the countryside, at schools like Campania and Triabunna District High Schools, which I guess don't get too many visitors from Vietnam!

I've been moved to see how students at all schools, no matter what their background, have expressed concern for the plights of kids their age in other countries. When I talk at schools, I am very careful to not give a sales and marketing pitch with a plea for cash at the end, but I am invariably asked by the kids: How can I help?

I like to believe that we're pretty careful with our funds at Blue Dragon. We certainly don't splash out on expensive cars or business class flights or any other extravagances; we do our best to keep things basic and 'down to earth.' Some events over this last week have reminded me of how important it is for Blue Dragon to stay that way.

Today, after I spoke in one school, the student council presented me with an envelope of cash they had collected from their fundraising that morning. But one of the teachers, who didn't even identify himself (or herself!) to me sent up an extra $50. One of the students walked up and said "I'd like to make a donation too," and handed me $5. I just didn't know what to say.

At another school, out in the countryside, one of the boys approached me after my presentation and asked if he could use his participation in a motorbike race to raise money for us.

The generosity of people around the world is a beautiful thing. Each year when I travel about Australia, New Zealand and Singapore trying to raise funds for our kids I miss being in Vietnam, and long to get back to our centre.

But seeing how much people - including school kids - truly care, and are interested, in the street kids of Vietnam is a huge inspiration to me.

Sweet as, bro

2011-03-08T04:15:00.002+07:00

I'm on the road now, hopping around Australia and New Zealand (with huge thanks to Jetstar for providing the flights - and a couple of very kind people for offering places to stay!)

Over the weekend I was in Auckland, where 3 Blue Dragon boys are studying at NTEC college. They arrived in September, and 2 are now preparing to head back to Vietnam, having completed their English studies and some hospitality courses. The oldest of the 3, Chinh, is staying on for at least 6 months more to complete a Business diploma... but he's doing so well that the college is now talking about offering a second year of study to provide him with an even better qualification.

These 3 guys - pictured below - are inspiring young people. Each has spent time working on the streets of Hanoi; one doing shoe shine, one selling newspapers, and one as a gang leader. Studying in New Zealand was beyond their imagination, and yet they have not only survived, they've thrived.

Their teachers are happy with them, and they now have friends from all around the world. Mastering the life of 'international student' and living in a hostel have been incredible learning experiences beyond what they've mastered in class. And on top of it all, they've earned a reputation for helping other newly arrived students to settle in and sort out their problems.

Of course, as an Australian, I'm a little concerned about their Kiwi pronunciation, and the way they call me 'bro' now. (Everyone knows the PROPER English term is 'mate.'). For anyone unfamiliar with the nuances of New Zealand English, check out the New Zealand government's official guide to the language here.

In a couple of weeks, two of the boys will return to Hanoi, and Chinh will continue his studies without them. For each of them, they must soon face the issue of what to do with their newly acquired skills and qualifications. I'm hoping that they'll find a way to help others in Vietnam; but I'll be just as happy if they continue their studies and keep on building up their own education.

So far...

2011-03-04T13:22:00.001+07:00

At Blue Dragon, we keep a record of all our progress and achievements from month to month - anyone who has received an email from us will have seen this.

Our March stats have just been updated... Here's what we've done so far!

To date, Blue Dragon has:
Sent 1,912 kids back to school and training
Provided accommodation to 109 girls and boys
Served 204,543 meals
Built or repaired 38 homes for families
Distributed 15,157 litres of milk
Handed out 22,514 kilos of rice
Reunited 71 runaway children with their families
Taken 709 kids to a doctor or hospital
Put 5 teens through drug rehab
Obtained legal registration papers for 551 children
Rescued 101 trafficked children
Placed 62 teens in jobs
Played 883 games of soccer!

Not bad for an organisation with such humble beginnings!

The death of microcredit?

2011-03-02T05:17:00.000+07:00

Over recent months, I've watched with some disappointment as criticism of microcredit schemes has mounted and the awful pendulum of popularity has swung away from what was, until recently, the 'big thing' in charity and development. For those who have put their hearts and souls into developing microcredit for the poor, this must be a most dispiriting time.

These two articles appeared in the New York Times during January; and a simple online search reveals other such criticisms appearing from time to time over the past year.

Microcredit pioneer faces an enquiry...

Microlenders, honored with nobel, are struggling

Just a few years ago, the Grameen Bank and similar schemes around the world were the darling of development. Now, it seems, they are not. Social enterprises have taken their place.

How has this happened? Was microcredit really a bad idea all along?

My own take on this - and others may have different insights - is that microcredit went from being a good, concrete practice to a romanticised notion that could never live up to its ideal. Yunus, arguably the 'father' of microcredit, never saw his scheme as being the one and only solution to world poverty, but eventually this became the common perception of it. Even within Blue Dragon, over several years I received many emails from people and some big organisations asking us if we were interested in starting microcredit programs. As much as I like microcredit, it has never been a significant part of our work, although we've certainly given loans and helped families set up their own businesses.

The problem seems to be, though, that too many people came to think that microcredit was the answer to everything. And when they came to see that it wasn't, they believed it had failed. They were judging microcredit against imaginary criteria.

And now, to use the cliche, the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.

Donor attention has turned to social enterprises.

Again, social enterprises are great; but they are not the answer to everything. Those involved in forming this new field have never claimed that they could end all poverty. They help certain types of people in specific instances, and they can do an excellent job at providing training and employment.

I fear, though, that perception is now shifting into that same fairytale view that clouded microcredit schemes. Countless institutional donors will only fund the creation of social enterprises, to the exclusion of everything else. People are again seeing them as being a cure-all; an excellent idea is in danger of becoming a short lived fad. When the media starts noticing that social enterprises are imperfect, will they turn on them, too, and condemn them as failures?

Street Myths #2: Vocational training is good for street kids

2011-02-28T12:29:00.001+07:00

Following on from my earlier blog entry about the myth of 'street kids have no families', today I want to write about another comment that I often hear, particularly from other charities in Vietnam.

In itself, it sounds fair and reasonable. Vocational training is good for street street kids. Who could disagree with that?

The problem is that this myth works on two assumptions.

First, it assumes that street kids are basically all the same, and equally, street kids are different to everyone else. And yet, street kids are as varied and different as any other group of young people in the world.

Second, and worse, is the assumption that street kids are not interested in academics. Vocational training tends to be hands-on study leading to work in hospitality or a trade. In believing that this is what all street kids want to do, it ignores those who are actually good at their studies and would like to go on to university, for example.

Since we started, Blue Dragon has worked with over 2000 kids. Each is as individual as any child in any family or school anywhere.

One of the kids we worked with, a boy, has gone on to work for the government as a garbage collector. He has a stable job, he loves the team he works in, and he has saved up enough money to build a small house for himself.

Another of our kids, a girl now aged 18, is studying civil engineering at university. She is having a terrific time, coming close to the top of her classes, and thrives on the challenges of the academic pursuit she's taken on.

We also have plenty of kids who have indeed gone on to vocational training - including at VIP Bikes and KOTO, two training enterprises in Hanoi.

The point is that you can't say "vocational training is good for street kids" any more than you can say "vocational training is good for all kids." And it's not. It's perfect for some, ok for others, and inadequate for the rest.

In other words, street kids need the same options and opportunities as the rest of us.

Caught!

2011-02-22T10:48:00.002+07:00

Some great news this morning.

Vietnamese police have caught a trafficker who has been kidnapping girls and selling them to Chinese brothels. The article mentions 7 girls - but their investigation indicates that there are many, many more.

This is the guy who abducted the girls we rescued last March, in a joint operation with Vietnamese authorities into China. His sister, also involved, is yet to be caught, but that should happen soon.

I'm so relieved that they finally caught him!

‘VIP’ arrested for selling 7 girls to China brothels

Tuoi Tre News

Updated : Mon, February 14, 2011,4:04 PM (GMT+0700)

Dao Van Duong at police station

Photo: VnExpress

Claiming himself as a big businessman, Dao Van Duong lured 7 girls aged 17-23 to China on long holidays only to sell them to brothels there.

Hanoi police arrested Duong, 27, last Friday when he was visiting his ex-girlfriend in Lang Son northern province bordering China and planning to sell her.

Duong would introduce himself as owner of a big coffee shop in Hanoi and a businessman trading in clothes and electronic items imported from China.

In fact he is only a local porter at a border region.

A 23-year-old girl who escaped sexual slavery several days after being sold in China told Vietnamese police that she was tricked by his charisma and extravagance.

At the end of last March, Duong invited her, a then promotional girl at a bar in Hanoi, to go on a business trip with him to China to import clothes.

But he sold her shortly after.

According to police, Duong has sold around 7 young women aged 17 – 23. For each woman sold, he would receive VND100 million (US$5,000).

At present, 4 out of the 7 victims have been rescued from brothels in China.

Police are hunting down his accomplices.

Getting kids off the street

2011-02-16T12:00:00.002+07:00

Here's a link to an online article which another agency, Catholic Relief Services, has written about street kids in Vietnam:

Getting Vietnam's kids off the street

Much of the information came from Blue Dragon, and the kids interviewed were at our centre.

My favorite quote: "I feel very happy here. Everyone respects me and loves me."

A football tournament

2011-02-14T16:08:00.003+07:00

The Blue Dragon United team had the pleasure of joining in a soccer tournament over the weekend - and had a chance to play on grass fields!

Some of our kids with hearing impairments are learning basic photography, so they joined in the outing and captured some shots of the players. A few of their snaps are below...

Family and friends

2011-02-07T07:03:00.003+07:00

Tet (Lunar New Year) in Vietnam is a very important time of year for all people. The poorest child, the most powerful banker - all celebrate Tet by returning to their 'homeland' in the countryside and spending time eating and drinking together.

Family first, but friends come a close second. Especially on the 2nd and 3rd days of the new year, everyone goes visiting their distant relatives and best friends. It's a reasonably formal occasion; suddenly all the men in Vietnam are wearing ties and suits, even some of the teenagers!

My own Tet was very quiet. I am bound to stay at home in Hanoi over the holiday because of my 4-legged children (don't you think they look like me?).

I did my own fair share of visiting / receiving visitors, although I didn't go so far as to donning a tie. Some of the staff invited me to their homes to eat with their families (it's aaaaall about eating), and some of our older kids, who now live independently, came to visit me at my house. These are the simple yet profound moments that make Tet in Vietnam so memorable.

There's one particular family that I visit each Tet. As Blue Dragon has grown larger over the years, I can't know all of the families personally, but this is one I've known for almost 7 years.

It's a family of 7 sons raised by their Grandmother near the Red River in a slum area known for its drugs and crime. The youngest of the 7 sons drowned in the river shortly before I came into contact with the family; at that time, the oldest son had already been sent to prison, then aged 17. He's 24 years old now.

He's just been released - I met him for the first time a few days ago - and 3 of the other brothers are currently in drug rehab centres. We helped them in the past to attend a very good rehabilitation service, but on their release they found it too easy to drift back into smoking heroin to dull their pains. They're wonderful people, and I deeply regret that I couldn't help them straighten their lives out. It's probably my greatest failure since starting Blue Dragon in 2003.

That leaves just 2 surviving brothers out of 7 who have never been imprisoned and addicted to heroin. Their lives have been incredibly difficult. Their mother is in prison - I've never met her, she's been away such a long time - and their father, also addicted to heroin, died in 2007.

The brothers have mostly been raised by their beautiful grandmother, who deserves an award for all she's done. I cannot imagine how she must perceive the change in Vietnam over the years; having lost nearly all of her family to drugs must be the most alien concept, but she keeps on doing all she can. She loves her grandsons dearly.

And so the best meal of my year was with Grandma and the 3 brothers, sitting on a straw mat on their floor. I took a photo of the meal before we started. Grandma had obviously spent the whole morning preparing it, and throughout lunch she was devoted to making sure I ate as much of it as humanly possible.

After lunch, Grandma pulled out some folders of family photos and we looked through together - at images of the youngest brother, now gone; at pictures of weddings, birthdays, and happy times; and at relatives now imprisoned or passed away.

I think that Grandma simply wanted to reminisce; and for me it was an honour to be 'let in' to so much of her family history.

For the 2 younger brothers, Blue Dragon will keep on helping them with their schooling, and I hope that in a few years time they'll be in good jobs and well able to look after themselves. Their oldest brother will need some help now to come to grips with living back at home - Hanoi has changed an awful lot in 7 years - and then some assistance to find a job.

And although Grandma doesn't quite fit in so neatly to our goals as a Children's Foundation, I'm pretty sure we'll keep finding ways to support her, too.

Street Myths #1: Street kids have no families

2011-02-01T06:11:00.000+07:00

Over the coming month I will be writing from time to time about some of the common myths relating to street children, starting with the myth that street kids have no families. I'm hoping to help people gain a greater understanding of who street kids are, and why Blue Dragon does what it does! All feedback and comments are welcome.

I've heard this one many times - and I used to subscribe to this belief too. Surely children living and working on the streets must all be orphans, with no family and nobody to care for them?

Quite often when we meet street children for the first time, they'll tell Blue Dragon staff the same story: "I have no family." The most common story we hear is "My parents have died and my aunts and uncles kicked me out."

But in the past 8 years of working with street kids in Hanoi, there have been just a handful of cases in which this was true. Nearly everyone has family - whether it's parents, siblings, grandparents, or aunts and uncles.

So why do the kids tell us otherwise?

This is simply a defense mechanism. When we first meet street kids, they have no idea who we are, or if they can trust us. So they have a ready-made story that they've been telling everyone who asks them who they are. It's actually quite a sensible thing for them to do.

(In the same way, the kids very often tell us false names - another defense strategy. Some of the kids who have given us false names are with us for such a long time before we find out the truth that we keep on using the 'nickname' even when we know the real name).

The kids do have families, so as a charity aiming to help kids get their lives back on track, one of our biggest challenges is to see if we can 'heal the rift' between the child and their family, if indeed there is one.

It's Tet now, and the streets of Hanoi are suddenly quiet. Just about everyone has left the city to visit their homeland.

Normally, Blue Dragon would have at least half a dozen kids who have nowhere to go - because they are unable, or unwilling, to spend this important time with their families.

This year, however, we have none. All of the kids, including those who stayed with us over Tet last year, have gone home.

This is not exactly a story that will make it into the newspapers, but it's an incredible development for the kids. There are children who had no family to go to last year, but who do this year.

How has that happened?

To be frank - lots of hard work.

At times, our staff have had to do 'detective work' to trace family members who have moved or disappeared, and that can take months, or even years. Recently I wrote this entry about us finding the family of a boy named Tam who hasn't been home for 5 years; it wasn't a happy ending, but the boy does now know where his family is, and in fact is with them right now.

It's taken us close to a year to reach that conclusion.

With just a few rare exceptions, street kids do have families. For Blue Dragon - or any organisation - to effectively help the children, we have to do more than help the individual child; we have to find out how to help the whole family.

Tet fever!

2011-01-31T09:52:00.004+07:00

Vietnam in now in the midst of Tet (lunar new year) fever. This is like Christmas and new year combined, and then put into overdrive.

Tet is so important here because, firstly, most people work 7 days per week, and Tet is the ONLY time they stop and relax; and secondly because there are many beliefs, superstitions, and traditions surrounding the lunar new year, such as the idea that if you are working on the first day then you'll have to work very hard for the entire year.

Here are some pics from the Hoi An Children's Home, where the kids and staff joined together for a terrific party late last week.

Getting everything clean is essential, and all the children pitched in to make the Home look beautiful - starting with the fence outside!

With preparations complete, the party could begin. There were games....

... and gifts...

... and the Home's Director, Mrs Diep, congratulated the kids on their studies and progress.

Lots of happy children. What else matters?

P.S. Some blogs which have been posting photos of Tet in Hanoi are here:

Our Man In Hanoi

Going with the pho

The city that never sleeps in

Crumbs

2011-01-24T07:07:00.000+07:00

I have a terrific idea for schools around the world that will enable them to save MILLIONS of dollars every year: fire all of your teachers!

In their place, recruit enthusiastic young travelers from around the world. There are gap year students and people of all ages from every nation eager and willing to have a new experience as they backpack their way from country to country. Think of the fun your students will have as they meet their Brazilian math teacher, have a cultural exchange with their French English teacher, and learn new sports with this week's PE teacher from Scotland! Or Bavaria! Or somewhere. Every 2 or 3 weeks there'll be new teachers, with fresh ideas and perspectives to contribute.

Great idea, right?

OK, I'm being tongue in cheek. Clearly it would be a terrible idea. But this is how the 'voluntourism' industry works. They place travelers in positions of care and responsibility in orphanages, children's centres, and even schools in developing countries for a few weeks or months at a time, and argue that this will be of benefit to the poor, disadvantaged children.

If it's so good for Vietnam, why isn't it good for Australia or the US?

The answer: because we wouldn't have a bar of it. We know that our children need consistency in long term relationships, and professionals to care for and educate them.

Last week's blog post about volunteerism and the letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald has received a very mixed reaction. Several people have responded quite positively, while others have seen my comments as an attack on the universe as we know it. This advocate of voluntourism claims that my motivation in writing what I did was simply to attract the media. All I wanted to do was to urge caution in adopting the 'hands-on' approach to corporate social responsibility, but some of the many related issues (such as voluntourism, which is actually quite a different matter) have been brought in to the discussion.

In fact, the bigger issue that I'm concerned with is the question: What is appropriate care for street kids and disadvantaged children?

It's ultimately an issue of children's rights. Do children living in poverty have the same rights to privacy and a good education, or should those rights be limited simply because they are poor? (If kids who live in safe, secure families don't have to put up with foreign visitors coming into their homes and their bedrooms to play with them, then why should children in orphanages?)

This all reminds me of a line from a U2 song, Crumbs from your table:

Would you deny for others
What you demand for yourself?

How is that our world can insist that children living in poverty in Vietnam should be satisfied with improper care, when we demand the absolute best care possible for our own children?

Along the same vein is another issue that most charities in developing countries face: funding levels.

About 10 years ago, my father was seriously ill and in need of urgent heart surgery. He was in a rural hospital which didn't have the facilities for such an operation, so a specialised recovery team flew in by charter plane from a regional hospital, prepared my father (by then slipping into a coma) for the flight, and accompanied him back the 200 or so kilometers to a hospital north of Sydney. They completed the surgery that night, and for the next 10 days my father was in intensive care, with a nurse watching over him 24 hours a day. When he awoke from the coma, he went to another specialised unit for about 2 months until he had resumed most of his strength. I never saw a bill, thanks to Medicare (Americans - eat your hearts out!!) but I would imagine it would have been well over $200,000.

Now... imagine spending that amount of money on a person from a developing country. It would be unconscionable. Had my father been in Vietnam, he almost certainly would have died. That simply isn't fair. Back to U2 again:

Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die.

But sadly, it does. Every day around the world 16,000 children die of hunger... and yet, there's more than enough food to go around. This makes no sense.

Sometimes people say to me that when they visit countries like Vietnam and see poverty first hand, they feel guilty to think of their house or apartment and all the little luxuries that they take for granted.

However, they shouldn't feel guilty. My hope is that the Blue Dragon kids can also have a home and a comfortable life. I don't envy those who already have those things; instead, I want all people to have those things.

Our world is full of imperfections and injustices. It always has been, and always will be. My work at Blue Dragon gives me a chance to get it right with at least a few of the world's disadvantaged kids. I'll continue to advocate for volunteerism that doesn't impinge on the rights of the poor, and for funding that's fair and equitable.

Kids in Vietnam deserve more than just the crumbs from the world's table.

The volunteer dilemma

2011-01-20T00:20:00.002+07:00

Blue Dragon was founded by a handful of volunteers - myself included - back in early 2003. Since then, we've had dozens of volunteers, including Vietnamese and people from all around the world.

Volunteers are vitally important to us. So much so that I'll be speaking at a conference in Singapore next week on the topic of volunteerism.

Despite all that, I've had a letter published in an Australian newspaper this week raising a warning about volunteering. I was writing in response to this article, and my letter said this:

Jon Blackwell is right to encourage Australian companies to be ''socially responsible'' by offering support to charities (''Do good deeds because you can'', January 17). But the example he builds his argument on is fraught with problems which need to be at least acknowledged.

When groups travel to developing nations to undertake projects, it may be that the ''givers'' are benefiting more than the ''receivers''.

With practical tasks such as house building, there is the likelihood that local people are being displaced from jobs when foreigners fly in to volunteer. Meantime, the cost of each air ticket could have paid for another new house to be built by local labour.

Charities receiving such groups need to employ co-ordinators and translators to look after them. These resources and funds could well be spent on the needs of the program beneficiaries rather than on the volunteers.

Many charities around the world provide human services such as social work and trauma counselling. Such organisations rarely have the capacity to take groups of volunteers, who will visit for a short time, be unable to speak the language, and cannot possibly substitute for a local staff member.

When companies insist that their financial donations to charities must be tied with the sort of volunteer visits that Blackwell describes, then service organisations are forced to choose between much needed funds and the integrity of their programs.

By all means, companies and individuals should find ways to support the needy both in Australia and around the world. But please stop to consider whether the donor or the beneficiary is benefiting most.

The issue at stake here is not whether volunteering is good or bad, right or wrong. The issue is how people in developed countries can most fruitfully help people in Vietnam and other developing nations.

My letter appears to have struck a nerve with some. Yesterday morning I was interviewed by a Sydney radio station which will broadcast the discussion next Wednesday at 7pm. (I'll aim to have a link to the podcast as soon as it's available). And today a follow-up letter has been printed in the Sydney Morning Herald to rebut the views I've expressed.

The follow-up letter, printed here, starts off:

I was very disappointed to read Michael Brosowski’s letter (January 18), which seemed to discourage charitable giving if it is linked to a hands-on experience for the donor.

The writer goes on to make some perfectly reasonable points about the benefits of traveling to another country to build houses for charity, but doesn't address the shortcomings of this 'hands-on' model for charitable organisations such as orphanages and counselling programs.

In general, charities do a fairly poor job of self reflection; or at least, when we do, we like to keep our shortcomings to ourselves. So it's not surprising that this whole issue of volunteering hasn't been well discussed in the public domain. I think that many charities are afraid of saying anything that might 'disappoint' people - what if it results in fewer donations? What if someone reading my letter to the editor decides that they won't support me now?

It would certainly be easier to just stay quiet.

However, I think that this does deserve some discussion. I'm happy to see that others are starting to talk about the need for 'proper' volunteering, such as this article in The Guardian (and I see that the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum has made the article a sticky).

My own view is that volunteers should mostly be playing roles that are in short supply in developing countries. For example, social work is a relatively new concept in Vietnam, and especially in Hanoi, so Blue Dragon has had several international social workers over the years help to train our staff and develop programs.

As an organisation, we've benefited enormously from that, and the net effect has been better services for the kids.

We've also had volunteers help us set up an accounting system. Some have helped with fundraising. One expat volunteer helped create the database we use for our sponsorship program. Many have taught English (and French) to our children.

Volunteers are invaluable - there's no questioning that. But charities, companies which send volunteers, and the volunteers themselves need to think carefully about all the 'grey areas'. I strongly believe that this needs to be an open discussion, without anger and emotion clouding good judgment.

The dilemma that I raised in my letter comes down to this: What should an orphanage do if it is offered a donation of, say, $10,000, but with the condition that 20 foreign volunteers come and stay for a month?

On one hand, how could a local orphanage say no to such a donation? But on the other... an orphanage needs to be staffed by local social workers, and the kids need to feel safe in the same way that kids living in any family, in any country, need to feel safe at home. A big group of foreign strangers will be fun for a little while, but eventually they'll just be getting in the way of everyday life. Kids need stability, and a constant stream of visitors through your home is exactly the opposite of stability.

To raise much needed funds, an orphanage may feel pressed to accept such a deal. But to preserve its integrity as a safe place for children, it would have to decline such a deal.

Blue Dragon is here to serve street kids and trafficked children as best we can. We have to be sure that all parts of our organisation, volunteers included, are helping us reach that goal.

For those who made it to the end of this very long post, comments and feedback are welcome!

Finding strength

2011-01-18T19:13:00.006+07:00

The terrible death of 10 year old Toby Hai is still very raw for us at Blue Dragon; each day there is a new memory, a new reminder of the little guy we have lost. Photos of Hai at the 2011 Tet Awards, just a few days before he died, are now incredibly precious to us.

As an organisation, I think it's important for us to grieve, and to let this loss deepen our commitment to the children in our care. Toby Hai's sudden departure from our lives must remind us of the need for us to keep on fighting for Vietnam's disenfranchised, empoverished, and homeless children. We must take every opportunity to make their lives better.

And because of that, in these last few days I have been finding that I have to tell myself that I cannot feel guilty for taking care of regular daily tasks... or for feeling good and happy. I'm sure many of my staff are struggling with this same dilemma. Is it really OK to feel normal after an event like this?

In some ways, we don't have much choice. The nature of our work is pretty demanding. The needs of street kids don't take a break for anything, and with Tet (Lunar New Year) looming so close there are countless events and activities demanding my attention.

On Sunday I flew to Hue to join in a Tet celebration with the children we've rescued from trafficking in Ho Chi Minh City factories. Last year's party was at a swimming pool, but this year Hue is cold and wet, so we moved indoors (or at least undercover) to watch a water puppets show and visit a museum.

This was my first chance to meet the 6 kids we got out of factories just a couple of weeks ago, and also to catch up with the 11 youngsters we helped get home last October. It really was very refreshing to spend the day with them. Some of the children had never even been to Hue City before; their only trip out of their village had been the very long bus ride to the south where they were put to work in factories. So the day was a real treat.

I'm heading back to Hanoi tonight, having spent time visiting villages and meeting with a school principal who is re-enrolling some of the trafficked children even though they technically don't qualify to get back into mainstream school at this time of year. It was touching to see the lengths that the local institutions are going to in order to make these children, mostly girls, feel welcome and supported now that they are home.

Some challenges await me back in Hanoi, not the least of which is the continuing need to provide comfort and assurance to the Blue Dragon kids and staff who have been affected by Toby Hai's death.

Farewell to our friend, Toby Hai

2011-01-13T16:12:00.001+07:00

Today I write with the deeply sad news that one of the Blue Dragon children has passed away.

Nguyen Van Hai - or "Toby Hai" as we all called him - died on Wednesday night in a fire on his grandmother's boat. His grandmother perished alongside him. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Hai and his grandmother have been a part of Blue Dragon since 2007. They came to Hanoi to escape their poverty in the countryside, and took up residence on one of the boats moored to the banks of the Red River. For a while they lived on the land - we rented them a house in 2008 - but eventually they drifted back to the river. Sadly, we were in the process of renting them another house when this tragedy occurred.

Hai was about 10 years old, but like so many of the Blue Dragon kids, there was no accurate record of his birth. Nobody even knows where he was born.

He was a lively and very intelligent boy who dealt with his difficult life in an unusually matter-of-fact way for such a little guy. I often thought he was old beyond his age.

One day, in early 2009, I was visiting Hai and his grandmother at their rented house. Hai's grandmother insisted on buying beer for me, and sent Hai off to buy half a dozen bottles of Hanoi Beer. Watching tiny Hai, then only about 8 years old, struggle up the steps laden with beer, which I honestly didn't want, is one of those "only in Vietnam" memories that still brings a smile to my face.

Hai loved football and sports, and his favorite shirt was a second hand sports shirt with the name "Toby" printed on the back, donated to us by an international school here in Hanoi. As long as he could fit into it, he was wearing it; hence the nickname that even the Blue Dragon children know him by.

We'll be holding a memorial ceremony at our centre on Friday to say goodbye to Hai and his grandmother. The staff and children alike are shocked and saddened to have lost someone who we cared for so much.

Postscript: Friday's memorial went well. It was a simple ceremony held in our centre; at one point, someone counted 112 people present, including children, staff, and people from the community. We spoke about Hai and his grandmother; shared our memories of their lives; and everyone was invited to sign a soccer ball which we'll keep at the centre to remember our friend and brother.

Thank you everyone who has expressed their sympathies, both through this blog and through email. Your thoughts are a great comfort to us.

A little magic, and everything's OK

2011-01-09T17:43:00.005+07:00

Recent weeks - and perhaps months - have not been easy.

My last few blog posts have highlighted some very complex cases we're involved in, including some kids who are in very difficult circumstances, and then there was the blog late last year about a strange and difficult situation that our organisation has been in, regarding a robbery at our shelter.

During all of this we've also been preparing for the one big event we hold each year in Hanoi: the Tet Awards, which brings together all of the children receiving our support, past and present, to celebrate their achievements over the last year.

Tet Awards is a big deal for us. This year's was held today at the Hilton Hotel, which straight away tells you that this is a pretty special affair. The Blue Dragon kids are rarely treated to such luxury.

The whole point of the event is to give our kids 3 messages: You are someone special, you are important, and you are cared for. Planning an event that imparts such ideas takes a bit of thought.

Of course, there was lots of singing and dancing. The ceremony kicked off with a dance to "Waving Flag," the anthem of the 2010 World Cup. Our own trophy, for winning the U14's division in the Hanoi Youth Football League, might not be quite as big as the World Cup, but I can tell you that among our kids it's been just as much celebrated.

Our kids then organised a fashion show, woven together using fairy tales from around the world...

an Indian dance...

...and a ballet about a disabled girl wanting to go to school.

One of our kids read a poem that he wrote about his mother, and we finished with a Vietnamese song - "Toi Yeu" (I love).

Being an awards ceremony, there were also a few speeches. Two former beneficiaries who now have jobs helping others (including one who works at Blue Dragon) spoke to the children about hope for the future.

Mrs Lan, whose association for children with disabilities partners with Blue Dragon, praised the kids for their amazing achievements. And 4 of our older 'kids' who no longer need support from Blue Dragon spoke briefly about their lives, telling us all what they're doing now and reminding us how far they've come.

And then there was the Special Awards - 10 award categories in which we recognise the kids who have made an outstanding effort in areas ranging from "Academic Excellence" to "Creativity" and "Strength in Adversity."

Tet Awards is just a 2 hour event, but for our organisation it's the highlight of the year. Along with 320 or so kids, there were dozens of parents and grandparents; there were some Ambassadors and representatives of embassies and NGOs; and there were Blue Dragon staff, former staff, and volunteers.

Sitting on the carpet of the Hilton ballroom, watching our kids shine in so many ways, it occurred to me the challenges we face are nothing when compared to the strength of all the people in that room.

The magic of Tet Awards somehow made everything so much simpler than it has seemed in recent months.

I know we'll get through - and there will be more challenges to come, and we'll get through them, too.

6 and out

2011-01-07T11:01:00.008+07:00

I have a few more details to add about yesterday's rescue trip in Ho Chi Minh City.

In total, 6 children were rescued - bringing Blue Dragon's total number of children rescued from trafficking to 100.

Blue Dragon's staff, Van, and a government official from Hue in central Vietnam have just completed a quick trip to find trafficked children in garment factories.

These children are from an area of the province that is new to us; we are just becoming known in this commune, so although dozens of children have been trafficked, the parents don't yet trust us enough to want us to bring their kids home. That should be changing now, though.

Of the 6 kids, there were 3 girls and 3 boys. All are aged 13 and 14.

All were working in terrible conditions, 100 hours per week, despite having been promised vocational training and better lives. The little guy in the photo at the top couldn't get out of the factory fast enough; as soon as he knew someone had come to get him, he was out the door. He was terrified that we would change our mind, and leave him there.

The pictures tell the story - click on them to see in a larger size.

The factory owner was pushing the photographer away while he took this photo - hence the poor quality.

Working conditions like this are illegal - and very common.

This ain't no vocational training...

The kids are currently on a train heading back to Hue. Once they are there, we'll meet them and arrange a 'welcome home' ceremony - and then start figuring out what help they and their families need for the long term.

A difficult mission, a major milestone

2011-01-06T22:54:00.002+07:00

I'm pleased to announce that today Blue Dragon has helped 6 children from central Vietnam escape from garment factories in Ho Chi Minh City.

I don't yet have all the details or even photos - some time late tomorrow I'll have all the info, once our staff are back in Hanoi and have had a debrief. So far all I know is that it was extremely difficult, with traffickers doing their best to interfere and hide kids from us.

With these 6 children set free, we've reached a new milestone: 100 children released from trafficking!

Not the ending we hoped for

2011-01-05T09:07:00.003+07:00

We've started the year with some very complex cases; one of those is now resolved, but I'm afraid we've reached a very sad conclusion.

14 year old Tam, who has spent his life on the streets and staying with various families, has finally found his relatives in the southern city of Dalat. It's been such a long time that nobody recognised him - he's been gone for over 5 years.

Tam's hope in returning home was to find his grandmother, who raised him, and his father. Tam has no memory of his father, other than a distant recollection of a conversation in a field many years earlier. His mother abandoned him as an infant and left to remarry, so we knew that we would not find her, but we still had hopes of finding the father and his family.

Sadly, it is not to be. Tam's grandmother died in November; his father died just a week ago.

Tam has found his family too late to be reunited with those he most wanted to find. However, he now knows his personal history; he knows when and where he was born, and he has found relatives who still care for him and are glad to know that he is safe and doing well.

Tam will stay with his relatives until lunar new year (in February), and then will head back to Hanoi to live in the Blue Dragon shelter and continue at school. His remaining relatives are very poor, and although they care for Tam he has no strong connection to them.

Our hope for Tam now is that he can rise above this and find in himself a sense of purpose and identity. No matter how much we care for him at Blue Dragon, I'm afraid it can never be the same as having the love of his own parents or grandparents.

First steps

2011-01-04T07:29:00.003+07:00

Yesterday I wrote about Blue Dragon staff starting to prepare for our next rescue trip to find kids who have been taken from central Vietnam to work in garment factories.

Below is a photo of Nam, one of the staff (in the middle), talking with some parents about their children. Nam's job is to explain that their son or daughter is not undertaking vocational training, as the traffickers promised, but is instead working as unpaid labour in a dangerous factory, learning nothing, and with no chance of getting a decent job when the 'contract' is finished.

If the parents agree that their children should come home, they will give us written permission (a thumbprint is enough) so that the traffickers have no grounds to stop us.

This is the very first step in rescuing trafficked children.

It's complicated

2011-01-03T06:40:00.001+07:00

2010 kicked off to a powerful start.

On January 1 last year, I was in Ho Chi Minh City on holiday but a chance encounter with a street kid named Vu sparked off a wonderful series of events which I wrote about in August. On the same day, Blue Dragon's chief lawyer, Van, spent the day teaching government officials in remote communities about preventing child trafficking. This paved the way for a year of great progress in our fight against the trafficking rings which take children as young as 10 from their rural homes to work in garment factories.

2011 has kicked off with some complexities. Nothing that we can't handle, but if this sets the scene for the coming year then we'll have plenty to think about for the next 12 months.

There are 3 big cases underway, all involving some important issues for children.

The first is the case of a runaway teenager named Thuong, which is made that little more complicated by his having an intellectual impairment. Kids with such conditions are much more vulnerable on the streets, while also much more difficult to assist. When Blue Dragon staff meet runaway children, we work fast to find out the whole story - why they've run away, where they're from, and so on - so that we can then start working out what intervention is needed to get the child home or (if necessary) how to sort out a safe, long term solution. Kids with intellectual impairments are less likely to understand the dangers that they face on the streets, and are very likely to have run away from home because of bullying and violence.

Thuong has been around for a couple of weeks now, and our outreach worker Vi has been working closely with him. We've finally had a breakthrough of sorts, and most of January 1 was spent arranging a meeting between Thuong and a relative who happens to live in Hanoi. Some teachers from Thuong's school - which is 4 hours out of Hanoi - also turned up on Saturday, having heard that Thuong was with us, and desperately wanted to meet him, but he refused. He was also quite unhappy about meeting his relative.

This is a very odd turn of events; until now we've reunited 67 runaway children with their families, but never once has school staff turned up in Hanoi to help. Clearly there's more going on here than we know, and Thuong's absolute refusal to see the teachers or return home is also surprising. It looks certain that Thuong will need a great deal of support and counseling before we can hope to see him reunited with his mother.

The second case is one that has been brewing for most of 2010, but an end might finally be in sight.

Early in the year, we came across a very small boy who was living on the streets having moved from family to family around the countryside. Originally from Dalat, Tam had made his way by chance and coincidence to Hanoi, where he lived at a privately run local shelter for some months before returning to the streets. It seems that he's either given up on, or been given up by, just about everyone he's ever met.

The curious thing about Tam's case is how little he knows about his past. Contrary to what most people believe, street children do have families. There are just a few kids I've met over the years who have absolutely no family, or have no way of knowing where their family is. Tam is one of them.

But since we have gotten to know Tam, and he's been living in our shelter, our staff have been putting together the pieces of the puzzle, trying to find out all we can about Tam's life and personal history.

Today, our lawyer Van (who is studying in the US but is back in Vietnam for Christmas) will accompany Tam to Dalat. We believe that we now have enough information to find Tam's family, and we believe that the reunion will be a happy one. Here's to hoping it all works out!

And finally, we're starting the year with a rescue trip to Ho Chi Minh City to find children working in garment factories. That's going to happen some day soon - more info once it's started - but again, there's a twist in this tale.

Although we have conducted many rescue trips in the past, this time we are looking for children from a whole new area, where we aren't so well known yet. This may mean the children will be initially more reluctant to come with us, but we'll have some officials from their home town alongside us so hopefully that won't be much of a problem.

The greater problem will be that the traffickers will be more determined than usual to stop us. Last time we rescued a group of kids, we found that they were working 100 hour weeks to produce garments. With lunar new year now only a month away, the factories are likely to be pushing their 'workers' even harder; and the loss of these unpaid servants will cause the factory owners significant problems. Hey, they might even have to think about employing adults in their place! So some confrontation is likely, but we really need to get these kids out of the factories and back to their homes.

These are the big 3 cases facing us as 2011 commences. All are complex, and to be honest I'm looking forward to the challenge of finding solutions and achieving some great results. But I sure hope that some simpler cases will come our way, too!

Stuff for schools

2010-12-28T08:07:00.001+07:00

Around Vietnam, Blue Dragon is helping about 1000 kids aged from 5 to 21.

Most of these kids are still students - which means we are also working with about 40 schools.

Our goal for the schools is to help them serve their students better, and one way we can do this is by providing the basic equipment that they need. This is especially important as many of the schools we work with are in very poor rural areas, and most of their students live in serious poverty.

This week, I am very happy to say that Blue Dragon is providing equipment to 8 of those schools, all in rural Bac Ninh province. Some schools need computers; some need desks and chairs; and still others need books for their students.

As a former teacher myself, I understand how important it is for schools to have good teaching resources for the benefit of all of their children. It's great to be in a position to help these schools, and I sure hope that we can help many more in 2011.

Christmas Day at Blue Dragon

2010-12-26T14:31:00.007+07:00

The Blue Dragon kids and staff had a terrific Christmas party yesterday. The full set of pics are here, on Facebook.

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-24T14:05:00.002+07:00

To all Blue Dragon's friends around the world - a very happy Christmas to you!

Here in Hanoi, we're planning a party in the park for Saturday the 25th. I'll post some photos over the weekend.

Today we were invited to have lunch at the Sofitel Plaza, so about 15 of us ate at the Ming Palace Restaurant - what a treat! (See below to get a glimpse of our feast). It's a bit hard to not sneak home early and have a nap...

Well, it's kind of like this...

2010-12-22T16:09:00.003+07:00

Apologies for the silence these last few weeks! Anyone who knows me well will know that my lack of blogging can only mean one thing: too much is going on!

Over the last couple of months, we've had some very complicated happenings that read like a season of Prison Break - so it's been easier to say nothing than try to explain.

Here's the sanitised summary: back in October, our shelter was robbed by a masked intruder at night. Whoever was involved was tightlipped about it - for about 6 weeks there was not a murmur on the streets about who had done this, although we had our suspicions.

One of the very few people who knew what had happened finally opened up after a near fatal accident - but in telling us was risking his life and so had to disappear. His sudden compulsion to tell the truth came about when he saw how all his 'friends' abandoned him the moment he was in trouble, while Blue Dragon staff stood by his side and cared for him.

In short, he told us who the 3 burglars were, and how they had planned and carried out their crime.

So we knew who had robbed us, but had only the testimony of someone who was both implicated and on the run.

We passed information on to the police, including the names of the 3 young men who were involved, but nothing happened. And then - still nothing. And then - some more weeks of nothing.

Finally, the ring leader (I'll call him "C") was caught for a separate offense. He was riding a stolen motorbike, racing without a helmet, and carrying weapons. He confessed to robbing us.

And then he was released.

Some more weeks of 'nothing' ensued. During this time, it was quite difficult for me and my staff to see these guys every other day - to pass them on the street and see them wave at us! - but not be able to do anything.

Last week, the other 2 young men were detained, again on separate charges: apart from robbing Blue Dragon, they were leading a crime spree which seems to have involved stealing at least 30 motorbikes. They're now in serious trouble and, apart from one of the guy's mothers ringing us to ask if we'll help to get them released (you really think we'd do that!?) it looks like we won't have to worry about them any more.

The ringleader, C, however, continues to enjoy his freedom. He spends his days at an internet cafe near where our football team plays, and his nights stealing motorbikes. But we continue to hope that someone will eventually catch him.

To top it all off, someone made a half hearted attempt at robbing my house recently, and got away with a rag and a broken carry bag. They then rang me to claim that they were dead, and blame me for that. (Eh?)

Oh well, this is the silly season, I suppose.

Balloons and baked bread

2010-12-02T08:37:00.000+07:00

The kids at Blue Dragon's Hanoi centre have had a real treat for the last couple of weeks.

Some amazing Singaporean volunteers have been visiting and teaching basic cooking skills. They even donated an oven, so the kids have been baking away every afternoon and creating all kinds of sweet dishes to share - brownies, bread, and a great assortment of cakes.

While the food bakes, the kids are learning to make balloon shapes. It's just too much fun!

Special thanks to the great people at Wow! who have organised all this.

Pics below...

Fish for sale

2010-11-30T15:50:00.003+07:00

Wanna buy a fish?

Mrs Be, of Hue province, has 130kg of fish for sale.

For the past 12 months, Mrs Be has been learning to raise fish in the lagoon near her home. She's learned to record data and information; she's battled (successfully) against disease; she's learned to determine when the fish need more food, and when they have too much. She's even learned how to make suitable under-water cages to keep the fish contained.

This has all been part of a program to help families in Mrs Be's community improve their incomes.

Why is this important?

Mrs Be's daughter, Diep, is one of the 94 children we've rescued from trafficking. Her village is a 'hot spot' for child traffickers, who take girls and boys to Ho Chi Minh City to work like slaves in garment factories. Diep was just 13 years old when she was taken to the factories where she worked for 8 months until we took her home.

Mrs Be's fish harvest is worth about $500US - the most money she's ever made in her life! She and the other families will put some of this money back into a community fund to help other poor families; and in coming weeks Mrs Be will use some of her profit to start growing more fish.

Fighting trafficking is not just about rescuing kids from factories. It's also about ensuring the long term safety and livelihood of their family and community. Growing fish isn't a huge part of what we do here at Blue Dragon, but it sure has been important for Mrs Be and her daughter Diep.

Preparing for the big world

2010-11-25T17:07:00.003+07:00

As part of Blue Dragon's program for disadvantaged kids in Hanoi, teenagers are invited to take part in occasional workshops on career choice and goal setting.

This afternoon, our psychologist and social workers ran a session for 10 kids from a variety of backgrounds - some were former street kids, some from generally disadvantaged families - to get them thinking about what they want for their futures.

Our psychologist, Lan, leading the workshop.

The 'expectation' tree: what I expect from the future.

Tell me more!

Trying to hit a goal without knowing where to aim...

Overall - a great success!

Every day is a happy day

2010-11-22T16:45:00.005+07:00

... or so says the sign that welcomed me to a school in Bac Ninh province today.

More precisely, this says: Every day of going to school is a happy day.

That's not exactly how I remember my school days, but today was a happy day indeed.

I traveled this morning to 3 schools in a rural area about 40 km from Hanoi, where Blue Dragon supports kids to study. We're currently supporting over 500 children in this province, from Grades 5 through to 12, and that number will rise to 600 by January.

The kids in this province are usually living with their family, but without a helping hand they'd have to quit school and would end up working on the streets or be trafficked south. Just last week my staff had to intervene in an 'employment' situation in which one of the girls from Bac Ninh was clearly on the way to being tricked and exploited... that was no hairdressing shop...

Tuyen, our program coordinator, and I went to Yen Phong Secondary School (Grades 6-9) this morning to visit the school's brand new library. A private donor gave us the funds to build this - a neat little building inside the school grounds.

The kids were excited to finally be allowed to look inside, so of course the first thing they did was grab the books off the shelves and get reading!

At our next stop, a primary school a few kilometers down the road, we arrived in time for the kids' morning break... which was announced by some catchy pop music, instead of the normal 'beating of the drum'; and we soon discovered that the music was also a call for all the kids to get out into the playground and dance!

I've never seen anything quite like it. What a way to start your break time!

With the dancing behind us, Tuyen and I headed off to a high school (Grades 10-12), which was possibly the most impressive high school I've seen in rural Vietnam. It was super-well organised; many students approached me to speak in English; and the principal spoke proudly of the links he has forged with the locally-based foreign industries to ensure that his students who don't make it to university can still get a decent job. The school also had some terrific facilities which appear to have been paid for by the principal twisting the arm of local business leaders. Good job, I say!

Underlying all the niceties, though, was a disturbing common theme: the schools are battling a set of growing social problems as their province develops financially. Heroin use, each school said, was on the rise. Those most likely to end up with an addiction are young unemployed adults - especially those who quit school early and so have few job prospects.

Compounding the problem, ironically, is that some major electronic and mobile phone companies have set up and so bought land from the farmers. The compensation was very generous - and resulted in a large number of people suddenly having a lot of money and nothing to do. Their land was gone, so they had nowhere to farm rice; but they also had no idea of what to do with all their new money. Many families chose to knock down their perfectly adequate homes and build new, multi-storey houses... only to find they had little left to support their families into the future.

As a former teacher, I always enjoy visiting schools and getting a feel for how the 'school community' works. Today I was reminded of what an important role schools play in our world. It was truly heart warming to see how these 3 schools each grapples with the social problems of their neighbourhood - one through building a library, one through dance, and one through business partnerships.

It's a great feeling to be a part of that, and to know that we are making a difference.

Rising tide

2010-11-18T08:45:00.005+07:00

Spare a thought today for the kids and staff of the Hoi An Children's Home who are battling the annual floods that have hit the town.

So far there have been no serious problems - the first flood has been fairly low and is receding already. However, the radio is warning of a much larger flood coming down the river soon.

The kids are all OK - their spirits are higher than the water! - but when the time comes to start cleaning, they're all in for a challenge!

Some pics below to show how it's been so far...

This is the view of the front yard, taken from the steps of the home:

And here's the front view of the Home. All the kids have to move up to the top floor to escape the flood - and all the equipment, files and electrical items must be carried up the stairs.

And finally... here's how the staff get to work, and how the kids get to school:

A moment of pride

2010-11-06T15:44:00.005+07:00

I'm starting to sound a bit like an old drum at the moment - constantly banging on about road accidents in Vietnam. But for the last couple of weeks, they've been a recurring theme at Blue Dragon.

Two older teens who have both lived in Blue Dragon's shelters in the past, and have since been living independently, were involved in a pretty awful crash just over a week ago. The details are still unclear but they were riding around Hoan Kiem Lake at midnight, probably racing, and naturally without helmets.

They crashed hard, the rider slamming into a pole and his pillion being thrown into the front wall of somebody's house.

The pillion - who I'll call Nam - has just been released from hospital after a couple of days in intensive care followed by a week in recovery. The rider is still in intensive care, and doctors are not optimistic about his chances of survival.

My feelings about this are terribly mixed. I'm worried, concerned, angry, and sad all at the same time. What were they doing racing the streets? Why weren't they wearing helmets? The rider was in a very serious accident just last year - did he learn nothing?

And yet, I can't forget that these are young guys running wild in a world that cares little for them. Maybe they feel that they have nothing to lose.

I was visiting Nam in hospital early in the week with 3 of the Blue Dragon kids. Nam's uncle was looking after him (in Vietnam, you need a relative to look after you round the clock in hospital) so we made quite a crowd around Nam's hospital bed.

Like me, Uncle was confused and upset by all this. But unlike me, Uncle believes that lecturing Nam is the best way to go; just keep on telling him what he's doing wrong, and he'll certainly improve! The distant, long suffering look in Nam's eyes told me that Uncle had something of a history of lecturing.

At this point, the 3 kids who were with me decided to speak up. Not in a rude way, either: they couldn't be faulted for their politeness. But they wanted Uncle to understand more about Nam, and to have some empathy with street kids.

The boys knew what they were talking about, too.

One is a 23 year old, studying in Grade 8, who ran away from home at age 16 because he'd never been to school and he wanted to learn to read and write. He had to twice escape from a detention centre to get back to his studies, and he now works part time for another charity.

One is training now to be a mechanic, but he was one of the first of the trafficked children who we helped to escape from Ho Chi Minh City back in 2006.

And the third boy has recently returned to Hanoi after 18 months in a reform school. He has an amazing history of his own - he's lived an absolutely wild life on the streets at times, but is now making an incredible effort to 'buckle down' and do his best. He's living in our shelter and working full time at a local restaurant, while also studying English in the evenings.

So these 3 young guys knew what they were talking about when they spoke up in defence of street kids.

Each took a turn at explaining to Uncle that they, too, have been through periods of running on the wrong side of the law; that they too have spent time on the streets, living from day to day and not thinking about tomorrow. But, they reasoned, they made it through - with a helping hand from people who cared about them. Uncle nodded, understood, and asked them more about their experiences.

Nam listened to all this too - I guess you could say he was a captive audience - and although he said nothing, I know this had an impact on him.

And as for me - what a great moment to stand and listen to these 3 guys sharing their experiences, warts and all, and argue that every kid deserves another chance. I left with tears in my eyes.

It's a trap!

2010-11-02T20:50:00.002+07:00

Well... maybe or maybe not...

But we've recently discovered a book being sold called Blue Dragon Children's Foundation for over $80... and the publishers, known as Alphascript, seem to be well known for taking free articles off the internet and selling them for rather a lot.

Our good friends at Wikipedia explain it here.

Anyway, if you seriously want to part with $80 or $90, go for it! Just beware that the book isn't from us and doesn't benefit our kids in any way! (We'd hate for one of our supporters to buy it thinking that it was our own publication!)

The price of gold

2010-10-30T11:28:00.003+07:00

Spot the difference:

The Super Rich Are Buying Gold

vs.

Runaway prompts police probe into gold mine slavery

Yes, "gold mine slavery". I've written about this once before, just over a year ago - the link is here - and it's clearly still a common and widespread practice here in Vietnam.

That article is worth reading. The photo below, taken from Thanh Nien News, is of a 15 year old boy who fled a brutal gold mine and spent a month lost in the mountains.

In another news item, billionaire George Soros suggests that the surge in gold prices won't last because gold "is costly to dig up."

Not in Vietnam, Mr Soros.