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On Saturday last week, Blue Dragon led a brief rescue trip to the garment factories of Ho Chi Minh City. Along with a Red Cross delegate and a government official, we located 10 children aged 11-15 from the provinces of Hue and Dien Bien Phu.

We're finding that each new rescue trip is a little more difficult than the last. The traffickers and factory owners (generally they are not the same people) are becoming more evasive and argumentative.

On Saturday, one factory owner, a woman, cried streams of crocodile tears - "Please don't take the children. I am just trying to help them!" Meantime, the girls in her 'care' were terrified and pleaded silently for us to take them. "She would beat us to death if you left us," one of the girls told us.

Nine girls and one boy are out of the factories and back home. A good result, I think.

Following are some photos to give an idea of the typical factory conditions.








While this rescue was taking place in the south, our Outreach team was working with a young boy from the northern mountains.

"Minh" is a tiny 14 year old who, as a child, was sold by his father to another man, who raised him as a son/servant... until he got sick of him and threw him out. Minh took to the streets of Hanoi, surviving day to day until our staff found him and took him in.

Minh lives in our shelter and goes to school, but we've been holding out hope that his father might still have some feelings for him, and interest in his welfare. Sadly, a 3 day round-trip to meet Minh's father was fruitless. It only confirmed that Minh will be living in our care for some years to come.

We're happy for that, but it sure would have been nice for him to have a happy-ever-after reunion with his father.

It's out

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Stronger

The past weeks have been hard on the Blue Dragon team. Sorry for the silence, both on the blog and on Facebook, but it's difficult to 'get back to normal' while everyone is still grieving.

We haven't been sitting about listlessly, though. We still have more than 1300 kids in our care who need us for support, and many of them have also been affected by Nghia's death.

Over the years, Nghia had lent a hand to many other young disadvantaged people, and recently he was looking out for his older brothers and a group of boys who were unemployed. These kids are all devastated, and Blue Dragon has had to step up to help them through these weeks.

More than a month ago, I wrote about our sadness at one of the kids from our Shelter being detained to a Reform School for 2 years. We believe he has a case for being released, and are still working on that, although the signs are all bad so far.

A lot of effort is also going in to our search for a new centre. Some time during this year, Blue Dragon needs to move out of its current building, which means our drop-in centre, classrooms, lunch room, and office all need to relocate. This is a major undertaking, and finding a new building (or land) which can fit us all in is taking a long time. Much of my own time over the past 2 weeks has been out looking at buildings - I feel like I know enough to become a real estate agent now. But it's been draining, and I look forward to having some good news about our plans.

The strength of our kids and staff has kept Blue Dragon going through these tough times. Now, just as Nghia would want, we must all be strong for the kids who need us.

And a quick note of thanks once again to all who have been in contact with messages of support. These have been very much appreciated.

A death in the family

The news on Friday February 24 was a massive blow. One of our boys, 20 year old Nghia, was killed in a hit-and-run near his home in the countryside.

Nghia had been on his way home to collect some paperwork that he needed to open his second mobile phone shop in Hanoi. This is a young guy who had overcome major difficulties in life to become a real 'success story'. And here at Blue Dragon, he was greatly loved. The 100 or so people who packed into our drop-in centre the following Monday were a testament to that.

I was particularly close to Nghia; I was the person who first met him on the streets and helped him get back to his family. Over the years, we had a great friendship and could call on each other for anything. Right at the start of January, Nghia walked into our office wearing a jacket that was far too big for him. When I commented on what a nice jacket it was, he took it off and gave it to me. It fitted perfectly, so he insisted I keep it. Talk about "giving me the shirt off his back." That was typical Nghia. Everyone who knows him has a similar story.

Losing him so suddenly and so unexpectedly has been tough. Really tough. I still find myself wondering if maybe I'm confused; maybe it wasn't him after all. Maybe it's all just been a bad dream.

Through this past week, I have found myself deeply moved by the whole Blue Dragon family - the staff and kids alike. At times when I have had no solace to offer, no strength to share, I have felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see one of my team or one of our older kids, also with tears in their eyes, reaching out to support me. It's not supposed to be like this; I'm supposed to be the strong one leading Blue Dragon through a difficult time.

What a beautiful family I have, that they are strong for me when I am the weak one.

Over the weekend I had to move house, and found myself once again surrounded by my team, ready to pitch in without me even asking. People turned up to carry boxes and lift furniture - I have no idea what I would have done if they hadn't shown up. I don't even know who paid the truck that carried my stuff.

Against the backdrop of my own grief this past week, the extraordinary compassion of those around me has carried me through.

I know I need to be strong again, and I will. But I will never forget those who have helped me through. Thank you to all of you.

Terrible news

Yesterday in the early afternoon, our world lost one of its brightest stars.

Le Dinh Nghia (pictured in the grey jacket), an extraordinary young man from Thanh Hoa province, died in an apparent road accident. He was a few months short of his 21st birthday.

Nghia's funeral was held in his home town this morning, and at least 300 people were there. Everyone is just devastated.

I met Nghia on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City in 2006; I first wrote about him here. That photo of him shining shoes is a precious memory of my first encounter with Nghia. I knew immediately that he was somebody special. He was never a beneficiary of Blue Dragon; he was a friend and a little brother. He was a part of us.

Nghia brought sunshine and life. I have a vivid memory of hearing him one morning calling me with the words: "Mot ngay moi!" In English, he was saying: "It's a new day!" That was his bubbling, confident personality. I've never known anyone like him.

That same personality landed him in plenty of trouble over the years. He kept us busy bailing him out of a fight at school, or a run-in with the police... I had my own arguments with him from time to time. But he was so true to his name, which he once told me means: "Loyalty." No matter what conflict or argument he had with anyone, he was still their friend. Nghia would help anyone with anything - no matter the personal cost. I once asked him if he knew how to repair my CD player. He didn't, but he spent the next 3 months searching until he found someone who could. And then he refused to let me pay.

Nghia's sudden departure leaves a huge hole in many of us. So many people relied on him. After finishing some schooling, Nghia went on to study mobile phone repair, and he opened his own shop. Late last year we made this short film of Nghia for our website:

Nghia: In my own words

But there's so much he does not say in that short clip.

Like how he almost couldn't open a shop because he used all of his savings to help an older brother who was in trouble back in the countryside, so had to go into debt to start his business.

Or how he then grew the shop to employ 3 of his older brothers, and other friends who needed a job.

Or how he then started training other disadvantaged kids in mobile phone repair.

He doesn't say that he then went on to get a driver's licence and buy a taxi so he could work a second job at night; and that he paid for another brother to also get his licence so that they could work the taxi around the clock.

And he doesn't say that with all of that under his belt, he still wanted to do more, so he started studying to be a DJ.

Nghia had so many dreams, and they were never for him alone. All the money he earned was for his family; one of his brothers married just 2 weeks ago, and as far as I know Nghia paid for nearly everything.

He gave me one of my two dogs; a tiny pup I called Bear. I still have Bear, and I'm sure she senses that something is wrong.

Tonight I still find myself in disbelief that Nghia has gone. I cannot imagine a few days going by without seeing him at his shop, or sending him a text message, or having a quick drink with him at a cafe.

Nghia, you were a great person and you lived a good life. You left us far too soon, but we will do all we can to honour your beautiful memory.

Same problems, different solutions

Once upon a time - long, long, ago - I was a school teacher in Sydney. I taught in a pretty good school in a neighbourhood that is reputed to be rather rough.

One day, I was sitting in the school playground talking to the head of my department when an incident unfolded. A group of teens from another suburb had entered our school to attack one of the students, but were interrupted by a Science teacher (I'll call him "John"), who marched the kids out to the street to send them on their way. Something sparked a sudden fury in one of the boys, who leapt back over the fence, charged at John, and king-hit him. John was knocked to the ground, and later underwent serious facial surgery. I'm not sure that he ever fully recovered from the nerve damage.

The group then started running - they knew they were in trouble, and took off away from the school into an abandoned shopping centre. I happened to have a mobile with me (they weren't so common back then) and called emergency services, but the operator thought I was pranking her; she refused to take me seriously. So I set off down the street after the kids myself.

I may be quick off the mark, but I've never been very athletic. Fortunately for me, the school's Sports teachers joined in the pursuit, and they caught up to the group pretty quickly. (As an English teacher, I've never appreciated Sports teachers so much ever before!)

The police arrived, and it was all over. Back to school, and the bell rang straight away - and so I was off to my next class. A messenger promptly came to my classroom to read out a notice that was going throughout the school: Due to legal reasons, nobody is to talk about the incident that occurred at lunch today. My class, who happened to be a group of 'special needs' kids, thought that was the funniest thing they'd heard ever heard.

I went home that night knowing that I wouldn't be teaching much longer. The thought going through my head was: I can't believe that was how my day turned out.

It struck me this weekend, though, that plenty of my days turn out like that now, and I don't mind.

Admittedly it's been a while since I chased anyone down the street - about 4 years, I think. During that last incident, I cornered a guy who had assaulted a boy entering one of our shelters and called for the police to come get him. I didn't realise at the time that he was carrying a machete, or I might have thought twice about it.

With Blue Dragon now getting more involved in the rescue of young people who have been trafficked, the dangers go beyond kids with cutlery. And equally, our response has to be a little more sophisticated.

We recently met a bright and bubbly 12 year old girl, "Quy," who was living in a terrible situation. Her mother had left the family many years ago, so Quy had been raised by her father, who loved her very much. They lived together in a guest house, and when Quy's father died of an illness, the guest house owner simply took ownership of the girl.

Quy was put to work in the owner's business. If she didn't work hard enough, she was beaten. If the owner was in a bad mood, she was beaten. If she tried to run away - well, you get the picture.

Normally in Vietnamese culture, neighbours are unlikely to speak out against such abuse, seeing it more as a "domestic situation" that they shouldn't get involved in. But when our staff met Quy and started to investigate, one of the neighbours couldn't tell us all the details quickly enough. He was horrified by what was happening, and begged us to do something.

Such situations are highly sensitive for us. Blue Dragon has no right to take children away from their carers; we could easily be accused of trafficking or kidnapping ourselves. And in this case, Quy's new "foster mother" happened to be linked to a gang running illegal businesses all around town. Our interference would almost certainly lead to a retaliation: probably against my staff and almost certainly against Quy.

This was a case that needed quick action, but also great care. Back in Australia, such a case would be dealt with promptly by a black-and-white child protection system... but this isn't Australia. It's a different system, requiring a lot more innovation.

Our solution was to call on a very senior policeman we know to come with us for a "friendly chat" with the woman. Nothing official, just a conversation to express concern. And to inquire into the nature of the woman's businesses. She got the message, and Quy hasn't been mistreated since. Blue Dragon staff are now working on getting official ID papers for Quy so that she can come and live in our care.

Dealing with unreasonable violence like this back in Australia gave me cause for despair. The official message after the school attack said it all: Nobody may speak of this! In the following days, our school received a notice from the government chiding us for giving chase. And the punishment for the attackers? This was the real insult: a short term suspension from their school. It was only when pressure was put on the Minister for Education that a decision was made to follow up with charges, but the decision was made purely to prevent political embarrassment.

Here in Vietnam, I could see reason for despair every day, but instead I find great hope. Because just like with little Quy, I see that change is possible. I can do something today that makes a real, lasting change to her life. All it takes is a little bit of determination and some strategic thinking. Somehow this is more "real," because even though the social safety net leaves so much to be desired, it can be compensated for with real, human, action.

Last week, one of the young women Blue Dragon works with had a nasty break-up with her boyfriend. To get revenge, he rang my staff and delivered an ultimatum: we should immediately cease our support of her, or he would do something to cause her tremendous public humiliation.

After all we've seen and done in the past decade, this guy's threats were almost laughable. My staff responded with: "Seriously? Do you have any idea what the consequences would be for you if you tried something like that?" She went on to explain the work of our legal team, and that was the end of that.

There are still plenty of days when I go home shaking my head, but at least now I know that my presence is making some difference, no matter how small it may be.

Calling all Brisbanites!

A good friend of Blue Dragon, Robyn Ramsay, is launching her book on Monday 13 in Brisbane: Finding Duong, Finding Myself.

On a journey through this part of the world a few years ago, Robyn befriended a young man named Duong begging on the streets of Hanoi and set about helping him make a change... but instead Duong met a tragic ending. That's all I'll say here - go along, meet Robyn, and buy the book!

Trumped!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?