It's all happening!

At long last, we're making some good progress on plans to open new centres for street kids here in Hanoi.

For over a year we have been looking for possible new places to open centres, but it's only in the past 2 months that we have really worked out what we're going to do.

The problem, in short, is that our current drop in centre for street kids is just too small. When we moved here 5 years ago, it was huge - but somehow it's shrunk! Or perhaps we just have more kids coming...

So we've needed to secure a place that's bigger, and where we can be confident of staying for years to come.

The new space we have found is a tall building with a yard out the front, and it's in a great location for street kids to find us. The access for people with disabilities is terrific, too: that's always a problem with buildings in Hanoi.

But we're not moving right away from our current centre. We'll be keeping one space that we currently use as a parking area, and converting it into a new centre for children aged under 12. Every week we seem to have new little kids hanging out in the centre. These are children who live with their extended family - often a grandmother or older sister - but during the days they're left out on the streets to fend for themselves. They really need their own space, with some specialist attention, so we're starting to dream about how their new centre might look.

Another new feature of our plan is to include semi-independent accommodation for the older teens who have jobs, but still need some support to keep them on track.

So the plans are taking shape, and now it's time for us to find the resources to make this happen. If you're on the Blue Dragon email list, you'll have received a message about it by now; if not, take a look here. 

In coming days I'll post some photos of the new centre, which is just a tall empty building right now and is going to need a lot of work to get ready for the kids.

And for sure, it will be a lot of work... but it will be worth it!

So far...

Here's a quick summary of what Blue Dragon has done since we started helping kids in Vietnam almost 10 years ago... 

To date, Blue Dragon has:
Sent 2,393 kids back to school and training 

Provided accommodation to 114 girls and boys 
Served 261,705 meals 
Built or repaired 52 homes for families 
Distributed 33,621 litres of milk 
Handed out 331,354 kilos of rice 
Reunited 109 runaway children with their families 
Taken 915 kids to a doctor or hospital 
Put 5 teens through drug rehab 
Obtained legal registration papers for 782 children 
Rescued 195 trafficked children 
Placed 72 teens in jobs 
Played 1094 games of soccer! 

The view

I wrote recently that Blue Dragon is dreaming of open some new safe spaces for Hanoi's streets kids.

We've found a new building that will become our new HQ, centre, and anti-trafficking base all in one. There's a lot of work to be done to get it ready, but it's going to be great. The kids will love it.

For now, just a 'teaser'... here's a view from the roof. You have to bend your mind to see it, though; it's a 360 degree shot. Click on the image to get the full view.

We've got some work to do! 

The rally

Over the last couple of weeks, an amazing event has taken place here in Vietnam: a motorbike ride from Hanoi to Hoi An, over 12 days, with about 30 riders on Soviet-era Urals exploring the country in style.

And along the way, they've raised some significant funds to fight against child trafficking. 

This was the second annual ride - known as Rally Indochina - and it was such a huge hit that there'll be a 3rd in 2013. Keep an eye on their website because the places fill up fast!

Here are some shots that the organisers and riders took along the way.

The riders always took time to make friends with local people...

And safety was always the first priority... but you might need to take our word for that.

There were plenty of surprising finds along the way!

Switching pace for a day, the riders took a boat to visit the Blue Dragon centre in Hue.

All up, it was a brilliant ride. The Rally Indochina team deserves a huge THANK YOU for their support, and hats off to the riders who raised so much support to stop trafficking!

For the first time

There's a line in a U2 song that sometimes reminds me of the kids at Blue Dragon: 

For the first time, I feel loved. 

It might sound corny, but I've seen this over and again with children and teens who come to us, having never before found someone who genuinely cared for them. 

Last week our social workers asked one of the Blue Dragon girls to write about her life, entirely from her own point of view. We do this occasionally as part of our reporting to donors and keeping records of our impact. 

The girl's story is below (translated into English, but otherwise true to the original). I've changed only the names of the people. It's a deeply touching story. 

My name is Van. I am 12 years old. I was born in a very poor family and I didn’t know where I came from until I knew Blue Dragon. My mum left me and my father when I was more than 1 year old. My father didn’t have a job so everyday my father and I worked on the street. I couldn’t go to school because I didn’t have a birth certificate. We rented a small room to live day by day. We had to face hunger, cold and so on. But my life wasn’t only that sad.

When I turned 9 years old, my father died on his way to work. Some strange people took my father to the hospital but he died that day. I now have no relatives. I didn’t know where to go and how to look after myself.

After my father died, I lived with a woman who wanted to be my adopted mother but she never considered me as her child. She called me by a very bad word. She asked a school for disadvantaged children to allow me to study there. But when I studied at grade 2, she didn’t let me go to school anymore. She treated me very badly. I had to work with a parking guy at a lake in Hanoi from 8am to 10pm. I often was beaten by the woman and forced to work very hard and late at night. I wasn’t allowed to go to school and had no idea of how special and real childhood should be. 

Day by day I understood that this was not the life that I wanted, but I had no power to escape.  I was afraid of who would feed me, who would give me a place to stay... So I kept silent and waited for a chance.

One day, I met a staff member from Blue Dragon, his name is Thai. He talked to me in a very soft and warm way. That was the first time in my life a person cared about my feelings and asked me what I wanted. My owner knew about that and she wouldn’t let me meet him again. She also threatened Thai and warned him to not talk to me again. But Thai and Blue Dragon staff still approached me when they could and talked to me.

One day after that, I was beaten very badly by my owner. I ran away and came to Blue Dragon to ask for support. There was a social worker and psychologist who talked to me. Even though I was very sad and frightened about what happened, they made me welcome and relaxed.

I knew that my 'mother' wouldn’t let me go easily like that. She threatened Thai, the worker who tries to protect me. However, Blue Dragon still continued to help and protect me by asking the police and a lawyer to be involved in making sure that I am safe and secure.

Now I don’t have to work on the street for that woman. She treats me better as she knows that someone is checking what she does with me. In addition, Blue Dragon is looking for my brother who I have never met to help me to get out of her control. I go to school in the mornings. Blue Dragon is helping me to make a birth certificate. I also have a chance to be a child and join in many different social activities. I hope I will learn well so I can discover the world, and maybe even study overseas. 

Plans and ideas

I started the Year of the Dragon excited about the possibilities for change, growth, and new horizons.

The first months of the year have shown that it's much more complex than that. So far, the Year of the Dragon has been about loss, coping, and challenge.

But there's hope. There's always hope. And now Blue Dragon is getting ready to face a huge new challenge which brings with it some great possibilities.

Over the last 5 years we've grown and grown... We're reaching new street kids every day through Outreach, the community is regularly asking for our involvement with disadvantaged kids, and every month we're rescuing more young people who have been trafficked.

Our little centre by the Red River just isn't big enough any more. We need to move.

However - we don't want to 'just' move. We want to create something new. We're dreaming of new spaces, safe havens, for street kids in Hanoi, with more services for more children.

We have some big ideas and a few plans. In coming weeks I'll be sharing them here.

Maybe, just maybe, the Year of the Dragon will come to something good after all.

The interns

There's even more to Blue Dragon than the work we do with Vietnamese kids.

As we've grown over the years, we have made it our mission to also train up staff, professionals, students, and other organisations, so that our reach can go well beyond the thousands of kids who we meet ourselves.

At most times of the year, we have at least 2 or 3 university interns, particularly from the Social Work colleges and universities.

But this month, we have 3 interns who we are especially proud of... because they are tertiary students who have been in Blue Dragon's programs in the past!

The 3 young women are close to finishing their degrees, and their internship at Blue Dragon is a final step to graduation.

Minh Nghia is spending 6 weeks in our IT department, learning the ropes of running IT classes and managing a small department.

Phuong and Phuong (same spelling, different pronunications!) have joined our accounting team for 8-10 weeks, and are getting their heads around the use of a cash book, entering data into our system, and keeping track of cash in and out.

It's great to see them back at the centre, now young adults brimming with confidence and planning for their careers.

Home

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

In case you're not on the email list... the latest Blue Dragon newsletter has just been sent out!

Drop us a message at info@bdcf.org if you'd like to receive it.

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.