Home free

Blue Dragon's lawyer-extraordinnaire, Van, has returned to Hanoi, so at last I have some info about his trip to rescue trafficked children in Ho Chi Minh City. Van's on the left in this photo; Mr Phat from the Hue Red Cross is in there as well; and 7 of the 8 kids are pictured. (The 8th kid, a boy, wanted to get his hair dyed before returning home to Hue!)


All of the children were working in small factories or in home-based factories, cutting out cloth for garments. The youngest of the kids Van rescued is an 11 year old girl; the oldest is a 15 year old boy.


Not all of the factory owners were agreeable to losing their free labour, but they didn't have much choice and maybe will think twice before recruiting children next time.


Van accompanied the 8 children home on the train - that's a trip of about 700kms - and experienced the joy or reuniting them with their families. The children, of their own volition, spoke out about the terrible time they've had - working up to 16 hours a day in squalid conditions with barely enough food - so we hope that the word is spreading through the community.


But we have more work to do!


First, we need to support these 8 children, and the 35-or-so others who we have taken home in the past, to return to school and get involved in their communities again. Our dream right now is to create a Youth Center for the children in their village so they can have a safe place to hang out, play and seek help.


But second, we have to go back to Ho Chi Minh City... the 10 year old pictured below is just one of the many, many kids we are yet to rescue...

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Free from slavery

It's done: 8 trafficked children have been returned to their families.

This news is still 'hot off the press' - so hot that I don't have all the details just yet - but late this week a couple of Blue Dragon staff traveled to Ho Chi Minh City in search of 7 children from central Vietnam who were taken to work in garment factories. There were some kids who they couldn't find, and others who they didn't expect to find... so 8 in total, and lots more to come.

All of the kids are from Hue province by the beach; all from extremely poor families; and all were tricked into going to the south with the promise of 'free job training'. Instead, they've been working 12-15 hours per day making cheap clothes, and all for no pay.

More details in a day or 2 when I can find out exactly what happened!

.

Watch this space...

... because some great things are happening, in the vein of this.

Ton goes home

Since we started our Link program late last year, Blue Dragon has had some success in working with kids who have been living rough on the streets for many years.

The idea behind the program was reaching out to teenage boys who are 'chronically homeless' and unlikely to ever have a regular home, education, or job. It hasn't all been roses - 2 of the original 7 are in reform school now. Others have come and gone, though, and despite the rough patches there have been some inspiring outcomes.

One of the 'newcomers' to the program is a 16 year old named Ton. He's been on the streets for 6 years - with one extended break in a detention facility. Ton came to us early in 2008; although I had never met him before, he simply said that he wanted to get off the street and go back to school, so would I mind if he stayed at our shelter? It's quite common for kids to tell us what they think we want to hear; so on that first day when Ton came to see me, I really didn't know if he was serious or not. But since then, he has not spent a single night on the streets, or gone back to the gangs that he once roamed with.

Ton's story, like most others, is tragic. First his mother abandoned him, then his father walked out. In the earliest years of his life, Ton was left in the care of an aunty, who looked after him because there was nobody else who cared. Ton's aunty was loving and treated him like a son; but at age 10, Ton felt that he was being a burden, so he left home and headed to Hanoi.

For 6 years Ton looked after himself, occasionally getting into trouble with the authorities. His aunty and grandparents had no idea where he was, and feared the worst; but they never forgot him.

When Ton went hom earlier this week, for the first time in 6 years, many tears were shed. Ton's family was overjoyed - they never thought they would see him again - and they took him to see a small plot of land that belongs to him. For all the hardships he has been through, Ton is quite a lucky guy to still have a family who cares so much.

Today Ton returned to Hanoi, this time with his grandparents, who wanted to see the home he is living in and thank the staff of Blue Dragon for looking after their only grandson.

In coming weeks Ton will return to school - he's been out of the system for quite a while now, but he has a goal and intends to make the best of his opportunities.

This is one kid who really has a bright future in the making.

On the run

One of the many aspects of our work with street kids is finding and befriending runaways, and hopefully reuniting them with their families.

We've only ever failed in two cases so far - although I know I should be a bit more careful not to jinx myself...

When Blue Dragon works with runaway kids, our aim is to 'close the case' within 2 weeks. Some runaway kids end up living with us for the long term - we have at least 5 such teenage boys in our residential homes right now - but as far as possible we try to get them back with their parents.

Over the last 2 weeks, we have hit a problem with runaways that we haven't had to deal with for over 5 years: runaways with intellectual impairments. And just to make life interesting, we have come into contact with 3 such kids, including one set of identical twins.

The twins, Hai and Hung, are lovely kids. They're 17, and for some reason they decided to run away to Hanoi to find a job. Only problem was that they had never been out of their village in the mountains before. They made it to the city, but when I found them sitting under a tree outside the Horison Hotel they looked like frightened puppies with nowhere to go.

Hai and Hung spent about a week at our Shelter before agreeing to go home. During that week, their family was worried sick about them, fearing the worst of course but not knowing what to do to find their sons. When our staff accompanied the twins home, their parents wept with genuine joy and relief.

So a happy ending..? Almost. The twins, emboldened by having found their way to Hanoi, decided to try it again, and turned up at our Shelter the next Saturday morning. When I asked why they had come back, they told me in all sincerity that they needed some money - the equivalent of just over $300,000US, it turned out. They simply didn't understand what that amount of money really is; so I was able to bargain them down to $30,000 before the staff called their mother to come to Hanoi and pick them up. Reunion No. 2 was also a success, but I'm hoping that this time it might be a longer term success...

Meantime, we have a third runaway at our Shelter who also appears to have some intellectual impairment. He was brought to us by one of our other kids - a former runaway who now lives with us, as it happens. This new boy (let's call him Nam) was covered in scabies and skin infections, which thankfully now seem to be clearing up... many thanks to our good friends at Hanoi Family Medical Practice for their treatment...

At this stage, we know nothing about Nam other than that he's been living very rough for at least a few weeks. Building trust and getting information from a teenager with an intellectual impairment is quite a different scenario to doing exactly the same work with an average-ability teenager. This is yet another challenge... but hey, just another mountain to climb, right?

Stay tuned to see how this case works out...

The story of Hung

Ten years ago, Hung was a 13 year old boy tending buffalo in the mountains that form the border between Vietnam and China. He had never been to school, but lived a simple life with his mother and younger sister.

One morning, Hung's attention strayed long enough for the buffalo to wander off and demolish a neighbour's rice field. Terrified of the trouble he was about to find himself in, Hung decided to run away rather than face the inevitable spanking.

As tends to happen to runaway boys, one thing lead to another and before he knew it several months had passed. Hung returned home, deeply sorry for what he had done and hoping to find forgiveness. But something terrible had happened: his mother and little sister were gone. They had been trafficked to China and nobody knew how to contact them. Hung would later learn that his mother was sold as a bride. All these years later, he still does not know the fate of his sister.

Although he had some relatives in the countryside, Hung knew that there was no place for him without his mother. So he headed to Hanoi and became a street kid, shining shoes and selling trinkets on the streets. Eventually he met Blue Dragon through our weekly soccer games; his group of friends became quite close to us, in a fairly short time, and things were starting to look good for Hung.

But then he vanished.

He was picked up on the streets as a vagrant, and spent some months - maybe a year - in a detention center. I have never been clear about where he was taken, or why. But while there, he contracted tuberculosis, and as his condition became more and more severe, no treatment was made available. Finally, when Hung seemed ready to die, he was released - presumably so that the center wouldn't have to report a death.

One of Hung's good friends stumbled upon him at Hoan Kiem lake and rang our staff to come and help. What we saw was truly shocking: Hung was disoriented, weak, and skeletal. He recognised us, but he couldn't remember any details of leaving the detention center and getting to the lake. His lower legs were swollen, but the rest of his body was thin and covered in sores.

Hung was on the verge of death. We took him straight to Hanoi Family Medical Clinic, who realised that he had tuberculosis, and although they sent us to the Hanoi TB hospital, they were very clear that his chances of survival were slim, if not nil.

Hung did survive, though. He spent months in the hospital, and we hired a carer to sit by his side making sure he was fed and bathed. When he was well enough, he came to live in one of our houses: but some months later, the TB returned, this time with meningitis. Hung's health spiralled downward, and he returned to the hospital. Once again, the prognosis was bleak.

And once again he survived. Since then, Hung has been living in a Blue Dragon shelter, recovering gradually. His lungs have been OK, but his mind and body have been weak. He's 23 now, so he doesn't fit in well with a children's foundation. However, there has been nowhere else for him to go. He has just been hanging out at the drop-in center, getting involved in small projects, and learning basic literacy with our teacher.

Last week, we finally took the step of travelling with Hung back to his countryside to meet his relatives. Our staff drove up to the border and then walked for 2 hours up a mountain just to find the house.

Hung is now living with some uncles, and although Blue Dragon will keep supporting him financially for another year, he's learning to live more independently. Hung will never recover fully - he will never be the young man he was shaping up to be. But now, 10 years since running away because of a buffalo, he at last has a home and some family to care for him.

This has nothing to do with Blue Dragon

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=BQ4ULF

... but I sure wish it did.

Nearly done

Some good news about the young guy, Tung, who I wrote about here.

Blue Dragon supports Tung to go to school in the countryside, and a few months back we discovered that the injuries done to his body when he fell into a fire at age 2 could largely be corrected, or at least improved.

Tung has been in a hospital in Hanoi for just over 3 weeks now. His father has been by his side the entire time. At first Tung had surgery on just one finger of his left hand, and the doctors then operated on the thumb on his right hand. We were expecting them to carry on with four more fingers, but instead the doctors decided to operate on Tung's right foot, to correct the toes. For each of Tung's fingers and toes, the doctors have to remove old, then straighten them out (and pin them into place) before adding fresh skin.

So now, both of Tung's hands, and his right foot, are bandaged up and causing him plenty of pain... But he's still smiling!

The hospital has suggested that the little guy is in enough pain for now; any further surgery should be delayed for at least 6 months.

This Friday, Blue Dragon staff will drive Tung and his father home - they live about 40kms out of the city. What a dreadful summer holiday Tung has had; but there is great hope that this surgery will be worthwhile in the long run. I sure hope so.

The Sleeper

Tuan is a 13 year old boy who has been living on the streets of Hanoi for some time. I say 'some time' because I have no idea of his full story. The little bits that I do know are tragic, and for sure there's much more that he will tell me in the coming weeks.


One thing I know is that, in recent months, Tuan has had no home at all. He's been sleeping around Long Bien bridge, or on the island in the Red River, or in doorways of friends' homes. Since coming to Blue Dragon, he seems to spend about half of the time sound asleep, as though he has a lot to catch up on.


One of the boys in our Link program brought him to the Blue Dragon center about a week ago, and Tuan has been living in our Shelter since then. He seems so happy to be there - so pleased to have a comfortable bed and friends to play with - but it's early days yet. My experience is that some kids will wear a mask of happiness because they think that's what I need to see. Those are the kids who will be with us for a while, and then vanish.


Other kids - most kids - quickly learn they can let their defences down, and let us into their world. Those are the kids who stay with us, and grow up as part of the Blue Dragon family.


Vi was one of those kids who came to trust me and the Blue Dragon team back in our early days, 5 years ago. I met him shining shoes outside my house, and invited him in. Six months later, Vi was among the first kids to move in to a Blue Dragon residence (The Big Room), and now he's senior captain of a bar in a fine restaurant, has travelled South East Asia, and is starting to think about the day he'll open his own fine restaurant. He's come such a long way from his days as a shoeshine boy earning money to send his younger sister to school.


Vi is 21 now, and one of my best friends. We hang out whenever he has spare time, which isn't often. But this evening we met up and had a meal, and then Vi came with me back to the Shelter to talk to the kids.


A group of the boys were playing on the floor, making enough noise to drown out a jet plane. Tuan was right there beside them - sound asleep. He looked so serene, and even seemed to be smiling in his slumber, despite the riot going on around him.


Vi noticed this too, and we both found it most amusing.


"How can he sleep with so much happening here?" I laughed to Vi, who gave me the most profound answer: "He feels safe here."


I hadn't even thought of that before. But Vi would know - he too went from surviving on the streets to living in a safe home in the care of Blue Dragon.


"He feels safe here." Of course he does. He doesn't have to worry about where his next meal will come from; he doesn't have to hide from the police and the gangs at night. No wonder he can finally catch up on all that missing sleep.

This is not goodbye

One of Blue Dragon’s longest serving staff members is leaving!

Tung was volunteering with Blue Dragon even before we were Blue Dragon. Back in early 2003, when the idea of forming a charity to help street kids was just beginning, Tung was a friend who was available to help with absolutely anything.

Two years later, he joined us full time as a social worker (when we finally had some money to hire social workers!) and has been with us ever since.

Tung has been with Blue Dragon through all the ups and downs: the start of the Big Room; urgent trips to rescue staff who were stranded while rescuing trafficked kids; the opening of each of our drop in centers; and every single week through all this he has been a referee at our Sunday soccer games.

Tung has been more than a staff member; he’s been a one-man institution. Other organisations have recognized this, and tried to steal him from us… but failed. Tung’s heart has long been in returning to university and completing a masters degree in economics.

That’s a far cry from being a social worker – but Tung really is a versatile kind of guy.

So we’ve had a farewell, we’ve given him some gifts, and won’t be in at the drop in centre on Monday. But this is not goodbye. Tung still plans to join in the weekly soccer, and has already put his hand up to help with our summer swimming classes.

Tung oi, you’ll always be a part of our family. Good luck with your studies, but don’t forget to come and hang out at Blue Dragon from time to time!

Pictured below: Tung is wearing the white shirt.

Hard at work

At least once or twice a month, those who profess to be "experts" in development or poverty or something obscure-but-impressive tell me that charities like Blue Dragon run the terrible risk of creating dependence.


Their argument, which sounds reasonable enough, is that if Blue Dragon was not working in Vietnam, our beneficiaries would have to be self reliant, or rely on their local community. Hence, Blue Dragon is creating a need, rather than fulfilling a need, and it might be better off if we weren't here.


I can answer that criticism in many ways. The first response that comes to my mind is: "Is it really a good thing to force 6 year olds to be self reliant?" (And a related question to the critic could be: "And have you put your belief into practice by sending your own children onto the streets to earn their school fees, so that they don't become reliant on your help?")


But rather than argue the point, an easier response is for me to explain that we do, in fact, encourage independence - when the kids are at an appropriate age and level of health.

We all know the saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." Fair enough, but it would be nice to give him a fish to eat while he learns to catch them himself.


This is the case with the Blue Dragon kids: they're not ready to be independent. They need time, care, and teaching to get them there, and that can take many years.


Two of our girls, Thuy and Trang, exemplify this process of moving from dependence to independence. These are great kids; they do well at school, they get involved in community service, and they make the most of every opportunity they can find. On separate occasions in recent months, they approached our staff to ask for help in finding part time jobs. They want to start supporting themselves even though they haven't yet finished high school.


Blue Dragon's role in helping teens get jobs is to help set up interviews and liaise with employers. The kids have to earn the jobs themselves - we never ask businesses to hire anyone as a favour. And we also have a 'one-time-only' rule: we help kids get their first job only. If they leave for any reason at all, they have to find their next job themselves.


So it's essential that we find good employers, and Thuy and Trang were fortunate to get jobs at a famous Italian restaurant where the bosses are committed to training and demand high standards, but also care about their employees' welfare. The girls are earning good incomes, and still have time to study.


Having a job doesn't mean they no longer need support from Blue Dragon. But it does mean they are on the road to independence, with an end in sight.


And surely, while the development experts talk about their theories and policies over a long lunch at a fine Italian restaurant, they've got to be happy about that.

Online Auction

A quick promo...

Francaustralia Education is holding an ebay auction to sell the winning entries in a photography competition - and the money raised goes to sending Blue Dragon kids to school!

The 3 photos up for auction can be found here. But the winning bids receive more than the photos - they also receive a certificate and either a photographic image or anthology of pictures taken in Vietnam.

Give it a go - auction ends Saturday!

Surgery for 2

A couple of Blue Dragon boys have spent the weekend in hospital...

Many people are familiar with the story of Quan, a terrific kid who has had to live with a neurofibroma growing on his face. Quan's father is a xe om (motorbike taxi rider) and his mother sells fruit in a market - so this is a fairly poor family who could never afford the complicated surgery to restore their son's face to normal.

In March last year, with the fantastic help of Operation Smile Australia, we took Quan from Hanoi to Brisbane, where he underwent some very complicated surgery that removed almost all of the cancerous cells that made his face swell and grow.

Quan has been fine since then, but last week he started to experience pain in one of his legs, where he also has a (much smaller) cancerous growth. This one, too, is benign, but it's never caused pain before. Quan's mother took him to a local hospital, which carried out a series of tests, and booked Quan in for surgery on Monday June 30.

This operation should be fine - but let's keep those fingers crossed to be sure.

And anyone who read our June newsletter will know about 14 year old Tung from Bac Ninh province. Tung was severely burned in a fire at age 2, leaving much of his body significantly scarred. Both of his hands needed extensive surgery, but Tung's family has never had the money to get the operations done. Their local Women's Union raised money from the community to pay for one hand to be 'fixed', although one of his fingers has curled up again. So Tung has needed operations on 6 fingers, but just hasn't been able to find the way...

Until now! We wrote about this in our newsletter, and instantly had several people respond with pledges or offers to help. We called Tung's parents, and the next day Tung and his father turned up at our office so that they could go see a doctor with Giang, one of our social workers.

The doctor was very positive; if the family agreed, Tung could check in to a room right away and start surgery in the morning! (Those of us from western countries with 6-month waits to get ANYTHING done in a hospital are wondering how it could be so quick!!)

But Tung and his father had to think about what this means: 3 weeks of operations... pain... more trips to the city in coming months...

For Tung, this was a very easy decision. He wanted to check in immediately. He wants his hands to look like everybody else's, and his fingers to work properly!

After some quick discussions among the family, it was agreed, and Tung went back to the hospital. He's now had one finger repaired, and so far so good.

I've spent a lot of time in hospitals in the past 8 years, and fortunately none of it has been for me. I truly admire people who can stay positive through their pain; and when it comes to kids, I am astounded by their resilience and determination.

Both Quan and Tung have also been in hospitals a lot - too much - but unlike me, they've been there because of their own suffering. Let's hope for a happy ending for these kids.

Newsletter

After an 18 month sabbatical from writing quarterly newsletters... they're back!

Blue Dragon has a new, exciting, dynamic newsletter! It's more popular than The Da Vinci Code... more insightful than Pride and Prejudice... and more coherent than anything by James Joyce.

Drop me an email if you'd like to be on the mailing list. (And I'm really, really sorry to all those Joyce fans. I know you're lovely people).

bluedragon@bdcf.org

Trippin'

With the summer holidays in full swing, Blue Dragon has been organising special trips for kids who need or deserve a break.


Each year we have a celebration for the kids who receive special awards for their efforts and results at school. This year, about 30 kids travelled to Cat Ba Island, where they played and toured for two days as a reward for their great work. Some of the children who went on the trip were teens who had never been to school before this year; their success was particularly noteworthy.


We received great support from Intrepid Indochina for organising and sponsoring this trip, as they did last year.










We also organised a trip to Halong Bay for 20 children with disabilities, none of whom had ever seen the beach before, and most of whom have never been outside Hanoi. Many had a parent accompany them, but for those without a carer Blue Dragon sent along some teens from our drop in centre who volunteered to help out.


This trip was fully sponsored by Buffalo Tours.




Although our main work is helping kids with day to day issues, special trips like these are still a valuable and worthwhile part of what Blue Dragon does. If nothing else, these girls and boys will have happy memories to last a life time!

Last words

Since I wrote last week, we've received lots of messages from people around the world who have been following Chau's story and wanted to express their feelings about his death. Thanks to one and all.

Chau's funeral took place on Sunday, so the family is still in the early stages of mourning. Their entire community, which is very poor, pitched in to help, as the family is now left with significant debts from the hospital treatment and funeral.

Although we couldn't save Chau, it's time for us now to turn our attention back to the kids we can keep from exploitation, as well as those who are far from home and need help to get back. While it sounds cliched, I think it's fair to say that our work is never ending.

Farewell, Chau

Today I have only sad news: 17 year old Chau from Hue has passed away.

Chau died at home on Thursday at about 10.15pm. He has suffered from cancer for over a year, and now his pain is finally over.

I have written about Chau previously - here's my last blog that mentioned him.

One of our staff will travel south to Hue on Saturday to attend the funeral. This will be a very difficult trip; although we have comforted many children in our care after they lost relatives, we have never had to attend the funeral of one of the kids in our programs.

There is no surprise that Chau has died - it's only been a question of time. But that doesn't reduce the grief for anyone, or lessen the sense of injustice about what he went through.

Long will you be remembered, Chau.

And now for a news flash-

Here's an article in the local papers about kids being trafficked to work in garment factories. I've written about this issue before; it's great to see increased awareness.

Apologies for not writing much - it's not that nothing has been happening, but that too much has been happening! Stay tuned for an update over the weekend.

Another birthday blog

This is the third time I've written about birthdays in the last couple of weeks... but too many celebrations can't be enough!

Back in March, I wrote about a boy named Phuong who I met on the streets of Hanoi: see the original post here. He had run away from home some months before and was living and working in the Old Quarter. He was a very bright kid, and his parents were most thankful when our lawyer Van took him home. Tuesday this week was Phuong's 14th birthday, so Van made the journey to Phuong's home (a few hours' drive out of the city) to catch up.

Phuong will return to school in September - he ran away from home during Grade 8, so has to repeat the whole year. But he's happy about this, and all his neighbours and friends are still excited to have him back.

Phuong's family threw a party to celebrate his birthday (and the fact that Van was coming). It was a very nice confirmation that the little guy is much loved and wanted by his family and community.

The Big Room turns 5

Today was a very special anniversary for Blue Dragon: the Big Room turned 5 years old!

The Big Room is the first residential home that we started, back in 2003. Blue Dragon wasn't even officially a recognised organisation then. We had no money, no staff, and no legal status, but we did have a group of kids who wanted to get off the streets and go back to school. So we took the plunge and rented a house.

The home started off with 6 teenage boys, all kids who I had met on the streets shining shoes. We employed one of their mothers to supervise and care for them, and also recruited a team of volunteers to teach English and run educational activities. Our budget for the first year was a whopping $5000! This was donated to us by some expatriate women who hardly knew us, but believed that we were trying to do the right thing. (Thanks, Chantelle and Danielle!)

Five years on... the kids aren't kids any more! There has been a lot of movement in and out of the house, as some kids have moved out and others have moved in. All residents now are 18 or over, and have good jobs - some in fine restaurants, and one even works at Blue Dragon. The Big Room gives them a much better home than they could otherwise have, while allowing them to save money so that they can move out eventually and have homes of their own.

Of course, over the years there have been many dramas and comedies at the Big Room. A broken arm... frightening visits from the police... and the now-infamous "beer on a string" incident (but you had to be there to understand it). In 2004, the German Embassy paid for an upgrade for the building, although in 2006 a project in a neighbouring school funded by Plan International completely blocked all natural light from entering the house. Grrr.... But anyway, over the years we've watched the kids become young adults and take their place in society.

Today's celebration was a chance to acknowledge the exceptional successes of a small group of street kids who took their destinies into their own hands. We're proud of ya, guys!

Moving in: June 2, 2003

Past and present residents - plus a few friends - celebrate the 5th anniversary

... and how could we have a party without a cake!?

World's happiest cartoonist

We had a special treat this weekend: Peter Draw, the "world's happiest cartoonist", visited from Singapore. Peter and his crew, Herman and Damien, spent Sunday afternoon at the Blue Dragon center sketching and playing with a group of our kids.

Peter taught the kids some simple cartooning techniques, but he also had them laughing and smiling, and really enjoying themselves. Peter's visit was organised by World Vision Singapore - big thanks to everyone involved!

Peter with a sketch of one of our girls

The kids have a go at drawing...

Some finished products

The end is nigh

The end of the school year is almost upon us! Many Blue Dragon kids have already started their summer break. Woo hoo!

Last weekend, I headed out with a few of the staff and a group of about 8 kids to Bac Ninh province, a beautiful rural area not far from Hanoi where Blue Dragon supports 350 students to go to school.

Our gathering was not simply to celebrate the end of the school year; it was also to celebrate the fact that these kids have persevered with their studies, despite terrible difficulties in their lives. Many have done really well at school, but that's not even the main point: the fact that they have made a commitment to study, and followed it through, was the key theme of the day. We were very proud to be awarding certificates to 18 students who had graduated from Year 12 - what an achievement!

As always, a picture tells...

Here's the crowd, with teachers and officials at the front.

Some of the Year 12 students receiving an award for completing their studies.

Down in the crowd... the kids with the groovy hair are former street kids from Hanoi who came to help out as community service.

One of the Hanoi teens handing out gifts to the kids. Each bag contains items donated by Unilever Vietnam - shampoo, tootpaste, cleaning products, and a toothbrush. Worth a small fortune to these families.

A fruit snack before the kids head home. Man, did that fruit disappear quickly.

In coming days, all of the kids will be on holidays, and then we can turn our attention to the next challenge: how to make sure these kids, and others, can stay in school for another year.

Happy first birthday

Blue Dragon has a lot of birthdays to celebrate in the month of May!

Last week, two boys who both happen to live in our residences had a birthday on the same day. Hieu turned 15 and Cuong turned 17. So as is our custom, we threw a party (two parties, in fact) to celebrate.

What was really special, though, was that neither of these kids had ever had a birthday party before.

It's hard to imagine growing up without ever receiving gifts and singing the Happy Birthday song... Such a small event in the course of world events, and yet so important to these terrific young guys.

Where the streets have no shame

It's true, I tell you...

http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=38556

The more feather boas, butterflies, tinsel, electrical devices and umbrellas on your bike, the cooler you are.

Imagine the chaos when it rains...

Two shots a day

Last time I was in Hue, my colleague Van and I had a task to complete that ranks up there as among the most difficult things we've had to do.

We wanted to interview Chau, the 17 year old boy who is dying of cancer in his family home by the beach. Chau had been taken to Ho Chi Minh City to work in a garment factory in appalling conditions at the age of 14. He started to get ill a year later, and without any medical attention he was eventually far too sick to work any more. The boss sent him home, which is when we met him and found that he had advanced cancer. I've written about Chau here and here if you want more of the story.

Time is dwindling away now; pain management is all that's left for this boy and his family. After talking to his parents, Van and I decided to interview Chau on video to create a permanent record of what he has been through. He has something to say, so we gave him the chance to be heard.

As we spoke to Chau about his childhood, life in the village, and his time in the factory, we had to keep taking breaks as pain swept through his bones, then subsided long enough to let him talk. I couldn't help but feel like some kind of monster as I pressed Chau for information, asked for more detail, and then waited for him to be able to speak. I don't know how journos can do their job in situations like that.

The purpose of documenting Chau's pain is not just about keeping a record of events. Chau needs an advocate - someone to stand up for him when he cannot stand up for himself. He's been mistreated, and at the very least someone should listen to him.

There was also a very practical outcome of our interview. In this day of modern medicine, nobody needs to be in such pain. For some reason, though, the doctor overseeing his case had prescribed just two shots of morpheine per week. The afternoon that we interviewed Chau, he'd had one of his twice-weekly shots, and was already in agony again just hours later.

It doesn't take a medical degree to see that Chau needed serious relief - but convincing the doctor of that wasn't easy. It took some weeks. But now Chau has been prescribed two shots a day, which has helped enormously to reduce the pain.

Hand in hand with pain relief, of course, comes the morpheine haze and various uncomfortable side effects. Chau's mother and father wait on their son around the clock, massaging him when the pain comes and sitting by his side when they don't know what else to do. We bought the family a TV and DVD player just so that they'd all have something to take their minds off the relentless misery that they are living in.

Such a waste of a valuable life. I know our world is imperfect, but sometimes it's very hard to accept.

Ngoc, Ngoc, and Ngoc

Time for an update on some Blue Dragon kids who I've blogged about in the past...

Ngoc the First

Our "first Ngoc" came to us in late 2005 (see here for the first story); we had rescued Ngoc from child traffickers and, at age 13, sent him to school for the first time in his life. Ngoc's a bright kid - he took to school easily (although he certainly isn't passionate about academics!) and quickly mastered his lessons. Over the last couple of years he has been living in our residence, and growing taller every day... He's about as tall as me now, and he stands head and shoulders over most of our staff! (Brown rice is the secret - I swear it makes a difference).

As the school year draws to an end, Ngoc is doing his Grade 4 exams and planning to head home to Hue for the summer. In September, he'll start Grade 5, which is the final year of Primary School, and then has to decide whether he'll continue at school or switch to vocational training.

Ngoc the Second

In September 2007, Blue Dragon brought a 13 year old boy named Ngoc from Hue to Hanoi for cleft lip surgery. (See some earlier stories here). His family was so poor, and his parents illiterate, so nobody ever took Ngoc for the simple surgery that would have healed his lip. Instead, he was the village outcast. Whenever I visited his home on the sand, I would see adults and children alike mock him. Ngoc had learned to completely tune out - he was often unresponsive to questions and displayed few social skills. He'd never been to school so had no idea how to read and write.

After the surgery, we took Ngoc home to his village, and everything seemed much better. But several weeks later, Ngoc called us to ask if he could come back to Hanoi. He wanted to go to school, which was completely out of the question where he lived. And, although he was being treated much better, he still longed for the respect and care he received while he was with us.

So we agreed, and Ngoc has been living in the Blue Dragon residence ever since. He's about to finish first grade, and he often studies with tutors and social workers at our drop-in centre. I don't think Ngoc has ever been in a fight, and the staff have never had to discipline him for anything! He loves being here, and he's making the most of every opportunity.

Ngoc the Third

In early December 2007, one of our older teen boys, named Ngoc, was stabbed and left for dead by some thugs who had been paid to kill someone with a similar name. The original post is here, with follow up stories here and here. We were all terribly afraid for Ngoc, but he came through (minus a kidney) and is now finishing Grade 11. He seems even thinner than ever, but he's in good health now and looking forward to having a long break over summer.

Sometimes when I talk to Ngoc about his future, he says he'd like to become a lawyer. In just over a year, he'll be sitting exams and preparing to enter uni. Maybe we'll be employing him a s child rights advocate a few years down the track!

She's in!

Today's a big day of celebration for one of our wonderful girls, Duong - she's been accepted into the KOTO training program!

There aren't many programs or opportunities for disadvantaged kids here in Hanoi. One of the challenges for Blue Dragon is finding suitable placements for all the kids who come to us. We don't say no to anyone, so we really do serve a wide range of needs.

Duong has been with Blue Dragon for under a year. She lives with her very poor family on a boat that sits on the Red River; but despite their terrible poverty, Duong is highly motivated. She wants to have a better life, and she's prepared to do something about it.

So she's been coming every day to our centre and taking part in everything that she can: English classes, a cooking club, social activities, and she even completed a short external cooking course to see if she really does want to follow a career in cooking.

Now she's taken a huge step: she's applied for, and been accepted, into KOTO, which runs a 2 year hospitality course. Getting accepted ain't easy - dozens and dozens apply, but there are only about 25 places.

Duong is thrilled - and so are we! This is the start of such an amazing new phase of her life.

Good luck, Duong! The future is yours!

Duong with her acceptance letter

The Blue Dragon cooking club - held every Sunday

Duong's home

Where'd you get those shoes?

Here are some photos taken last week of two kids - one about 10 years old - who have been trafficked from central Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City to work in a household factory making shoes. Something to think about next time you go shopping.

And now, a book

Feeling positive, punk?

Quotations for Positive People is a collection of inspiring quotes that has been compiled by Larry Welch - and he's offered to donate all of the profits to Blue Dragon! Thanks, Larry!

We're going to use the funds for some of our most positive work - providing homes to children who live on the streets. So, buy the book! Give it to your friends! Pay your staff in copies of the book rather than boring old cash!

Click here for more info: http://www.trafford.com/07-1419

Rugby and Cheerleading

Last time I wrote about Blue Dragon kids learning to play rugby (see here), some friends from England seemed less than impressed that I referred to it as an Australian sport.

So, to clarify, I didn't mean to imply that the games STARTED in Australia; just that Australia thrashes England mercilessly every time we play. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

And there may come a day that when Vietnam has its own rugby team - our kids are really getting into the game now! Last weekend we took part in our first tournament, and did pretty well even though we didn't win the trophy (blast those French!)

When we first started to play, both girls and boys wanted to learn; but now with all of the tackling and grabbing and throwing to the ground, the girls just aren't so keen. They do want to be involved, though, so we have started a cheerleading squad... possibly the first in Vietnam?? (If anyone knows of any other cheerleaders in Vietnam, please let me know!)

Here are some pics... Blue Dragon players are in black.

In Hue

I've just come back from Hue, where Blue Dragon's chief lawyer, Van, and I spent the last few days.

We've been working with families in Hue since 2005; one of my very first blogs was about a boy named Ngoc who we rescued from child traffickers in Ho Chi Minh City and took home to his family in Hue. And on Sunday, we officially launched our anti-trafficking program - the culmination of almost 3 years' work.

Back when we first started taking trafficked children home, it was unimaginable that we could ever be sitting in a room with government leaders, police, and education officials, announcing a formal program to support child victims of trafficking. But here we are. It was a very happy occasion.

Not all of our trip to Hue was so happy. Van and I spent some time with Chau, who is suffering terribly with cancer. He's in constant pain, despite some pretty powerful medication, and still hoping against hope that he will recover and find another job so her can support his parents.

Chau was working in a garment factory from the age of 14, and earned less than $200 a year. He only came home to his village because he was too ill to work any more. One thing we learned on the weekend is that Chau was sick for 7 months before going home. If only the factory owner had allowed Chau to seek proper medical treatment, it may well be that his cancer could have been treated and cured.

I'll be back in Hue in coming weeks to see Chau's family once more. There's not much that we can do now, except offer comfort and support.

Getting the girls

In the early days of Blue Dragon, when there was just me, a friend or two, and some ideas about helping street kids, we often came across the criticism that our programs almost entirely catered for boys, and not girls. One of the nuances of the NGO world is that it's fine to have programs specifically for girls, but it's something of a no-no to have programs for boys.

But we never intended to exclude girls; the problem was that we didn't know how to include them. Even when we had established a drop in center, we still found that girls rarely came.

Over time, we realised that it was a cultural issue. In Vietnam, boys have the freedom to hang out and go wandering through the streets, while girls are much more restricted by the social expectations that they will stay at home and look after the siblings or the cooking. Not unlike many other countries in the world.

Once we understood the problem, we could devise a solution. What we come up with was a more structured program of activities and classes that families would allow their girls to attend, particularly cooking and drama.

Since late 2007, Unilever has been supporting us to run cooking clubs, which we call "Healthy Dragons". Sometimes the clubs are lead by our social worker Phuong, but once a month Unilever sends one of their own chefs to conduct the lesson. The clubs are predominantly made of girls, but there's an increasing demand from boys now, as they see how cool the activities are (and how delicious the food is!)

And now that families are comfortable with the idea of their daughters coming to Blue Dragon, the girls are also more free to hang out in the drop in center. A huge shift has occurred in the past year or two; girls now represent almost exactly half of the kids in all of our programs. The clubs and activities have proven useful not only in getting the girls in, but also in teaching life skills and reaching girls in serious crisis.

Some pics from a recent weekend cooking club are below.

Diagnosis

Today I have some very sad news to report: the cancer hospital in Hanoi has given a very bleak prognosis for Chau. They believe that he does have cancer, that it has spread to his liver and kidneys, and that treatment will not be of much benefit.

There is still hope that they are wrong; and we are still exploring all avenues. But soon we may have to turn our attention to simply making Chau and his family comfortable and dealing with the pain to come.

I'll post more when I know more.

Expression

When you walk in the front door of the Blue Dragon drop in centre, one of the first things you see is the art room. There's always some art or craft activity going on, whether it's making jewelry for the kids to sell, or painting, or making puppets.

One of the ironies of Vietnam is that, while there are so many talented artists and artisans around the country, there are few avenues for children to develop their artistic interests. Kids normally don't do art in school - many of our kids are unfamiliar with using scissors when they first come to us.

So we give the kids as wide a range of artistic opportunities as we possibly can. Over the last 2 years, the range of arts and crafts that the children have been exposed to is mind boggling! And there's no doubt that these opportunities have helped many of the children, girls and boys alike, to become more expressive and to find inner qualities that they otherwise were unaware of.

Earlier this year, a woman named Jacqui from Gladstone in Queensland organised a fundraising party, thematically centered around art and dragons, and has come to volunteer with us for a few weeks. The money that she raised has been mostly used to provide art equipment for projects she's been working on with the kids, but she's also helped out with equipment and funds for other areas of our work.

The kids have had an amazing time getting involved in art projects big and small. Here are just a few of Jacqui's pics to show what she's been up to with the Blue Dragon children!

Kids and staff together in the art room

I made this!

The mural: One of the major projects, made of tiles

Planning and making

... and it's not all art. Jacqui (in the middle) is also

helping us to provide support for families.

Treatment

Just before Christmas last year, I blogged about a 17 year old boy named Chau - check the original post here. Chau is from Hue, in central Vietnam, and at age 15 he went to work in a garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City. When he became sick late last year, the boss fired him and sent him home, which is when one of our staff stumbled upon him in his village.

Chau was seriously ill when we met him; his throat was swollen, he could hardly move, and he was in terrible pain. The Hue Hospital diagnosed cancer, and started radiotherapy, but there has always been some doubt about Chau's condition. Another doctor has been worried that Chau might have an infection whose symptoms are very similar to those of cancer; in which case radiotherapy is a very bad idea.

So today Chau is travelling to Hanoi with his father to visit the Oncology Hospital - known as the K Hospital - in Hanoi. The doctors there have agreed to test Chau and try their best to determine the cause of his illness.

We're going in to this knowing that cancer cases - if that's what this is - can be very difficult and costly. We really don't know where this path will lead us, but we have to go down it anyway. How could we fail to help Chau?

The Oreo Kid

It's been a few months since Blue Dragon has met runaways in Hanoi - perhaps because of the extremely cold winter, the kids have preferred to stay at home! But now that the weather is warming up, we've come across three in a week. Two have been 'repeat runaways' - we've worked with them before - but one was new to us. Well, sort of.

In fact, some of our staff and vols had come across the little guy before. His name is Phuong, and despite his size he's 14 years old. (He's the tallest boy in the photo below). Just by chance, I ran into him on the street in the Old Quarter of Hanoi on Sunday; we'd met each other before (though neither of us is exactly clear when or why) so I took him back to the Centre to meet the social workers. Andrew, one of our Australian vols, had seen Phuong on the streets some months before, and it was an interesting story.

Andrew had told me about the encounter the day after they met, but then he didn't see Phuong again so couldn't bring him in to Blue Dragon. Phuong was shining shoes for backpackers, but his service was so good that he not only polished and cleaned; he also gave a bonus Oreo biscuit to his customers, delivered on a napkin. Service like that is unheard of!

Despite his entrepeneurial flair, Phuong has been doing it rough - real rough. So on Tuesday, our lawyer Van took him home to his family. Phuong is from a remote ethnic minority village; Van and the driver left at one thirty in the afternoon and got back to Hanoi 11 hours later.

The village was thrilled to see Phuong back. Neighbours flocked to see him; they couldn't believe their eyes. He'd been gone for over 6 months; he ran away after a dispute with his teacher at school. But all the villagers recognised that he's the brightest kid in their area; and there's no doubt, this kid has something very special about him.

Phuong is happily back with his parents now, and hopefully he'll feel comfortable to stay there. His family isn't too poor, but we do plan to keep sending him some books and games that will help keep him intellectually stimulated. This is one little boy with a bright future, but he needs to get back to school!

The Habit

Over the past week, we've been confronted by a problem that we haven't had to deal with very seriously until now. And, just to keep us on our toes, we had to deal with two totally separate cases of the same problem in the same week.

Gambling.

Vietnam has some really strict laws on gambling. It's essentially illegal (apart from the government run daily lotteries), but also quite widespread. The cases that make the media are usually mind-blowing (like this one... and this one... and this one...)

Gambling is the same in any country or culture. It's an addiction that ruins lives. In this respect, Australia and Vietnam are no different.

The cases we've been dealing with have involved the older brothers of two of our kids. In unrelated incidents, one lost his savings on gambling so followed a friend to the market to rob shoppers; and the other gambled the taxi he leases... and lost.

Both of these young men have wives, infant children, and debts. Both are from families that have been devastated by the death of a parent in recent years. And both have younger brothers in Blue Dragon's program who were utterly torn apart by their arrest and imprisonment.

One case has had a reasonably happy ending - the police agreed to put an end to the case and record the crime without sentencing the man to prison. But in the taxi case, the young man is likely to spend several years in prison. The taxi owner is not impressed (and it's not the first time this has happened).

Although these older brothers haven't been able to support their younger brothers financially, there's a strong sense of reliance and interdependence. Vietnamese families are very close; to lose an older brother to prison is not dissimilar to losing one through death. Added to that, there's the added sense of shame which is very powerful.

This is one of those situations that Blue Dragon can't help much with. The law has to run its course; the young men have done something wrong, and it's reasonable that they be punished. But what loss and hurt their addictions have caused for their families.

That other football

Being an Australian, I have major terminological problems when it comes to football.

I grew up with football as the game in which you run with the ball in your hands - rugby - as opposed to the kind of football in which you kick the ball - soccer.

Blue Dragon has a football (meaning soccer) team, called Real Betis Vietnam. We meet every Sunday morning and between 40 and 60 kids come to play an hour on dirt fields. It's great fun, and serves as a powerful outreach to the local community and to street kids.

But now we're starting to get into the other football (meaning rugby). Some local expats and the United Nations International School (UNIS) have started coaching and basic games for Vietnamese youth, as a way of introducing the Australian sport into Vietnam. The theory, of course, is that a game in which opponents stamp each other into the ground will be good for international relations.

So Blue Dragon kids have been heading up to UNIS on Saturday afternoons to learn to play - and they're having stacks of fun! Some photos to prove it...

Learning to drop kick

Girls can play too!

Some of you will recognise Quan, in the Blue shirt.
He was in Australia for surgery this time last year;
this is the first sport he has played since then.



OK, this isn't relevant.
Just a break for readers who aren't into sports.

Go, Thuy!