A Happy Birthday Blog

Today my blog is one year old!

I started on November 25 last year, mostly with the aim of improving my chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Little did I realise that in 2006, the swimsuit section would have a much higher weighting. So some guy from India or somewhere won. Apparently he had a heads-up on the comp and had been preparing his bikini line since January. (Microlending! Blah. What's the good of that? Blue Dragon has a dog named Wheels - now THAT'S something to get excited about).

But still the blog has been worthwhile. Despite the occasional flippant / insulting / vitriolic post, I really have tried to present to the world some insight into what life is like for street kids in Vietnam. And it's been cool to see people from every corner of the world stopping by to read the blog.

Apart from celebrating the blog's birthday, this has been a huge week at Blue Dragon. Over the past few months, we've had an overcrowding problem in our residence for street kids. The idea of the residence is to provide a home for street kids who want to go back to school and have nowhere else to live. So we had a small house with six beds... but over time more and more children have needed a place to stay! At one point, we had 12 teenage boys there, and a young girl living with our chief psychologist because there were no other options. Not ideal!

We've been looking for funds to start a new, and larger house for some time. It's not just a building that we need, but staff to supervise 24 hours per day, plus food, supplies, equipment, furniture... And we figured that if we were going to do it, we should really do it properly.

So now the house is open, and 10 boys are living there. All are kids who were once street children, and are now no more. All go either to school or vocational training. All are on their way to a better life.

In the interests of their privacy, I won't post any photos. But I will thank Tony Foster and his law firm Freshfields; they have contributed the funds to rent the house and hire the staff. Without them - we'd have no new residence.

Another big contributor has been the local NGO Coup De Pouce, who have provided furniture and equipment; as have Padraic Fleming and Greet, two expat volunteers in Hanoi who raised some money through a photo exhibition. And finally, big thanks go to Vicki Teo in Singapore, who is providing a year's supply of hygiene products and a substantial quantity of food!

(I should point out that NONE of these people or groups asked for any publicity for their generosity - all the more reason for me to thank them).

So this is all big news. Meantime, we are preparing to launch a project next Wednesday, funded by the Irish Embassy... Busy times, but all with great results for the kids.

The APEC roadshow moves on

It's Saturday night - which means that APEC is just about over. Several million people are heaving a collective sigh of relief.

Not that APEC has gone badly - quite the opposite, so far as I can tell. Many people here were worried about road closures, traffic chaos, and business being disrupted... Not so. In fact, apart from the millions of APEC flags and a few fortresses-on-wheels with police convoys, it would be possible to not notice that some huge international event is taking place. Very smooth.

The only big visit to Blue Dragon as part of APEC was a media crew from Australia. We finally made our television debut! I've been receiving lots of encouraging emails since the segments went to air on each of the five major channels... Which reminds me, I should be answering some of those messages rather than writing this blog...

Anyway, the journos were looking for a story on "the little people" as opposed to the heads of state who normally receive all the attention. Very tastefully handled, I thought. And our kids LOVED playing up for the cameras.

This morning I went to the airport to see off Doug Everett, who has been working in our finance department (which only has one staff member, mind you - but it's still a department) on improving our accounting systems. Doug's been with us through Australian Business Volunteers, and has just been brilliant. Anyway, we were both worried that the trip to the airport might not be so simple - but again, not a problem at all.

Still, though, people will be glad it's all over. For the last two months, every discussion and plan has involve the phrase, "...after APEC." I've been trying to meet up with some friends from other charities for months, but every time we try to set a date all we can conclude is "after APEC."

So now it's "after APEC." I expect to see a rainbow shining through my window.

A Bush in the Han

It’s APEC time!

Vietnam has been gearing up for APEC – the Asia-Pacific Economic Committee meeting – for over a year now. The streets have been cleaned, trucks banned from entering the capital city, floral displays elaborately created on major roadways.

Strangely, my invitation to join the official proceedings has not yet arrived in the mail – is that the postman coming now? – so I’m just going to be an innocent bystander to all of this kaffufle.

Kind of, anyway. There is some level of Blue Dragon involvement… A few of our older teens have jobs in the fine restuarants that have been called on to provide catering and functions. As far as I know, one of our guys, Vi, will be serving drinks at a major event this week. And, as far as I know (info is a bit difficult to come by, as you can imagine), there’s a good chance of George Bush and my own PM, John Howard, being there.

Now, I ain’t no fan of politics, and I’m not the kind to enjoy bowing before VIPs. But there’s a certain satisfaction in knowing that kids who were once shoe shiners and on the receiving end of some pretty overt hostility (like this, for example) will be rubbing shoulders with people who, well, won’t let the likes of me anywhere near them.

I’m feeling like one very proud daddy, despite being locked out!


You didn't let that Brosowski guy in, did you?

Another happy customer

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a little boy named Loc.

The story is here, but in short, Loc turned up at Blue Dragon one day with extensive wounds and multiple illnesses. We knew nothing of his past or of what had happened to him.

Over the last few days, Loc has reached a turning point. His health is back to normal, although he still needs to put on some weight of course. He's been very happy being with us, but it's finally dawned on him that he has a family and that he really does need to be with them.

On Monday, our lawyer, Van, accompanied Loc back to his countryside and witnessed the most emotional reunion he has ever been a part of.

Loc has been away from home for two years.

For two years, his family has searched far and wide, and had all but given up hope of seeing their eldest son ever again.

But now he's back. Tears flowed for hours. The family tried to thank Van by giving him some money; a month's worth of their household income. Van was deeply moved, as Loc's family is extremely poor, and a month's income for them is not enough to live comfortably on. But still they wanted him to have it. Van thanked them, but begged them to spend the money on food and school fees for Loc instead.

Van got back to Hanoi last night at about 8pm; another long day on the road. But wow, what a worthwhile day.

Rich children good, poor children baaaaad

This is not a happy post.

To be specific, this is an angry, angry post.

If I was to give this blog a newspaper headline, it would be: "Proud, wealthy neighbours succeed in making small children cry - Whole street celebrates victory".

The story goes like this:

A 12 year old orphan, who lives in a house we rent, was playing on the street in the evening, as do all of the children who live in Hanoi. He kicked a plastic ball, which totally by accident hit a 15 year old girl who was carrying a bowl. The girl, a servant/slave of one of the wealthy smugglers on the street, dropped the bowl and, in doing so, cut her hand quite badly.

In response, every household on the street rushed out, screaming abuse - not only at the terrified orphan, but at every Blue Dragon child, staff member, and poor person who might have a distant association with us.

Their argument: These children have no families. Nobody wants them. We don't want them. We hate them. They all take drugs, steal, cheat, lie, and they probably all, that's right ALL, were involved in the conspiracy to shoot JFK.

Two dozen screaming, hysterical adults hurling abuse at an orphan who kicked a ball in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There were some stunning hypocricies. One woman, who demanded that we leave the street and never come back, has been asking us to help find her 19 year old son a job - and we have been helping! Even in the days after this mass outbreak of disgusting hysteria, she has STILL been asking when we will take her son for an interview.

These children are bad, they screamed. And what they didn't scream, but certainly meant, was: They are bad, and we are good. We are good because we are rich.

In talking to the kids a few hours after this incident, I asked them why they thought the local community had said what they did. One of these 'horrible, unwanted' children said to me: "They were angry. People say things they don't mean when they are angry."

I am sure that nobody else in the community could possibly have the sense, empathy, and forgiving nature of that child. So... who is better than who?

The next day, the servant's boss came to demand money, of course, and after that everyone and everything was back to normal. Just as though nothing had happened.

But our kids remember. And not only our kids, but also all of the poor families on our street who heard those words screamed maniacally - they are now totally clear on what the community thinks of them.

Last night, one of our youngest boys cried uncontrollably for over an hour. He misses his mother, he said. We didn't ask, but we know what he was thinking: Am I really unwanted? Does everybody really hate me so much?

The greatest irony of all is that the girl who was injured has not been given even a day off work. Her masters were furious that somebody in their household was injured - but apparently this is not out of concern for her well being. It seems that their rage stems from the fact that an orphan dared to damage their property. One of my staff went to see the girl today with some Betadine to try to stop an infection.

Her masters don't want to waste any money on medicine - after all, she's just poor trash from the countryside herself.

On the road

It's been a full week!

On Monday I travelled to Bac Ninh, about 30kms out of Hanoi, with Marc Gold, whose organisation 100 Friends is sponsoring 20 rural children. This was Marc's first trip to Vietnam, so we spent some time looking around the countryside, meeting families and some of the school staff who Blue Dragon is working with.

Then on Wednesday, the Blue Dragon lawyer, Van, and I headed to Saigon to catch up with some important friends. So, for a few brief introductions...

This is Dung, who works as a cook in Saigon. Dung was one of the first street kids we worked with, back in late 2002 / early 2003, and he went on to study at KOTO, a vocational training restaurant for disadvantaged youth.












This is part of a family of two sisters and a brother; the 3 kids have been working on the street at night to pay for their school fees. Their parents also work on the street, and are determined to get their kids through school. The room they rent is tiny, barely big enough for 2 people. When we visited, there was no electricity.









This group of shoe shine boys has been travelling around Vietnam looking for the best shoe shine location... Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, Nha Trang, and now Saigon!








This is another Dung, who I first met when I was living in Saigon over 4 years. He and his mother live on the street; Dung has just recently left school to start a job delivering vegetables.








This is Hoang! He's an orphan who used to shine shoes in Hanoi, and now studies at college in Saigon to be a map maker.





As well as catching up with lots of kids, we visited a drug rehab center and met with some journalists who have been covering stories about internal trafficking. There's an article up at the moment - look here. It's in Vietnamese, but the photos are telling. This story is about the trafficking ring that takes children (maximum age 14) to Saigon from rural areas to work in garment factories.

Getting the boot

Friday afternoon brought us one of the saddest cases I have seen in a while.

A 14 year old boy named Loc turned up on our doorstep, brought to us by another street kid who knows about our center. My first glance at Loc told me he's been through something terrible. His thin body is covered in scabies. His arms have been slashed with cut glass. There are serious burns on his toes, scabbing wounds up and down both of his legs... and he was filthy, hungry, and tired.

It's kids like Loc who inspire me to keep going when everything else just seems too difficult. My last two posts, I realise, have been quite negative - looking over them tonight, I sound like a real whiner! Things have been tough, but sitting next to Loc and seeing the wounds all over his body, I know that I have nothing to complain about.

Apart from all the scars and bruises, perhaps the saddest feature of this little guy was the look of fear on his face. This boy has been through some awful trauma, and last night there was no chance of him giving us a smile. He was overwhelmed just by being in our building and having somebody be nice to him. But that look of terrible suspicion lingered in his eyes - will these people, too, beat me? Am I going to be tortured all over again?

Loc has been kicked about pretty badly - but this morning brought a huge change. Some kicking of a very different sort...

The New Zealand soccer team is in town, and the Embassy had organised with UNIS school to have a morning of coaching for some of their students. UNIS was EXTREMELY generous in inviting us along (thanks, Julian!) so about 20 of our boys - including Loc - spent some time on beautiful grass fields learning a few skills and playing some games.



The New Zealanders were just amazing. I'm sure they have no idea what an impact they had on our kids. They were HUGE by comparison to our little guys, but not in the least bit scary. They joked about, they bubbled with enthusiasm, they applauded our kids... and I have a feeling that their goalies might have let one or two of those goals in on purpose. I'm seriously hoping that the whole team decides to relocate to Vietnam permanently.



All of our kids had a great time - but it was the look on Loc's face that was the most precious of all. He spent most of the session chasing a ball around, half in his own little world. He was just so happy. For a little while, all of his aches, pains, and itches were totally forgotten.

And this afternoon, he's still smiling.

Keep it down

It has to be said: Vietnam is a noisy place. Maybe one of the noisiest places in the world.

It's 9pm on Thursday night, and one of my next-door neighbours is cutting metal inside his house. Another neighbour is just arriving home from dinner, and instead of ringing the doorbell she is sitting on her motorbike beeping the horn, over and over, until one of her under-age servants runs and opens the door. Soon, I know, another of the neighbours will send 4 or 5 of his servants to the rooftop - directly facing my bedroom - to start washing the clothes he has smuggled in from China. They will be talking, and laughing, and singing at the top of their voices until they are finished in a few hours' time.

Once you've lived here for a while, you either get used to it, or it drives you crazy. Or, like me, your tolerance level rises and falls depending on how much sleep you've had recently.

One of the peculiar things is how infrequently local people complain about the noise. I am sure that the vast majority of Hanoi's population have hearing impairments, but that cannot explain why they tolerate karaoke at midnight, or large parties gathering on the street at 5am.

But lately I have learned something new: locals DO complain about noise. Depending on who is making it.

The Blue Dragon center is spread out over our street, occupying parts of four houses in total. And we are increasingly receiving complaints by the neighbours about our noise.

One of the staff explained it this way: In a village, the richest person might make a lot of noise, play his CDs at full volume, and hold parties long into the night, and nobody will say anything. But if the poorest person in the village makes some noise, everybody will tell him to shut up.

And that's exactly what's happening on Blue Dragon street.

Of all of the houses in our neighbourhood, our center is almost certainly the quietest. We have strict rules about the kids when they are coming to and going from our center: No playing on the street... no calling from the houses to the street (and vise versa)... and no beeping of horns, ever!

Today some neighbours complained about the noise from our center after 10pm every night. Only problem is, we have a 'lights-out' rule at 9.30! The kids are asleep by 10!

Yesterday, a neighbour complained about the noise made by children as they come to visit us. The same neighbour beeps his horn every time he comes home - getting off the motorbike and ringing the doorbell is soooooo last season! - and, of course, our kids come and go by foot or bicycle. How on earth can they see us as the noisy neighbour!?

If there's any bright side to this predicament, it must be the opportunity we now have to teach the kids to stand up for themselves. We can show them that they do not have to accept unfair criticism just because they are poor. We can show them that they do not have to be punished just because they have no family to defend them.

It really is to our wealthy neighbour's shame that they are being so mean and hypocritical. Our kids don't deserve it!

It is finished! I think.

A small drama that's been unfolding over recent weeks and months has finally come to an end... At least, I hope it has.

A few weeks back I wrote about a pretty poor attempt at blackmail / extortion that's been directed at Blue Dragon, and at me in particular (being such a fabulously wealthy guy and all! Will somebody bring me my Aston Martin please?)

The whole story is long and complex, and for several reasons I can't give all the details on the blog. But the extortionist is someone known to the staff and kids of Blue Dragon - he used to be very close to us all - and demanding money out of me "or else" isn't the only thing he's done to cause trouble.

Some months ago, the same guy robbed Blue Dragon while I was in Australia. We got back the most important gear, but it took a lot of work and left a nasty taste in all of our mouths!

And since his attempt at blackmail failed so hopelessly, he went out and bought himself a home made bomb. Apparently he was walking around with this thing in his pocket, so he's lucky to still have both legs. He was just trying to scare us, it seems, but we did have to take some precautions and close the center very early one Friday!

It's been a stressful time - not only because of the demands and the bomb threat, but also because this has all come about at the hand of somebody we have helped and cared for. That really hurts.

And the conclusion? Not quite satisfactory... But then, we were all going to be losers in this case.

The young man was caught by the police this week, and spent some time shackled by the leg in the nearby police station. But he's not going to prison; instead he has to pay compensation and then stay far away from us. We have been assured that he'll spend about 20 years in prison if he causes any more trouble.

But is it really over? I'm not so sure. His father has already been ringing me to complain that the family can't afford to pay compensation. I've suggested that they try selling their house, but I don't think they liked that idea.

Life goes on, though - nothing has slowed down at Blue Dragon, even though we've been looking over our shoulders for such a long time. Yesterday 5 runaway boys from a remote village stumbled into our center, bringing the total number of runaways we have seen this month to 10! And of course there's plenty more happening, even though I have been staying quiet on the blog of late.

With this mess behind me, I promise to write more updates!

Got to have FRIENDS...

Here 'tis... The latest Blue Dragon newsletter.

And below are some photos of families we are working with in central Vietnam. All of these families have children who have been trafficked to the south, or have been approached recently by traffickers wanting to buy their kids.

I don't think I need to add any captions...

Ups and downs

It feels like weeks since I last wrote, but I see it was just 5 days ago. So much is going on!

There are some exciting things that I would LIKE to write about, but have to wait a few more days... To be honest, there have been major ups and downs in recent times and it's sometimes hard to get things into perspective.

A few of our staff have been in Hue, visiting children who were previously trafficked to Saigon and have since been reunited with their families. Van, Bich and Phuong travelled together to meet a group called the Hue Committee for the Protection of Children and Families, who were inspired to tackle this issue after hearing about our role in bringing trafficked kids home.

The whole issue of trafficking is a sensitive issue in Vietnam (as in every other country), so I was not at all optimistic about the possibility of us having an official project in Hue any time soon. But suddenly, the Hue Committee is ASKING us to do something. We are actually being INVITED in, on the basis that our work so far has been so successful. (And just so you know: our total budget to date has been less than $3500US. I'm boasting about this, because NGOs usually spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just buying stationery and business cards).

While the team was away, I took over the job that Van does de-facto in the evenings... supervising the 11 kids who live on "Blue Dragon Street." It's pretty tiring - and I am much stricter than other staff - but I can't complain about the swimming trips and the football matches at UNIS and the dinners as we sat around together talking about school and homework and the usual daily crises. I guess it's like being a parent, only with rather more mouths to feed.

So that's all the good bits, and it's the darker stuff that I have to leave out of the blog for the time being - suffice to say that there have been some explosive developments with the blackmailer I wrote about earlier, and an unrelated string of incidents around our center involving drug dealers and thugs. But there's always a happy ending, so stay tuned.

Roofed

My last post appealed for help to put the roof back on a street kids' center in Hoi An, in central Vietnam.

A BIG THANKS to Hugh Perrottet, Bob Purdie and Leonore de Visser for your donations. All up, Blue Dragon has received about $400US so far - and I know some more is on the way - so we have sent this cash down already. I'm told the work has already started.

Loads happening here in Hanoi, as usual. We met two runaway kids on Sunday, and had them home with their families by Monday afternoon. But today we have another five! I love a good challenge...

Blown away

Most of the world has heard about the typhoon that swept through Asia recently. In case you haven't, click here.

Many of the families we support live in areas that were hit quite hard, and we are still trying to assess the damage.

Today I received an email from a good friend who works in Hoi An at a street children's center. The following photo says it all:



Right at the moment, Blue Dragon does NOT have a 'formal relationship' with the center, but I understand that their roof blowing off is just the latest financial blow to hit them.

Any wonderful people out there who want to help them - please let me know. If you make a donation to Blue Dragon on their behalf, I'll pass the whole amount on and won't keep any admin expenses. Send me an email if you want to put that roof back on! bluedragon@bdcf.org

Blackmail for Dummies

Sometimes life is just so bizarre that it's hard to know whether I should laugh or cry.

Over the last fourteen days, I have been the subject of an attempted blackmail. Somebody I have known for a few years has decided that, rather than working, they should simply sit back and wait for me to hand over all of my money, by making a series of threats.

Has it been frightening? No. Worrying? Try again. Disconcerting? Nope, that ain't it either.

Try - Amusing. Hilarious. Comical.

Of course, there is a serious side to it all, and I have had excellent support from my local policeman. But this blackmailer has done such an awful job of trying to get money out of me, that I feel it is my duty, as an international aid worker, to make a few suggestions.

So here it is: Blackmail for Dummies.

Tip 1: When blackmailing somebody you know, avoid using your personal email account.

This is especially pertinent when, for example, your name is "John Smith" and your email address is "johnsmith@hotmail.com".

Tip 2: Keep personal information out of your emails.

Remember, the police might be able to use that personal information to track you down. In particular, giving your bank account number is highly likely to give them some clues as to your identity - if they didn't already have enough.

Tip 3: If you really MUST use your personal email account, and you really MUST fill the emails with your personal information, then make sure you do NOT confess to other crimes that you have committed.

If you have been involved in drug dealing and organised crime, for instance, you probably should not mention this. Or go into detail with dates and places. Again - look at this from the point of view of the police!

Tip 4: If you are going to blackmail somebody by threatening to slander them, at least make the accusation something that is illegal.

The ol' blackmail line: "Give me money or I will tell everybody that you..." can be effective, but you have to think in advance how to finish that sentence. Some BAD ideas are:

- "... that you eat too many sausages."

- "... that you wear your underpants for a whole week without washing."

- "... that you didn't send your mother a gift last Christmas."

You see, these are all bad things, but, to be frank, none of them is actually illegal. So I'm not going to send you any money to avoid you telling people this kind of thing, am I?

Tip 5: And this is an important one - when you embark on a career in blackmailing, choose victims who have money. As a general rule of thumb, the Director of Blue Dragon Children's Foundation usually has to borrow money at the end of the month in order to eat. Therefore, he is not a wise target.

Perhaps I should add another tip about "don't try to blackmail people who enjoy blogging."

Twists and turns

The weekend was supposed to go like this:

On Saturday morning, I would fly to the south to meet Van, my staff member, and "Binh", the young guy who finished drug rehab and was released on Friday afternoon. I would discuss and negotiate a plan for "Binh's" return to Hanoi, then the three of us would fly back together on Sunday at lunch, in time for me to attend a meeting at our center with some of the nice folk from the Australian Embassy. All perfectly planned!

It's now Saturday night. What has actually happened is this:

On Friday night, "Binh" decided that he is not yet ready to return to Hanoi; although he had already been released, he requested another month of study in the Center and the Director agreed to re-accept him. So at 10.30pm, Van called me to say there was no need to fly down.

This morning, "Binh" returned to the Center - what a mature and brave thing to do! - and Van prepared to fly back to Hanoi early. Except... Saigon is having a typhoon, or hurricane, or something, and no flights can depart! He's trapped! And I would be, too, if I had gone.

Instead I have spent the day drinking too much coffee, swimming with the kids, and dealing with some twit who wants to blackmail me. More on that another day.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

But who cares. I am stunned at how courageous "Binh" is, and how wise, in choosing to return to a Center that limits his freedoms and makes him wear pink pyjamas 24 hours a day, because he can see that he is not yet ready to come home. He is no longer dependant on drugs.

A special THANKS to those of you who have been supportive and have expressed your concern for "Binh". I have high hopes for this kid.

Excitement, adventure, and really wild things

That heading doesn't build up your hopes, does it?

It has been an exciting week, though.

Last Sunday, a troupe of our girls put on 6 short performances in front of an audience of about 60 Blue Dragon kids, staff and friends. Drama is not commonly taught in Vietnam, so the girls had never done anything like this before... But WOW what a great show they put on. Their skits were on themes of school, home life, abuse, and so on - and all of the ideas and scripts came from the girls themselves. (Our staff member, Hanh, Khanh and Skye deserve a big clap too, though. Well done!)

Some photos below by Adam Hurley.

Anyone wearing pink and yellow together needs to be arrested


A skit about family relationships: Aww, please mum...


Hey! I'm in this picture!


The body language says it all: Get your act together, old man


On Tuesday we had the launch of a small project. This is actually a Disability Forum project, but Blue Dragon will have a role in developing a resource booklet for families of kids with disabilities. The Ambassador for New Zealand, James Kember, attended, as the NZ Embassy is funding the project, which was initially put to the World Bank for funding but failed to attract support. Thanks again, New Zealand!

And this weekend... A very big event. Six months ago I was writing about a 16 year old Blue Dragon boy who went to Saigon for drug rehab. Now he's coming back, and we hope to have him home either on Sunday or Monday. He has done well, he's off the drugs, and we can't wait to see him again.

He's home

It's been a challenging week, but the little guy pictured below is now safely at home with his family.

His name is The (prounounced 'tare'), and he's been sleeping on the streets of Hanoi, after a dispute with his family about computer games that lead to him running away from home for three months!



The's mother has been so stressed and worried that she's been hospitalised. His father has also been unable to sleep - to the point that he had an accident and broke his arm. One of our staff accompanied The home this morning, a two hour bus trip from Hanoi.

He's been through a lot, and had some difficult times... but I feel that he must be counted among the luckier of our kids for having a family that cares for him so very much.

We won't forget you, The...

Wheels?

Yesterday's blog mentioned, in passing, that I have a dog named Wheels... and, fair enough, I have received a few emails asking what the story is!

Wheels is the most gorgeous dog I have ever owned! She's great with the kids and, apart from people with beards and sunglasses, she loves everybody. I'm sure she was delighted at having somebody to play with that time the office was robbed.

But anyway - why "Wheels"? Well... one of our neighbours is a disabled woman named Thanh, who sells chewing gum from her wheelchair around town. But her wheelchair is a special vehicle with three wheels, operated by a lever that is pumped up and down.

When Thanh heard that I wanted a dog, she went out and found a tiny pup, and brought it to me on her wheelchair. Hence the name "Wheels".

These days, when visitors come to Blue Dragon for the first time, I introduce Wheels as the Deputy Director, or the Entertainment Coordinator, which isn't far from the truth. If ever we have a dull day, we can always rely on Wheels to keep things exciting.

Anger, fear and laughter

I'm still in my post-oceanic euphoria. As much as I loved the sailing journey - and I DID love it - it's great great great to be home.

I am still finding myself riding some emotional waves, though. We're dealing with some powerful cases this week, and I think that all of the staff are feeling the heat.

On many occasions, I have mentioned our work in the area of helping kids who have been trafficked for child labour. Apart from reuniting children with their families, the most effective thing we can do is to educate people about the dangers of selling their kids to the traffickers.

Now, I happen to think we have done a pretty good job of this so far. But we were greatly shocked on Monday to learn of a mother who has just sold her 12 year old daughter, in spite of us having rescued her son once from a very serious situation. This mother knows better than anybody that her daughter is now in great danger; but it seems she wanted the money more than she wanted the daughter. This is VERY unlike Vietnamese families, which are normally so strong and caring. Family is everything.

The woman's son, who is now 13, is confused and angry about what his mother has done. In most cases, I would encourage kids to not be angry with their parents... But, well, I happen to think he's right about this. And I think it shows great strength of character for someone so young to be prepared to take a stand on such an important issue. Anger isn't always a negative emotion.

In a completely separate case... On Saturday night we received a call from a good friend who works in Vietnam, named Kees, who had seen a small boy sleeping on the streets and was hoping we could help. Kees knows us well, and also knows a lot of our kids.

We found the boy on Sunday night, wandering about near a massive apartment complex on Hai Ba Trung street. The boy, Hieu, is tiny: he says that he is 15, but if I posted a photo, nobody would believe me. He looks like a 12 year old who is way too small for his age. At best.

Van and I spoke with Hieu for about an hour. He absolutely would not consent to come with us. His clothes were filthy, he clearly hadn't eaten well in weeks, and his huge brown eyes made him look so incredibly vulnerable - but there was no way he would trust us. He finally agreed to walk with us to a cafe, where we all had a drink. Even then, I could see how frightened he was that we would hurt him.

We did our best. We gave him some money and said that, if he came with us and did not like our center, he could leave immediately. We promised that we would not force him to do anything, would not make him call his parents. We suggested that he could stay just one night, and then leave the next morning if that's what he wanted.

Nope. No. Forget it.

So we rode home, unsuccessful. Not a good feeling.

Before we left, though, we promised we would come back the next day. And so, on Monday night we returned, this time with a secret weapon: Vi. I first met Vi about 4 years ago when he was shining shoes on the streets. Today he is a senior barman in a fine restaurant; he speaks fluent English, and has traveled to Singapore, Thailand, and China. (He would have gone to the US for the summer if only they would give him a visa! C'mon, Bush, I KNOW you're reading this.)

We found Hieu, in deep sleep on a stone slab beside the street. It took me so long to wake him that I started to fear something was wrong. But when he did wake, he seemed - well, not pleased, but certainly less hostile than the night before.

Vi, Van and I took him for another drink. We chatted, talked about computer games, joked about, listened to Vi tell his own life story... and finally, FINALLY, Hieu gave us a smile. The impenetrable barrier was breaking down. (Confession: I had to tell him that I am married to my dog, Wheels, and that we love each other very much in order to get this smile out of him. But it was worth it).

Hieu agreed to come back with us. He spent the night sleeping with several other kids at our center, and the whole of today was taken up with reading comic books and sleeping. And laughing. I swear, his smile is the most beautiful sight on earth.

He's still afraid, and there is so much that we don't know about him yet. He is telling us that his parents have died, which might be true... But it's also what 99% of runaway kids tell us when we first meet them.

It's going to take a lot of time to build up some trust before we can find a way to help Hieu. For now, I'm just glad that he's not sleeping on the street tonight.

All new episodes

I'm back.

For the past month, Skye Maconachie has been blogging about Blue Dragon kids while I have been sailing across the Pacific Ocean.

My good friend, Hugh Adams, bought a 46 foot sail boat in San Fransisco and needed some help to sail it to his home in Fiji. I thought it would be a great experience to travel with him - having never been on a boat before in my life.

So I went. I didn't make it to Fiji, though; we had some delays and so I could only get as far as Hawaii before I had to head back to Vietnam. Hugh is continuing the rest of the way with another sailor, and should arrive in Fiji in about three weeks.

Everybody wants to know, of course, how my trip was. But what can I say? I have delayed writing on the blog since we landed in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii last week. I am still not sure how to explain the joys and terrors of our journey.

We set out on this...

The clearest thing I can say is this: I feel like a character in a TV show, at the start of a new series.


We arrived on this

A new series always comes after the dramatic season finale; and there are always changes, twists, and new threads as the next series commences.

It's been a long time since I saw much TV, but I still remember the excitement of end of season / start of season action on over-the-top shows like Melrose and X-Files, when you'd be left hanging over the Christmas break to find out how all the crises would resolve, which they invariably would.

So here’s the story, and I’m expecting Aaron Spelling to call any minute now.

The basic plot: Michael and Hugh spend a week in San Fransisco preparing to sail across the ocean. The two finally set out, only to discover that Michael really does get sea sick, after all. Once he has stopped vomiting over the side of the boat, he starts to enjoy the trip – until things start going wrong. The travelers land in Hawaii 18 days later, in a row boat, and Michael returns home to an emotional reunion with Blue Dragon kids and staff.

The action: Out at sea, the sail boat strikes trouble during a storm, when the boom tears away from the mast, leaving the boat without the main sail. Other minor problems compound the drama: water pumps fail; the radar dies; and the engine becomes incapacitated, making it impossible to reach shore. Meanwhile, back at Blue Dragon, a team of doctors investigate the cases of four disabled children, and deliver a mixed bag of verdicts. The Blue Dragon lawyer, Van, once again avoids arrest while fighting for trafficked children in Hue. Everybody in Hanoi gets pink eye, but this appears to be unrelated to everything else that’s going on.


The romance: Back at Blue Dragon, Social Worker Giang announces that she’s getting married! And everybody is invited!

The comedy: For the first time in his life, Michael goes sleep walking. Unfortunately, the hotel manager is not amused at having some guy walking about in his underwear asking which room he is staying in.

The character changes: Two key volunteers, Eric and Noemie, pack their bags and head home, following emotional farewells. Kids and staff alike are devastated. However, at least four new children arrive, all with beautiful hearts and desperate for a helping hand.

The conclusion: Back at home after all the drama and excitement of the 3000km sailing trip, Michael realises that he wants nothing more than to be with the Blue Dragon family. On his first day back, he meets a 13 year old boy named Dat, who cries as he tells of how he and his mother are sleeping on the street because they cannot pay their rent. And so the new season begins…

TO BE CONTINUED