Considering my blog entry 2 weeks ago (Both are sufficient!), readers may well be thinking that Blue Dragon's English training program is somewhat below par.
Fortunately, there is some evidence to the contrary!
One of our older kids, Chinh, is working part time as an intern at the United Nations International School (unishanoi.org) in their Communications Department. Each week, he's contributing articles to the school newsletter, Tin Tuc.
In one recent edition, Chinh wrote a great summary of what Blue Dragon is all about - definitely worth a read!
Check it out here: Tin Tuc Newsletter - Chinh has 2 articles on page 7.
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Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tet time
For the past week, Hanoi has been in holiday mode: it only happens once a year, but when Vietnam goes on holiday, it completely shuts down!
The occasion is Lunar New Year, or Tet; and now that I am coming up to my 8th year living in Vietnam, I finally feel like this is the 'real' new year.
In the weeks leading up to Tet, Hanoi goes absolutely crazy - as opposed to normal, which is just 'mostly crazy' - with everyone on a shopping spree, the purpose of which is to out-shop everyone else. People want to show how successful they are by bringing home bigger-screen TVs, outrageous new motorbikes and cars, and trees or bunches of flowers that are more over-the-top than the neighbour's.
Then, on the afternoon of the last day of the lunar year, Hanoi becomes a ghost town, as everyone heads out to the countryside to see their families.
One constant throughout all of this is major traffic jams. I've come to think of them now as a cultural artefact - 'traditional traffic jams' - on the grounds that every important / exciting / vaguely interesting occasion is a cause for millions of people to take to the streets and form one unending line of stand-still traffic.
Amid all the celebratory traffic jams and shopping are those who are left out: the street kids, and those abandoned by their families long ago. For them, this is a deeply sad time of year. While everybody else is with their relatives back at the ancestral home, the street kids are left to feel disconnected, worthless. In Vietnamese society, your self worth largely depends on who you are related to. Being alone is one of the worst fates a Vietnamese person can suffer.
Most of the Blue Dragon kids do head out of Hanoi for Tet: back to families which are often dysfunctional or otherwise inadequate, but there is at least some sense of belonging. A small number, though, really have nowhere to go, and so they stay back with us through the whole of Tet. At the Hoi An Children's Home, just a few kids were left behind, so the staff took turns to spend a day each at the Home until the holiday is over. Here in Hanoi, 5 of the teens stayed back for the whole time, with a few more kids drifting back to the city early. A group of expats living in Hanoi, known as the Australia-New Zealand Community Group, donated a couple of hundred dollars to us to pay for food and activities during the holiday period, so we had a pretty good time, listened to lots of music, and sometimes went rollerskating - like today!
Apart from the time with the kids, I've also been hanging out with an old friend - Chung, who was one of the original co-founders of Blue Dragon, and now studies in California. Chung only gets back to Vietnam once each year, so we've had plenty of catching up to do... Here's Chung at the rollerskating rink.
The Tet holiday is just about over now; the Blue Dragon centre and residence have already reopened, and Hanoians are starting to return home to the city. We're entering the Year of the Tiger, and my hope is that this year Blue Dragon will succeed in changing more lives than ever before.
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In the weeks leading up to Tet, Hanoi goes absolutely crazy - as opposed to normal, which is just 'mostly crazy' - with everyone on a shopping spree, the purpose of which is to out-shop everyone else. People want to show how successful they are by bringing home bigger-screen TVs, outrageous new motorbikes and cars, and trees or bunches of flowers that are more over-the-top than the neighbour's.
Then, on the afternoon of the last day of the lunar year, Hanoi becomes a ghost town, as everyone heads out to the countryside to see their families.
One constant throughout all of this is major traffic jams. I've come to think of them now as a cultural artefact - 'traditional traffic jams' - on the grounds that every important / exciting / vaguely interesting occasion is a cause for millions of people to take to the streets and form one unending line of stand-still traffic.
Amid all the celebratory traffic jams and shopping are those who are left out: the street kids, and those abandoned by their families long ago. For them, this is a deeply sad time of year. While everybody else is with their relatives back at the ancestral home, the street kids are left to feel disconnected, worthless. In Vietnamese society, your self worth largely depends on who you are related to. Being alone is one of the worst fates a Vietnamese person can suffer.
Most of the Blue Dragon kids do head out of Hanoi for Tet: back to families which are often dysfunctional or otherwise inadequate, but there is at least some sense of belonging. A small number, though, really have nowhere to go, and so they stay back with us through the whole of Tet. At the Hoi An Children's Home, just a few kids were left behind, so the staff took turns to spend a day each at the Home until the holiday is over. Here in Hanoi, 5 of the teens stayed back for the whole time, with a few more kids drifting back to the city early. A group of expats living in Hanoi, known as the Australia-New Zealand Community Group, donated a couple of hundred dollars to us to pay for food and activities during the holiday period, so we had a pretty good time, listened to lots of music, and sometimes went rollerskating - like today!
Apart from the time with the kids, I've also been hanging out with an old friend - Chung, who was one of the original co-founders of Blue Dragon, and now studies in California. Chung only gets back to Vietnam once each year, so we've had plenty of catching up to do... Here's Chung at the rollerskating rink.
The Tet holiday is just about over now; the Blue Dragon centre and residence have already reopened, and Hanoians are starting to return home to the city. We're entering the Year of the Tiger, and my hope is that this year Blue Dragon will succeed in changing more lives than ever before..
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Both are sufficient!
Something kinda funny to share today... One of our kids in Hanoi has been learning English, but seems to have used a faulty translation system to write me an email. The sentiment is sweet - and the wording is memorable!
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Thanks Michael, and Happy New Year,Close to full happiness. Loc financial package for the round. keep forever. Tighten the additives you. Wished each other the same as Italy, inspired round , Happy new year Peace. Both are sufficient :D!
*Happy* * New* *Year*!!!
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Getting things done
I'm in Hue now, in central Vietnam, and head back to Hanoi in a few hours.
I've been here with Van, our lawyer who works on rescuing trafficked children, but this trip has had a very positive purpose: we've come to celebrate lunar new year (Tet) with the 60 or so kids we have been helping.
This is the first time that I've met some of the children; in November and December we organised some rescue trips, taking kids out of factories in Ho Chi Minh City and bringing them home, but until now I have not met any of the kids. Although I've seen the photos, I was still shocked to see how tiny the children are - I still can't understand how anyone could make them work 18 hours a day in a factory. Here are 3 of the kids... See what I mean??
For this year's Tet party, we took the children to a nature reserve and hot springs centre, so they could spend a few hours playing and making all the noise they wanted. They really had a great time - and they needed it. Coming home from the factories is just the first step in a long process. Most of these children have really difficult lives; one boy, for example, is 13 and only just now learning to read and write. Another boy, aged 14, studies in Grade 1 - alongside his much younger brother. Forget all romantic notions of 'happily ever after'; it's downright embarrassing for kids to go to school in circumstances like that. I have incredible respect for these teenagers.
Here's a group photo of the kids with their Tet gifts...
... and here are the kids on the slides. Beats working in a factory!
Meantime, in Hanoi, our staff have been working with the little guy below (pictured with his mum). The boy has had an eye infection that festered and almost blinded him; a few days in hospital, and some surgery on both eyes, has given him back most of his sight.
So Blue Dragon is entering the Year of the Tiger with some great achievements. We're proud of these kids!
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I've been here with Van, our lawyer who works on rescuing trafficked children, but this trip has had a very positive purpose: we've come to celebrate lunar new year (Tet) with the 60 or so kids we have been helping.
This is the first time that I've met some of the children; in November and December we organised some rescue trips, taking kids out of factories in Ho Chi Minh City and bringing them home, but until now I have not met any of the kids. Although I've seen the photos, I was still shocked to see how tiny the children are - I still can't understand how anyone could make them work 18 hours a day in a factory. Here are 3 of the kids... See what I mean??
For this year's Tet party, we took the children to a nature reserve and hot springs centre, so they could spend a few hours playing and making all the noise they wanted. They really had a great time - and they needed it. Coming home from the factories is just the first step in a long process. Most of these children have really difficult lives; one boy, for example, is 13 and only just now learning to read and write. Another boy, aged 14, studies in Grade 1 - alongside his much younger brother. Forget all romantic notions of 'happily ever after'; it's downright embarrassing for kids to go to school in circumstances like that. I have incredible respect for these teenagers.
Here's a group photo of the kids with their Tet gifts...
... and here are the kids on the slides. Beats working in a factory!
Meantime, in Hanoi, our staff have been working with the little guy below (pictured with his mum). The boy has had an eye infection that festered and almost blinded him; a few days in hospital, and some surgery on both eyes, has given him back most of his sight.
So Blue Dragon is entering the Year of the Tiger with some great achievements. We're proud of these kids!
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Monday, February 08, 2010
Party for 400!
With Lunar New Year (known as Tet in Vietnam) approaching this coming weekend, there's a real sense of excitement around the countryside. (So much excitement that I haven't been writing in my blog!)
On Sunday our staff traveled north of Hanoi to Bac Ninh province, where Blue Dragon supports about 400 school kids from Grades 5 to 12.
This area is sometimes targeted by child traffickers, who look for kids who have quit school and have nothing to do. Our work very simply involves keeping kids in school - ie preventing them from dropping out - by paying school fees and providing material needs such as uniforms, text books, and stationery.
At Tet, however, the focus is on celebration. We gathered the kids together - 350 in one district, and 50 in another - for an hour of games and singing... followed by giving out gifts and lucky money (li xi) to all the children.
Kids waiting patiently for their Tet gifts...
We also gave bicycles to 4 of the kids who really need their own wheels to get to school. They were so incredibly excited - none of them had ever owned anything so precious before!
This evening I head to central Vietnam to visit the 60 kids who Blue Dragon has rescued from factories and other child trafficking situations. More photos to follow in coming days.
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On Sunday our staff traveled north of Hanoi to Bac Ninh province, where Blue Dragon supports about 400 school kids from Grades 5 to 12.
This area is sometimes targeted by child traffickers, who look for kids who have quit school and have nothing to do. Our work very simply involves keeping kids in school - ie preventing them from dropping out - by paying school fees and providing material needs such as uniforms, text books, and stationery.
At Tet, however, the focus is on celebration. We gathered the kids together - 350 in one district, and 50 in another - for an hour of games and singing... followed by giving out gifts and lucky money (li xi) to all the children.
Kids waiting patiently for their Tet gifts... 
We also gave bicycles to 4 of the kids who really need their own wheels to get to school. They were so incredibly excited - none of them had ever owned anything so precious before!This evening I head to central Vietnam to visit the 60 kids who Blue Dragon has rescued from factories and other child trafficking situations. More photos to follow in coming days.
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
A wedding, and a coat of paint
There's been some excitement at Blue Dragon this week - one of the very first kids we met and helped, over 7 years ago, has just married!
Minh, from Ha Nam province, was working on the streets of Hanoi shining shoes back in 2002. He and many young people from his village had come to the city to earn money to support their families. At that time, Blue Dragon was still just an idea, but when we opened a residential home in mid 2003, Minh was one of the first kids to move in. Shortly after, we helped him apply for a job in a fine restaurant, and he's been working in hospitality ever since.
The picture below is Minh with his beautiful wife, Luan:
... and here's Minh back in 2003, studying English!
While we've been celebrating in Hanoi, the kids and staff at the Hoi An Children's Home have been rolling up their sleeves and PAINTING!
Some old friends from Australia, Peter and Robin, have volunteered at the Home in the past, and just before Christmas they turned up to help out with gardening and maintenance around the kids' home. Thanks to a whole lot of paint, and even more elbow grease, the place looks absolutely transformed - in the bottom photo you can see the difference between 'old' and 'new'.
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Minh, from Ha Nam province, was working on the streets of Hanoi shining shoes back in 2002. He and many young people from his village had come to the city to earn money to support their families. At that time, Blue Dragon was still just an idea, but when we opened a residential home in mid 2003, Minh was one of the first kids to move in. Shortly after, we helped him apply for a job in a fine restaurant, and he's been working in hospitality ever since.
The picture below is Minh with his beautiful wife, Luan:
... and here's Minh back in 2003, studying English!
While we've been celebrating in Hanoi, the kids and staff at the Hoi An Children's Home have been rolling up their sleeves and PAINTING!
Some old friends from Australia, Peter and Robin, have volunteered at the Home in the past, and just before Christmas they turned up to help out with gardening and maintenance around the kids' home. Thanks to a whole lot of paint, and even more elbow grease, the place looks absolutely transformed - in the bottom photo you can see the difference between 'old' and 'new'.
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The VIP story
There’s a lot more to Blue Dragon than most people realize. On this blog I try to let people know about all the different things we have going on, but outside of our staff and volunteers, not many people understand the full extent of our operations.
A case in point: few people realize that Blue Dragon has been running a vocational training program as part of a motorbike rental business we set up in 2008.
The whole concept started with a donation from Lars and Julie Jaegar and Lars’ company, Partners Group. At the time, Blue Dragon had a volunteer named Andrew Souto who happened to be a mechanic, and had already been with us for 18 months running small training and job skills programs for street kids. Together we hatched the idea for VIP Bikes, which was to be a genuine business offering the best motorbike rental and repair service in Hanoi, and which also trained disadvantaged youth in mechanics and business skills.
What we didn’t realize, though, was how intense the demand for business would be once we had started. While we were still renovating the building we’d rented, Andrew’s phone started ringing from people who wanted to rent bikes. How could we say no? Once word was out, there was no turning back. And once the Hanoi community heard how good the service was, Andrew’s phone just kept on ringing.
Some other supporters cam on board as well: Jacqui Gregory from Queensland raised money to help VIP Bikes buy equipment, and St Joseph’s International School in Singapore raised funds to pay for training. Some of their students even came over and painted the building!
Fast forward two years, and Andrew is still volunteering at VIP Bikes (through the VIDA program), with the original mechanics working alongside him – plus a couple more! The rental business side has grown from 3 motorbikes to over 50, and there’s a constant stream of short term and long term trainees.
One of those trainees, Bao, now works full time at VIP Bikes: he’s now staff, and wears his uniform with pride.
Bao at work...
Another trainee, Nhan, has moved on to a training program at KOTO, which teaches hospitality skills. Although that seems to be totally unrelated, VIP Bikes taught Nhan a few skills that he needed before he could be accepted by KOTO: like punctuality, listening to the trainer, and following directions. Without those months under Andrew’s guidance, Nhan simply couldn’t have been ready for any other program or job.
This week saw a major milestone in the VIP story. What started out as a program under the auspices of Blue Dragon has now become a fully independent social enterprise. VIP Bikes has taken on a life of its own; it needed to break free from the rest of Blue Dragon so it could keep on growing.
A workshop for disadvantaged youth on bicycle maintenance
I can be pretty cynical about NGOs and the ‘empire mentality’ that I see at work in many of the big charities here in Vietnam. In a situation like this, it was very tempting for Blue Dragon to hold on to VIP Bikes – after all, why wouldn’t we want to hang on to such a huge success story? Why let go of something so good? But the truth is, VIP Bikes has much more freedom to grow and develop if it is not part of another organization. So we decided to separate, and register VIP as an independent social enterprise.
Blue Dragon kids will continue to train there, and I’m looking forward to posting stories soon about some of the teenagers who are about to start learning motorbike repair – including a couple of boys who were previously trafficked to garment factories.
So stay tuned. The VIP Bikes story has a long way to go.
Read more about VIP Bikes here.
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Sunday, January 24, 2010
Blue Dragon United
Blue Dragon United was launched this morning!
Our new team braved the winter drizzle to don the new uniform and kick off the first ever game of BDU.
A quick look back over the history of soccer at Blue Dragon...
We started in early 2003 with just 3 players! Our uniform was green then, and the team name was Real Betis Vietnam. After the game, we'd have lunch and an English class.
Late in 2004 we switched to a new uniform. By this time we were normally having 30-40 kids come and play each week, and we started running occasional workshops on issues such as HIV/AIDS after the games.
And here we are in 2010! At least 60 kids come every week, and as of today we are known as Blue Dragon United.
As you can see, half the shirts are orange with a little blue; the other half are blue with a little orange. This is because we play against each other in the Sunday games.
This morning was great - the rain cleared to give us perfect playing conditions. A terrific start to the new team!
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Our new team braved the winter drizzle to don the new uniform and kick off the first ever game of BDU.
A quick look back over the history of soccer at Blue Dragon...
We started in early 2003 with just 3 players! Our uniform was green then, and the team name was Real Betis Vietnam. After the game, we'd have lunch and an English class.
Late in 2004 we switched to a new uniform. By this time we were normally having 30-40 kids come and play each week, and we started running occasional workshops on issues such as HIV/AIDS after the games.
And here we are in 2010! At least 60 kids come every week, and as of today we are known as Blue Dragon United.
As you can see, half the shirts are orange with a little blue; the other half are blue with a little orange. This is because we play against each other in the Sunday games.
This morning was great - the rain cleared to give us perfect playing conditions. A terrific start to the new team!
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Friday, January 22, 2010
United we stand
7 years ago, when I was just starting to work with street kids in Hanoi, my friends and I came up with the idea of starting a soccer team.
We'd been running weekly classes out of a room in my home, but as more and more kids came, we just didn't have the room to teach them. So we figured that we could fit plenty of kids onto the soccer field, offer a meal at the end, and then run classes for those who wanted to study.
That was back before we had even started Blue Dragon Children's Foundation - seems like a lifetime ago!
But 7 years on, Blue Dragon still meets every Sunday morning at 8am for a game of soccer. Just 3 kids came to our first game; these days it's common for 60 to 80 kids to be there.
At the outset, our team was named Real Betis Vietnam. One of the original Blue Dragon team, a Spaniard named Gonzalo Serrano, was a big fan of Real Betis, so we adopted that name. Now, though, we've decided to create a new team with a name that resonates more strongly with our kids:
Blue Dragon United.
The new team kicks off this Sunday morning, but the new shirt is already getting some publicity...
These are all real, I tells ya. Trust me.
We've created a website for the players to keep in touch with the latest news. It's just in Vietnamese at the moment but in coming weeks we'll have English as well. Check it out:
Blue Dragon United
After the launch on Sunday, I'll blog again with some more info, and hopefully some more photos. As I write, the rain is bucketing down outside, so we are all hoping for clearer skies very soon...
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We'd been running weekly classes out of a room in my home, but as more and more kids came, we just didn't have the room to teach them. So we figured that we could fit plenty of kids onto the soccer field, offer a meal at the end, and then run classes for those who wanted to study.
That was back before we had even started Blue Dragon Children's Foundation - seems like a lifetime ago!
But 7 years on, Blue Dragon still meets every Sunday morning at 8am for a game of soccer. Just 3 kids came to our first game; these days it's common for 60 to 80 kids to be there.
At the outset, our team was named Real Betis Vietnam. One of the original Blue Dragon team, a Spaniard named Gonzalo Serrano, was a big fan of Real Betis, so we adopted that name. Now, though, we've decided to create a new team with a name that resonates more strongly with our kids:
Blue Dragon United.
The new team kicks off this Sunday morning, but the new shirt is already getting some publicity...
These are all real, I tells ya. Trust me.
We've created a website for the players to keep in touch with the latest news. It's just in Vietnamese at the moment but in coming weeks we'll have English as well. Check it out:
Blue Dragon United
After the launch on Sunday, I'll blog again with some more info, and hopefully some more photos. As I write, the rain is bucketing down outside, so we are all hoping for clearer skies very soon...
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Monday, January 18, 2010
A big ask
With Christmas scarcely behind us, I know this is a bad time to put out a call for funding. And now the world is focused on the terrible emergency in Haiti.
But I need to ask for help for 2 families here in Vietnam.
For each of these families, we're seeking a few hundred dollars - in one case, to repair a home, and in another, to build a new one. For each of these families, this help will make a world of difference.
Thien, who lives with his parents and 4 siblings in Hue province, is one of the trafficked children we rescued in December. Below are some shots taken of their house from the outside as well as the inside.
Thien needs a new house. This current building is way too small, and far too miserable a place for kids to be growing up in. We already have a few hundred dollars for this, but we need another $800 US to build them a whole new home. His parents earn about $40 per month between them; building a decent home is way out of their reach.
Sang is a Grade 8 girl in Bac Ninh province, north of Hanoi. She's pictured below in front of her house with her brothers; and the second shot is taken inside the home.
Blue Dragon is already supporting Sang to go to school; but her living conditions are just atrocious. Sang's family needs to repair her home to keep out the winter, and for that they need about $380 US.
I know there couldn't be a worse time for me to be asking for help like this. But I've got to ask. Two kids and their families need some help.
If you can help out, drop me a line on bluedragon@bdcf.org.
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But I need to ask for help for 2 families here in Vietnam.
For each of these families, we're seeking a few hundred dollars - in one case, to repair a home, and in another, to build a new one. For each of these families, this help will make a world of difference.
Thien, who lives with his parents and 4 siblings in Hue province, is one of the trafficked children we rescued in December. Below are some shots taken of their house from the outside as well as the inside.
Thien needs a new house. This current building is way too small, and far too miserable a place for kids to be growing up in. We already have a few hundred dollars for this, but we need another $800 US to build them a whole new home. His parents earn about $40 per month between them; building a decent home is way out of their reach.
Sang is a Grade 8 girl in Bac Ninh province, north of Hanoi. She's pictured below in front of her house with her brothers; and the second shot is taken inside the home.
Blue Dragon is already supporting Sang to go to school; but her living conditions are just atrocious. Sang's family needs to repair her home to keep out the winter, and for that they need about $380 US.
I know there couldn't be a worse time for me to be asking for help like this. But I've got to ask. Two kids and their families need some help.
If you can help out, drop me a line on bluedragon@bdcf.org.
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
More from Tet Awards
As promised, a few more photos of Tet Awards at the Sofitel Plaza last Thursday.
These are also on the Blue Dragon Facebook page - along with many more. If you're on Facebook, sign up to see them.
What the photos don't reveal, though, are the incredible stories behind the kids in the photos. Among the images are children who live in shacks... teens who have spent time in prison... kids who were thrown out of home when their parents remarried, so that the 'new' family can have new children.
That's the magic of Tet Awards: it doesn't matter one bit where you've come from, you're still a special, precious human being.
These are also on the Blue Dragon Facebook page - along with many more. If you're on Facebook, sign up to see them.
What the photos don't reveal, though, are the incredible stories behind the kids in the photos. Among the images are children who live in shacks... teens who have spent time in prison... kids who were thrown out of home when their parents remarried, so that the 'new' family can have new children.
That's the magic of Tet Awards: it doesn't matter one bit where you've come from, you're still a special, precious human being.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Big Night
Thursday night was a major event at Blue Dragon: Tet Awards 2010!
This was our 5th annual Tet (lunar new year) celebration - and without a doubt the best so far.
We invited all of the kids we work with in Hanoi - just over 250 girls and boys - for a huge celebration at the Sofitel Plaza. The children, their parents, and various foreign ambassadors and other special guests took part in a 90 minute party. complete with hip hop dancing, tap dancing, singing, a fashion show, and a dance off between the kids and Blue Dragon staff. I sat on the floor crying with laughter for the first hour.
There was also a serious side to the night: 38 children were invited to the stage to receive award for 10 different categories of achievement or endeavour. But every single one of the kids went home with a bag of presents, and most with a certificate recognising their best qualities.
I must say thanks to the Sofitel Plaza for pulling out all stops to make it a fantastic night. They gave us the room, food, and hot drinks all for free... they even through in an ice sculpture of a dragon!
Just a few pics below, and I will post more in coming days. I'm still gathering together the photos of the even, so just a teaser for now!
This was our 5th annual Tet (lunar new year) celebration - and without a doubt the best so far.
We invited all of the kids we work with in Hanoi - just over 250 girls and boys - for a huge celebration at the Sofitel Plaza. The children, their parents, and various foreign ambassadors and other special guests took part in a 90 minute party. complete with hip hop dancing, tap dancing, singing, a fashion show, and a dance off between the kids and Blue Dragon staff. I sat on the floor crying with laughter for the first hour.
There was also a serious side to the night: 38 children were invited to the stage to receive award for 10 different categories of achievement or endeavour. But every single one of the kids went home with a bag of presents, and most with a certificate recognising their best qualities.
I must say thanks to the Sofitel Plaza for pulling out all stops to make it a fantastic night. They gave us the room, food, and hot drinks all for free... they even through in an ice sculpture of a dragon!
Just a few pics below, and I will post more in coming days. I'm still gathering together the photos of the even, so just a teaser for now!
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Fail?
NGOS (aka "charities") by nature are rarely self reflective organisations. The bigger they get, the more they are driven by the need to advance their own interests. There are notable exceptions, but it takes a very grounded NGO to stay focused on helping people rather than just getting their logo better known.
I've been thinking about this issue since I posted my last blog. In our work in Hue, we believe that one day in the forseeable future, our work will be finished. The end of child trafficking in certain communities in central Vietnam will one day be a thing of the past.
In three villages where dozens of children were being trafficked just 2 years ago, there is now no trafficking at all. The kids we rescued from factories on our last two trips were from a district of Hue province that was completely new to us. In other words, we have put a stop to child trafficking in the district we started in 3 years ago, and have now been able to move on to the next district.
But if you spend some time on google and do a search on the words "child trafficking increase" or "child trafficking on-the-rise", you'll come up with countless NGOs making press releases about how trafficking is getting worse, not better, and how therefore they need more of your money.
To which I can only say: FAIL.
If they are declaring that, despite all the millions of dollars they have so far spent, the problem is getting worse rather than better, do they really have the right to ask you for more donations? How will "more of the same" help if the problem is getting worse?
NGOs have a vested interest in declaring panic and emergency. Don't believe them. If they are spending millions and then saying the situation is deteriorating, they're either lying or failing. Either way, they don't deserve your support.
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I've been thinking about this issue since I posted my last blog. In our work in Hue, we believe that one day in the forseeable future, our work will be finished. The end of child trafficking in certain communities in central Vietnam will one day be a thing of the past.
In three villages where dozens of children were being trafficked just 2 years ago, there is now no trafficking at all. The kids we rescued from factories on our last two trips were from a district of Hue province that was completely new to us. In other words, we have put a stop to child trafficking in the district we started in 3 years ago, and have now been able to move on to the next district.
But if you spend some time on google and do a search on the words "child trafficking increase" or "child trafficking on-the-rise", you'll come up with countless NGOs making press releases about how trafficking is getting worse, not better, and how therefore they need more of your money.
To which I can only say: FAIL.
If they are declaring that, despite all the millions of dollars they have so far spent, the problem is getting worse rather than better, do they really have the right to ask you for more donations? How will "more of the same" help if the problem is getting worse?
NGOs have a vested interest in declaring panic and emergency. Don't believe them. If they are spending millions and then saying the situation is deteriorating, they're either lying or failing. Either way, they don't deserve your support.
.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Out of the factories
In the final days of 2009, Blue Dragon staff went on a rescue trip to the factories of Ho Chi Minh City to find children who have been trafficked from central Vietnam to work in the south.
Altogether, the trip secured the release of 6 children, aged from 10 to 14, including 5 boys and 1 girl. With lunar new year coming up, the factories are desperate to keep the children in their service, so this was a real struggle - it took a day and a half of work before even the first child could be released!
One of the 6 kids went home immediately, while the other 5 went back as a group. Here's a photo of the 5 who traveled back together, along with a government official from Hue province who accompanied us on this trip:
Securing the release of the children involved an awful lot of negotiation and argument. The 2nd boy from the left (in the green shirt) is a 12 year old named Ty. He was desperate to get away from the factory, and his parents wanted him home, but the factory boss wouldn't let him go. Our staff had to hatch a plan for the boy to literally 'make a run for it' while they waited in a taxi down the street. Ty jumped in the car, they sped off - straight to the local police station to make a report. A bit frightening for the poor kid, but there was no other way to get him out.
The boy and the girl below are 2 of the many kids we were unable to take home on this trip... The boy is 12, the girl is 13.
The train trip back to Hue took about 26 hours: but the kids were thrilled to be reunited with their families.
... and the final step was to get together about 40 government and Red Cross officials from Hue for a debrief. This was on January 1, 2010 - so they were pretty keen to be there! At this point of the operation, our goal is to start 'fire proofing' the village by letting everyone know who the traffickers are, what life is like in the factories, and get the leaders to start thinking about how they can put a stop to this problem.
A great way to start the new year!
.
Altogether, the trip secured the release of 6 children, aged from 10 to 14, including 5 boys and 1 girl. With lunar new year coming up, the factories are desperate to keep the children in their service, so this was a real struggle - it took a day and a half of work before even the first child could be released!
One of the 6 kids went home immediately, while the other 5 went back as a group. Here's a photo of the 5 who traveled back together, along with a government official from Hue province who accompanied us on this trip:
Securing the release of the children involved an awful lot of negotiation and argument. The 2nd boy from the left (in the green shirt) is a 12 year old named Ty. He was desperate to get away from the factory, and his parents wanted him home, but the factory boss wouldn't let him go. Our staff had to hatch a plan for the boy to literally 'make a run for it' while they waited in a taxi down the street. Ty jumped in the car, they sped off - straight to the local police station to make a report. A bit frightening for the poor kid, but there was no other way to get him out.
The boy and the girl below are 2 of the many kids we were unable to take home on this trip... The boy is 12, the girl is 13.
The train trip back to Hue took about 26 hours: but the kids were thrilled to be reunited with their families.
... and the final step was to get together about 40 government and Red Cross officials from Hue for a debrief. This was on January 1, 2010 - so they were pretty keen to be there! At this point of the operation, our goal is to start 'fire proofing' the village by letting everyone know who the traffickers are, what life is like in the factories, and get the leaders to start thinking about how they can put a stop to this problem.
A great way to start the new year!
.
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