Always more to the story

There’s an anniversary that Bi never forgets: the day that changed his life forever. But he knows that his story is far from over.

Sipping our coffee by the lake, Bi looked over to me and said:

“November 8. It will be 6 years.”

I knew what he was referring to, because in years passed he’s mentioned this anniversary.

This is the date that, in 2018, he first encountered Blue Dragon.

It was such an important milestone in Bi’s life that he acknowledges it with every passing year.

He was still a child then. He had left his home in the village to come to the city, looking for an escape.

Life at home was hard.

His relationship with his father was fractured beyond repair. So after trying over and over, Bi eventually gave up.

Surely he could make it on the city streets alone. It couldn’t be worse than home, could it?

But it was. The streets are no place for kids to survive; not in any city, any country.

And so finding Blue Dragon was the turning point he needed.

Fine young man

Sitting across from me now, Bi is still the same smiling, optimistic person he was when I first met him.

What’s changed is that he’s vastly more confident now. He carries himself with calm purpose; kindness beams from his smile.

Bi is in his final years of high school. Even though he’s in his early 20s, he’s enrolled in a class and is working hard at his studies. When he graduates, he plans to apply for university and earn a degree in social work.

A few nights each week, he helps out at the Blue Dragon emergency shelter. Bi works alongside staff to care for kids who we’ve just met out on the streets – kids like he once was.

But this journey of 6 years has not followed a straight line.

The winding road

In fact, Bi’s story has had more ups and downs, more surprises along the way, than many of the young people we meet.

Over the years, there have been times when he enrolled in school… and then stopped going.

At times he’s been out sleeping rough on the streets again. For a while he returned to his village, hoping to repair his relationship with his family. When he ended up living alone in a house without electricity, he came back under the wing of Blue Dragon. And for a while he was working as a ‘shipper’, carrying goods around the city on his motorbike.

Finishing his coffee, Bi tells me that he’s not worried about the future any more. He has a plan and for the first time in his memory, he’s stable.

Above all, he’s grateful that for 6 years he’s had Blue Dragon in his life… through all the ups and downs.

And while Bi’s future is undoubtedly bright, he and I both know that there will be more to his story. More surprises, more changes along the way.

Because life is like that. It really is a long story.

And that’s OK. Bi is mature enough now to know that he doesn’t need to see the future in order to accept it.

He just needs to give it his best and to know that someone will always be there by his side.

Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation is on a mission to end human trafficking.