Founder's Blog

Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar international industry, with estimates that it generates up to $32 billion a year. Fighting against it requires substantial resources, time – and money. Among the many organisations which are devoted to ending human...

There’s an awful lot of bad news about. It’s hard to know where to start. In a world that’s too familiar with mass shootings and terrorist attacks, the horrific events in Christchurch stand out because New Zealand seemed such an unlikely place for this kind of thing...

Last week, Blue Dragon held one of those events that NGOs sometimes do – the launch of a new program. Meetings and workshops drive me crazy. They rarely feel productive, and I sometimes wonder if the whole purpose of conferences is just to make people feel like...

This afternoon, my high school English teacher, Shirley McCoombe, passed away after a battle with cancer. It has been many years since I saw her, and yet her passing leaves me at a loss. She was one of the great influences on my life, and I have no doubt that without...

People sometimes think that leading a charity like Blue Dragon is a glamorous job. We’re out rescuing people from slavery, staring down pimps, taking on gangs that recruit kids. And yes, some days it’s like that. Of course, in reality our work rarely feels glamorous....

Hanoi is a grey place at this time of year, with fog and pollution hanging low over the city. But standing out from the drabness: swarms of blue, purple and yellow hair. Every year, right before Tet (Lunar New Year), the Blue Dragon kids dye their hair as a way of...

The first time he tricked a woman and sold her to a brothel, Mr Nam earned about $50. He had thought it would be  more, and was promised that next time he would be much happier. The buyers were right.  In between his on-again / off-again job as a xe om (motorbike...

I lived on a farm in the outback of Australia for 6 years as a teenager. I hated it, and they were the best years of my life. At the time, I hated the isolation. We were 30km from the nearest village; to get a haircut was a 120km round trip. There was nobody my age...

“Son is just fantastic,” the cafe owner said. “He’s one of my best staff. To be honest, I don’t know what I’d do without him.” You can imagine my pride at hearing this. Son is a terrific barista, and I always enjoy dropping in to the cafe where he works, in the centre...

Recently my social media feeds have been showing selections of outstanding photos from 2018. So here’s my own ‘photo of the year’ from Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. The photo was taken by one of our Outreach workers during a routine visit of the hiding places...

One of my favourite moments each day is spotting new kids at the Blue Dragon centre, Dragon House. Whether they’re sitting in the drop-in centre, or having lunch upstairs, they’re easy to spot. All the other kids – who have been with us for weeks, or months, or years...

A post popped up in my Facebook feed recently with a face that I instantly recognised. I haven’t seen ‘Tam’ since his graduation from vocational training about 5 years ago, but of course he doesn’t look a day older. Tam was 14 when I met him. He was one of the first children that Blue Dragon rescued from the sweatshops in southern Vietnam. A country boy, he and some of his village friends were persuaded that dropping out of school and going to “learn to be a tailor” was the…