Worthless things

Changing lives is neither a science nor an art. It takes care and commitment, sometimes over months or years. And it’s all built on one crucial but elusive foundation.

This week, I spoke on two webinars about Blue Dragon’s 20-year journey.

We started out as a handful of volunteers teaching English to street kids in Hanoi.

Today we’re working around Vietnam preventing human trafficking. We’ve led law reform initiatives, put thousands of children through school, and have rescued almost 1,700 people from slavery. So far!

During a webinar, someone asked: In our work, how do we build trust with the kids we’re helping?

An excellent question, because trust isn’t assumed. Blue Dragon’s 20 years of experience means nothing to a child we meet sleeping under a bridge, or a teenage girl locked into a brothel.

The people we meet in these crisis situations have been abused and neglected. They might not trust anyone, let alone a stranger from an organisation they’ve never encountered.

But we can’t help if the person doesn’t trust us. So how do we do it?

Playing games

Back when we were starting up as a charity, we had a handful of brilliant supporters… as well as plenty of critics.

Some people assumed our work either wasn’t important or wouldn’t last long. That we’d soon discover how difficult the work was and give up.

As we continued to grow and become established, I remember one person, vastly more experienced than me, telling me that Blue Dragon’s work was useless. (To her credit, she told me this to my face).

We were doing “worthless things,” she told me. Just playing games with kids. There was no real benefit to our work.

No strings attached

One of Blue Dragon’s key activities at that time – and still today – was weekend football for street kids.

And yes, a lot of our effort went into social activities like a drumming circle and art classes.

Skye Maconachie leading a drumming circle for street kids in 2004. Today, she’s a co-CEO of the organisation.

Skye Maconachie leading a drumming circle for street kids in 2004.
Today, she’s a co-CEO of the organisation.
Much of our time was spent simply getting to know kids, meeting with them, listening to them. We did all of this with no expectation or obligation.

It was up to the kids to decide whether they wanted to go back to school or continue on the streets and our care for them had no strings attached.

The purpose of all these “worthless things”? We were building trust.

Today, as we reach thousands of children and families around the country, we continue to work by the same principle.

Trust must come first and it must be earned.

Whether it’s the rescue of someone from slavery or meeting a child on the street, the decision to receive our help is theirs.

For them to make that decision, they need to know us. Not our web profile or what awards we’ve won. They need to know our character. Our heart.

Down in the dirt

That’s why Blue Dragon staff can be found sitting by the side of the road chatting to a family. Or taking a group of kids to play games and have a meal.

Blue Dragon street outreach workers running activities with homeless children.

Blue Dragon street outreach workers running activities with homeless children.
It’s why our anti-trafficking initiatives in rural areas typically begin by helping communities to meet the needs that they identify: a bridge to cross a stream, or a water filter system for the local school.

All of these activities meet a local need and at the same time build trust with people and communities.

Installing solar lights in a mountain village.

Installing solar lights in a mountain village.
That trust gives us the stepping stones to then make sustainable, transformative change.

When kids know they can trust us, we can help them rebuild family connections and get back to school.

When communities see that we really do have their best interests at heart, they will work with us to keep human traffickers out of their village.

It all begins with trust.

And nothing could be more valuable.