Child labour, school dropouts, and rising hardship: The effects of the Iran war ripple through vulnerable Vietnamese communities
August 17, 2026
Increased fuel prices caused by the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz have resulted in a domino effect of swelling transportation, food, and even rent costs. Disadvantaged children and families are bearing the brunt.
When the price of diesel fuel started to soar in March, Cuong found himself out of work overnight. A hardened fisherman from the rocky coast of northern Vietnam, Cuong used to go out to sea every day to provide for his wife and nine children. Expensive fuel meant the boat owners Cuong works for couldn’t afford to operate anymore, so they moored their ships until further notice. Suddenly, Cuong didn’t know how he’d feed his children.
To try and help their struggling family, Cuong’s teenage daughters Ly and Nhi traveled to Hanoi in search of work. The sisters eventually found employment in a busy restaurant. From early in the morning until well into the night, the girls toiled in the sweltering heat of the kitchen. It was hard, dangerous and, in the case of 13-year-old Nhi, illegal work.
Because Southeast Asia imports most of the petrol it consumes via the Strait of Hormuz, it was one of the first regions to feel the ripple effects of the US–Israel war on Iran. In Vietnam, despite heavy state intervention to bring prices down, this has resulted in a domino effect of soaring prices in transportation, food, agricultural products and general living costs.
As in any crisis with economic ramifications, those living in poverty are the first to feel the impacts. Across the rural and urban areas where Blue Dragon works, disadvantaged children and families like Cuong’s are experiencing not only increased hardship but also heightened risks of child labour, early school abandonment, and human trafficking.
Children and families already living in hardship are being pushed deeper into crisis.
Education in jeopardy
As a result of these challenges, Blue Dragon is already observing additional barriers to children’s education across Vietnam, with both families and school communities feeling further strain on their finances.
In some mountainous areas where children need transportation to get to school, the increase in school bus fares – which have risen up to 30% – has become an obstacle for students to stay in school.
In one remote, mountainous village of central Vietnam, Blue Dragon is working with local partners to get eight children in this situation back to the classroom. The cost of living was already becoming too much to bear for their parents, who work hard farming and logging deep in the forest to give their children a better childhood than they had. For many of them, the rising bus costs were the straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing the painful decision to pull their children from school and send them to Ho Chi Minh City in search of work. Like Nhi and Ly, they are now at risk of falling prey to those who would exploit them in unsafe or illegal work.
For these eight disadvantaged families, the rising bus costs were the straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing the painful decision to pull their children from school.
The price hikes are particularly acute in hard-to-reach mountainous areas, where delivering supplies to isolated hamlets on precarious roads is a challenge. With the added difficulties, residents report that the cost of basic meals and ingredients has risen by as much as 25%.
Blue Dragon staff delivering rice, milk and other essentials to families in a remote village in northern Vietnam.
Because of this remoteness, many children from these communities have to attend boarding schools tens of kilometres away from home, where they are also encountering new hurdles.
“With rising food prices, boarding schools have to be very careful in calculating how they continue providing meals for all students. Some schools may request additional contributions from parents, but for extremely poor families, this is very difficult,” says Thuy Nguyen, who oversees Blue Dragon’s work in rural areas where the risk of human trafficking is particularly high. This, too, adds to the risk of students dropping out.
Across rural Vietnam, many children attend boarding schools and can only visit home every few weeks.
Pressures are also mounting for young people in cities. Unable to face growing expenses, students from vulnerable families attending university with Blue Dragon’s assistance are requesting their scholarships early.
Blue Dragon is working to keep them all safe. “We are working to maximise the number of kids who benefit from our support, and working very closely with families whose children are at a high risk of dropping out,” adds Thuy.
Dwindling income
In cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the rising costs are eating away at families’ income. Those working in the informal sector as street vendors, running food stalls or driving motorbike taxis are bearing the brunt.
The food stall Mai set up with Blue Dragon’s support is the first source of steady income she and her family have ever had. Now, her earnings are shrinking.
Bao’s family is one of them. This motorbike taxi driver from Ho Chi Minh City drives his raggedy scooter all over town to make ends meet. In the mornings, he drives children to a nearby school so their parents can make it to work in time. When he’s not busing kids to class, he’s transporting construction materials and delivering supplies for whoever requests his services. But since the price of fuel went up he has to be very selective with the jobs he takes. With short rides, he barely breaks even.
Bao felt immense relief when he was able to move his family from the streets into a rented home.
Bao has fought endless battles to keep his family afloat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he lost his courier job, and obstacles have kept coming ever since. For quite some time, Bao, his wife Linh and their boys Minh and Cong had no choice but to beg and sleep on the streets. With Blue Dragon’s support, the family stopped being homeless, Linh found employment, and the boys started to attend school for the first time in their lives.
Now, Bao’s biggest fear is going back to those harrowing days sleeping rough. The uncertainty keeps him up at night.
In rural areas, the challenges families face are different, but just as steep. As a direct consequence of the Middle East crisis, the cost of agricultural products has soared. Fertilisers and pesticides are 60% more expensive, and the prices of seeds and animal feed have also spiked. This is happening at a critical time, as the season to plant corn in the north and other crops across the country begins.
After deducting all the costs, many farming families find themselves with meagre profits, and in some cases, even losses.
Families who live off farming and agriculture like Phai are struggling to make ends meet.
Separation
In addition to growing financial concerns, many families are also having to cope with separation from loved ones. The price of long-distance bus tickets, which has doubled for some routes, is keeping families apart.
Parents who had to migrate from villages and small towns to industrial areas to find work are travelling home less frequently and seeing their children just a handful of times a year. University students can no longer afford to visit home, and children in boarding school are skipping weekend trips home to save on transportation costs.
A helping hand
As more and more families get pushed into crisis every day, calls for help to Blue Dragon are rising. To respond to the growing need, Blue Dragon has launched a fundraising appeal.
Children and families across Vietnam need help to keep a roof over their heads, their children in school and food on the table.
Thanks to the generous support of the Blue Dragon community, 13-year-old Nhi could get away from the pots and pans of the kitchen and is now back in school. Her sister Ly, who at 16 is legally old enough to work, decided to stay in Hanoi to earn some much-needed extra cash to send home. Cuong and Nhi’s siblings are over the moon to have her back home, but the family is still a long way from being completely safe.
Nhi and her siblings were thrilled when their Blue Dragon social worker took them shopping for new school supplies.
Your support will give Nhi, Cong, Minh and the many children in need of help everything they need to keep safe from the dangers of child labour and human trafficking.
