Have you ever wondered how long it takes to help a street kid return to their family or to a safe home?
Blue Dragon meets street kids and homeless children every day. Some young people we can reunite with their families on the same day we meet them.
Others need years before they are ready, like 18 year old ‘Phien’, who we first met in 2016.
Growing up in an impoverished mountainous village, Phien believed that life in the big city would be so much better. Setting out from his hometown at age 16, Phien made the long journey to Hanoi.
But instead of finding his dream, he was tricked and lost all his money, ID papers and mobile phone. He started to believe he could never trust anyone again.
Phien was too shy to admit his ‘failure’, so he didn’t return to his family and has lived on the streets since then. A Blue Dragon social worker met him one night in 2016, and it took almost 2 years of meeting him before he would accept our help.
Phien came to stay at Blue Dragon for 2 weeks to receive care and counselling, and prepare to return to his family. Earlier this week, we accompanied him back to his remote village to finally see his parents again.
To witness the moment when the whole family could be back together was worth 2 years of work. How long it takes just doesn’t matter at all.
