Cuong and Thinh: the long, hard road to a better life

Waiting for Thinh

On a warm summer’s evening in Ho Chi Minh City, Cuong walked through a busy park as children and families played around him. Parents volleyed shuttlecocks back and forth with their children while teens practiced rollerskating along the sunbaked concrete.

Cuong’s son, Thinh, was going to meet him at the park soon. But they were not going there to play – they have very little time for that kind of thing. Instead, they were there to catch up with their Blue Dragon social workers, Thanh and Kin.

Cuong found Thanh and Kin waiting for him on a concrete bench where they greeted each other like old friends. Cuong showed visible signs of ill-health as he explained he could no longer walk for as long as he used to. Then he looked out beyond the park where his son was walking the streets selling lottery tickets – their main source of income.

With Cuong’s health declining, 13-year-old Thinh has to spend more time working on the streets to make up for the lost income. He stays out until he sells all of his tickets, which often keeps him up long into the night.

On the streets

Selling lottery tickets until late at night is a hard way to make a living, but Thinh and Cuong’s lives have improved dramatically over the last few years.

Thinh’s mother left when he was very young. Struggling to make ends meet alone, Cuong took Thinh to Thailand as he travelled in search of work. Cuong managed to find enough work to tide them over for a few years, but he was eventually forced to return to Vietnam when Thinh was 12 years old.

With no money and no home, Cuong and Thinh spent their days begging on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and their nights sleeping rough on roadsides.

One day, Cuong and Thinh met a kind person on the streets who put them up in a hotel and informed Blue Dragon of their situation. Thanh and Kin, who work every night on the city streets with homeless kids, then travelled to meet them and begin the first steps toward a long-term support plan.

We provided Cuong and Thinh with daily necessities and safe accommodation. Lifted by our support, Thinh slowly began to open up and show more of his bright personality. Then came a moment that really transformed him: we enrolled him a nearby school.

Having spent most of his life in Thailand, Thinh struggled with the Vietnamese language. But school really brought him out of his shell as he started learning and making friends for the first time in his life. One of his favourite parts of his new life was waking up early to ride to school on the bicycle provided by Blue Dragon.

Cuong was so moved by his son’s transformation that he asked to join him at school one day. What he saw there strengthened his resolve to do everything in his power to give his son a good life.

Setbacks 

Sitting beside Thanh on the park bench, Cuong talked of the troubles that he and Thinh continue to face as they struggle to get by.

“Selling tickets is getting harder,” he shared – and not just because of his health issues. “The rainy season has been hard this year, with hardly anyone on the streets to sell to.”

Cuong laid out his unsold lottery tickets and pointed to the fixed prices printed across each one. “The companies who sell the tickets to us keep raising the prices, but we can only sell them for this price that’s printed on them,” he explained. “This price never changes, meaning we get less and less profit all the time. And I feel sorry for the people we sell to. They’re helping me and my son, but I don’t think they ever win.”

Then Cuong gave Thanh some troubling news. While Thinh had initially done well at school, his lack of Vietnamese language skills became increasingly apparent as the courses progressed. Eventually, the school informed Cuong that they could no longer accommodate him, and that he wouldn’t be able to return when the new academic year began.

Thanh and Kin assured Cuong that, no matter what, Blue Dragon would find them a new school where Thinh could thrive.

Surprise!

Later that afternoon, Thinh arrived at the park, made his way through the playing families and sat down beside his father on the bench.

Thinh had made roughly the same amount of money that he makes every day – about $9 – and now he was free to relax. But this was a special day, as Thanh and Kin had brought him a surprise.

Thinh smiled shyly as Kin revealed a birthday cake. With some gentle encouragement, he took a deep breath and blew out the candle. Then everyone headed to a nearby noodle shop where Thinh could eat his favourite dish.

At the end of the meal, Thinh smiled shyly again as he asked if everyone could sing happy birthday to him one more time. “Then it will really feel like my best birthday,” he shared.

A ball, a pitch and some friends

A few days after his birthday surprise, Thinh joined Blue Dragon’s weekly football session on the outskirts of the city. Like his safe accommodation, his new bike and his brief experience of going to school, Blue Dragon football games have been key to Thinh’s gradual transformation.

Although he often wore old football shirts throughout his time on the streets, and looked longingly at other children playing the beautiful game, this is the first time in his life that he has had a ball, a pitch and some friends to play with.

As Thinh laughed with the other kids and struck the ball in the setting sun, all the problems he faces every day – his father’s health issues, his tired legs and his troubles with school – made way for the thrill of the present moment.

Just a few weeks later, Thinh would have something much bigger to smile about.

Back to a bright future

Just as Thanh and Kin promised on that park bench, Blue Dragon found Thinh a new school in time for the upcoming academic year.

Once again, Thinh wakes up every day excited to get on his bicycle and ride towards a new day of learning and playing with friends.

“Thinh is settling in very well,” shares his new teacher. “He needs a bit of special attention because of his language skills, but I can see he’s so eager to learn.”

Thinh’s dream is to graduate from school and get a steady job so that he can look after his father, and he will need to give it everything he’s got if he’s to transform their lives for good. He still sells lottery tickets after school, and he’s trying to improve his language skills quickly so that he can keep up with his fellow students.

He knows that whatever ups and downs he and his father go through as they keep battling for a better life, Blue Dragon will be beside them through it all.