Khoi and Gau: cousins, best friends and, finally, classmates

Another day

Six-year-old Khoi’s family spent the evening begging for food on the same street corner as usual. Like every night, they were still hungry when they lay down beside each other and slept.

They were too exhausted to notice the Ho Chi Minh City traffic passing centimetres from their heads, or the people stepping around them on the pavement. They didn’t even notice when one of those people reached into their bag and stole the few possessions they owned.

When they awoke to find their belongings missing, any slim hope they held of Khoi ever attending school vanished. The thief had taken his birth certificate, which is required in order to enrol in the Vietnam education system.

Hungry and exhausted, they began another day of begging for food.

Same spot

One evening, Blue Dragon social worker Tuan received word of a family sleeping rough on a street corner. He immediately set out for the location, and soon found Khoi sitting beside the road with his parents.

On the day Khoi’s parents awoke to find his birth certificate gone, they had been at a loss. Not only did they not have the money to pay for a new one, they had no idea how to apply for it. In Tuan, they met someone who said he could help them, and they decided to trust him.

“They showed great determination to change their life right from the beginning,” shares Tuan. “They’d do anything for their children’s future.”

A friend in need

When Tuan went back to see Khoi’s family one evening, there was another six-year-old boy with them: Khoi’s cousin, Gau.

Gau’s mother died during childbirth, and his grandmother took him into her care. While she has a home, she barely has enough money for food, clothes and medicine – and she is too frail to work. Her husband works as a security guard in a different part of the city, sleeping on site and is often too busy to visit home.

We started providing Gau and his grandmother with food and daily essentials. Unlike Khoi, he already had a birth certificate, so we could immediately start looking for a school for him to begin in the next academic year. In the meantime, we invited him to join as many classes and activities he liked at our centre.

Play time

At the Blue Dragon centre, Khoi and Gau’s personalities could finally come to life. Both boys love competitive games and enjoy spending hours playing table football. After they win a match, they often synchronise their favourite celebrations.

Khoi is a warm and caring person. He’s intuitive, observant, and shows a level of responsibility beyond his years. Once when he saw some cash on the street, he alerted a Blue Dragon social worker and was keen to track down the person who had dropped it.

Gau has a lot of energy and is very playful. One of his favourite jokes is to pull funny faces whenever he sees someone with a camera. He always wants everyone to enjoy themselves, and has a real talent for making people laugh.

School time

Khoi’s new birth certificate came through before the start of the new school year, meaning he could join Gau in the classroom. And there was more good news to come.

On the morning of their first day of school, Gau’s grandfather picked up Gau from home, then picked up Khoi from the street and took them to class. When he collected the boys from the school gates that afternoon, he took them both to live with Gau’s grandmother. “This is your home now,” he said to Khoi.

The boys are overjoyed now that they’re housemates and classmates, and it shows in their school feedback.

“The teachers have great things to say about both boys,” shares Tuan. “They’re settling into their new environment really well, and enjoy doing their homework together at our centre. Of course, both boys are very sensitive to their family’s situations, especially with Khoi’s sister and parents still living on the streets. Right now, whatever they need going forward – any struggles they might have at school, any extra classes and tutoring that would help them – we’ll be here for them.”