Where it all began

Hai and Chien go over the plan again: head to the city centre, then to an abandoned construction site near a bus station, and finally search under a series of bridges on the way back to central Hanoi.

They check their supplies and make sure they have enough petrol for all the miles they are about to cover. Only a quarter of a tank – they’ll need to stop and fill up at some point. 

Then, with Hai driving and Chien on the back of the bike, they head out to a small lake in the city where they join the mass of people enjoying the sights. 

Hai and Chien have more serious matters to attend to. They are looking for homeless children and families begging and selling small items to passersby – and they are doing it in the very place where the seeds of Blue Dragon were first planted more than two decades ago.

Six children in Hanoi

In 2002, Australian teacher Michael Brosowski moved to Vietnam to work at Hanoi’s National Economics University. As he was sitting in a lakeside cafe one afternoon, he offered to teach English to the homeless children who made money shining shoes in the area.

Six boys were eager to take up Michael’s offer. Every day, he would buy them a bowl of noodles and teach them English. Gradually, more children joined and the English class morphed into a variety of activities ranging from football to drumming.

Soon, that English class for six kids had become a full-blow organisation with a name: Blue Dragon.

One of the six children who first took up Michael’s offer of English classes was a 15-year-old boy named Vi. He had dropped out of school and moved to Hanoi from the countryside to earn extra income for his family, and he jumped at the chance to eat a free bowl of noodles every day – even if he didn’t much care about the English classes at first.

Vi’s English began to improve. He joined more and more Blue Dragon activities, stayed in safe accommodation, learned life skills and began to dream of a better life. When he was old enough to work, he began a career in hospitality.

But Vi dreamed of helping vulnerable children to transform their lives. So after a few years working in restaurants and hotels, he returned to Blue Dragon and trained as a social worker.

One day while he was out on the streets looking for children who needed his help, he found Chien.

One boy beside the lake

“I still remember the day my mum told me she didn’t have enough money to send me to school,” shares Chien. “That time was really hard. I cried about it a few times. I was too young.”

Day after day, Chien and his mother walked the streets just hoping they could sell enough chewing gum to pay for food and shelter. Chien got so hungry that he started asking people for food instead of money when they bought gum from him, and one day he was so desperately thirsty that he drank car fuel and was rushed to hospital.

While Chien and his mother were selling gum beside the lake one day, Vi approached and asked if he could help. Made wary by the trials of street life, Chien and his mother declined Vi’s offer of support.

But Blue Dragon kept coming back. In particular, one social worker named Khoa returned time and again, bringing Chien food and making him feel heard.

Slowly but surely, Khoa’s efforts began to have an effect, and Chien came to believe Blue Dragon’s offer of help was sincere. When he finally started coming to our centre, his life began to change.

“Everything was an unforgettable memory. Everyone was so kind and friendly and took care of me. At Blue Dragon I had a good family, good mentors to share their life skills and people giving me chances to change my life. Everyone always believed in me. They never cared about what I’d done in the past, they just believed in me and my future.”

As the years went by, Chien realised that he wanted to give to other children the same care that people like Khoa and Vi gave to him, and he decided to become a social worker.

A key figure in Chien’s development as a social worker is Hai. The two of them run a weekly Blue Dragon football session together, and often team up to look for homeless children on the streets of Hanoi – including beside the lake where Michael first started giving English classes all those years ago.

Moving on

Having spent his childhood selling chewing gum beside the lake, Chien has a keen eye for spotting children in the same situation, and is exceptionally good at building their trust.

“I remember once meeting a child who was selling gum,” shares Chien. “He was very shy and guarded around other social workers, but when I approached and shared that I used to sell gum too and that there was nothing to be ashamed of, he relaxed and felt more at ease sharing his story with us.”

On this night though, Hai and Chien didn’t spot any children in need of help. After completing a lap of the lake, they returned to their bikes and started off for the next stop: an abandoned construction site way across the city

Hello?

Hai and Chien entered the abandoned construction site on their bike, headlights illuminating bushes, overgrown mounds of grass and concrete sewage pipes stacked up along the verge.

They pulled over, got off the bike and approached one of the concrete pipes. Chien shone his phone light inside, where rusty iron bars lined the jagged rubble and scraps of bedding lay crumpled among leaves and rocks.

“Hello?”

There was no answer. Chien and Hai approached more of the pipes – several others containing old blankets, pillows and items of discarded clothing – whispering “hello” into all of them. Still no one answered.

Walking back to the bike, Chien spotted an old blanket sunk into a flattened area of grass. “This wasn’t here last time,” he said. “A child has been sleeping here.”

Big city dreams

Children arriving from the countryside often end up in the abandoned construction site after getting off the bus and not knowing where else to go. They then take shelter amid the concrete pipes.

As children from disadvantaged communities grow older and see their families struggling to survive, many resort to desperate measures to help. Despite being below the legal working age, they drop out of school, scrape together enough money for a one-way ticket to Hanoi, and take the bus to the big city with dreams of somehow finding work.

Lacking experience, qualifications and legal documents, the vast majority end up alone and penniless on the streets of the capital city, exhausted, starving and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Hai has lost count of the number of such children he has met.

Many end up selling things like gum and candy on the streets under the control of gangs who take their earnings. Some beg, some fall into gangs themselves and some might be able to make it back to their families – where they face the same problems that made them leave in the first place.

And like Chien, many are found by Blue Dragon.

Two boys from the countryside

In Chien’s first week working for Blue Dragon, he met two boys in the abandoned construction site beside the bus station.

“It was very late and I saw the two kids sitting together in the cold and huddling close. They were exhausted and hungry when I stopped and began talking to them.”

Both boys come from unstable families. Rua’s father passed away when he was very young, and his mother left for another country shortly after. His grandfather took him in, but every day was a struggle to survive. Phu lived with his uncle, who has problems with alcohol and is often violent towards him. Desperate to change their lives, the boys took the bus to Hanoi where they hoped to find work.

While Chien lived on the streets himself as a child, and has spent much of his life surrounded by children from similar backgrounds to Rua and Phu, he was still taken aback when they recounted their experiences of sexual abuse on the streets.

With Rua and Phu declining his offer of support, there was little Chien could do except keep coming back, again and again, showing them that they could trust him and that they really could transform their lives with Blue Dragon’s help – just like he had done.

Moving on again

In 2017, Blue Dragon worked with the government to amend the law, protecting boys from sexual abuse. Before then, Vietnamese law recognised sexual abuse against girls, while the new law affords the same protection to boys. Since its implementation, Blue Dragon has provided legal representation for 12 boys against a total of five offenders under this law, and many more offenders have been convicted across the country.

While Rua and Phu’s case shows that the sexual abuse of boys living on the streets still happens, it’s far less common than it used to be as the law deters would-be offenders from committing the crime while punishing those who do. Vi has seen the effects firsthand in his years of outreach work.

So while the abandoned construction site used to be a renowned spot for sex offenders, it is now often empty – as it was on the winter’s night when Hai and Chien received no reply calling “hello” into the concrete pipes.

After going over the plan again, Hai and Chien got back on their bikes, left the site and checked under several bridges in the area. Finding no children in need of help, they headed back toward the city centre, where they expected to meet a group of children who often spend their evenings on the same corner.

Understanding

“In the past, Chien was hot-tempered, had difficulty controlling his emotions, was easily angered and irritable, and had many similar problems related to street life,” shares Hai. “Now, he has changed a lot. He manages his emotions well and knows how to listen, accept feedback and offer opinions and support. He’s enthusiastic, determined and brave. If I were in his position – if I’d been through the things he’s had to endure in his life – I don’t think I could do what he does now.”

As for Chien, he credits Hai as a big influence on his growth and development over the years, from when he was a boy receiving support at the centre, to training as a social worker before joining the team last year.

Chien’s development into the young man he is today helps him to sympathise with the behaviour of the children he works with. Having been there himself – experiencing the same loneliness, anger and shame – he holds a deep understanding of the reasons why they might be prone to the same behavioural difficulties that he was.
As Chien and Hai headed back towards central Hanoi to meet up with the group of street kids they know, all that understanding would soon be on show.

On the corner

Hai and Chien found the children on the same corner where they had met them many times before. They parked their bikes and brought the children food and drink from a nearby convenience store.

The children ate excitedly as they sat down to talk and play games. Chien speaks with them effortlessly, blending in like an older brother popping by for a catch up.

One of the children in the group is an 11-year-old boy named Hieu. Like Chien, Hieu dropped out of school when his parents couldn’t afford to pay the fees anymore. Another child in the group is 14-year-old Phuong, who like Rua and Phu took the bus to the countryside looking for work to support her family.

All of the kids work together, selling tea, renting out a small go kart and begging on the streets to earn money for food and the odd night in a shelter. Every day is a struggle just to get by, and without an education or vocational training, they have little chance of ever breaking free from that cycle.

Before it begins

As well as helping children like Rua, Phu and Hieu once they arrive in Hanoi, Blue Dragon works in remote communities to prevent children dropping out of school and leaving home in the first place.

In many vulnerable communities, we have set up committees of people from surrounding villages, including teachers and police officers, who educate residents on how to avoid exploitation and abuse while preventing the cycles of poverty that make them so vulnerable to these things in the first place.

And at the start of every school year, we travel from school to school, home to home, working with teachers to find children who have not turned up to class. This was how we first found a girl called Duyen, who has transformed her life with our support.

Duyen was born into poverty, which grew even worse after her father suffered an accident and couldn’t work anymore. She couldn’t stand by and watch her little sister go hungry, so decided to drop out of school and look for work. She packed her bag in the middle of the night and made for the bus station, where she would begin the long journey to Hanoi. She never made it.

As Duyen got ready to board the bus, a Blue Dragon social worker, out looking for children leaving home, approached and asked if she was ok. Blue Dragon accompanied Duyen back to her family before giving her all the support she needed to finish her education.

When she graduated from high school, Duyen finally made it to Hanoi – to study pharmacology at university. After years of attending extra-curricular activities and studying through the nights, she graduated with high grades.

Now, Duyen works as a pharmacist and earns enough money to support her family – just as she dreamed of doing when she made for the bus station all those years ago.

Finishing education is crucial to breaking the cycles of poverty that make families so vulnerable to human trafficking. As more children like Duyen grow up and forge better lives for their loved ones, it has a ripple effect through villages and communities across Vietnam – including on the streets of Hanoi, where Duyen would have ended up had she not been found moments before catching that bus.

Farewell for now

The stories of children like Duyen transforming their lives at Blue Dragon are often told in moments that stand out as a succession of interlinking milestones in the memories of those who watch them grow.

It’s the work that goes on in between those moments, though, that leads children to turn their lives around. It’s being there for them every day and every night, for every failure and every triumph as they dig deep into their hearts for the courage they need to keep fighting.

A lot of that work is meeting up with children on the streets to listen, play and make them feel heard, just as Hai and Chien did that evening with Hieu and his friends on the streets of central Hanoi.

Late at night when most of the city was fast asleep, they sat there playing cards and letting those children know that Blue Dragon is here for them; that they are seen and cared for.

With time, courage and hard work, Hieu and his friends might one day experience similar moments of joy to Duyen. For now, it was time for Hai and Chien to say farewell and ride back into the night.

Troubled bridge over water

Back on their bikes, Hai and Chien headed to a famous bridge stretching across the Red River. For decades, homeless children have taken shelter in alcoves beneath the train track running along the centre of the bridge, suspended on concrete pillars high above the rushing water.

The bridge has been an important location for so many children who have turned their lives around at Blue Dragon – like Trong and Phi. But as Vi shares, Blue Dragon’s work on the streets means fewer children make it as far as the bridge these days.

Hai and Chien parked their bikes in a narrow layby and hopped through the steel girders of the bridge and onto the concrete pillar below. “I’ve been under here when a train has gone by before,” shares Chien. “It shakes and it’s so loud.”

Behind Chien, just visible in the darkness, is a slum area that houses many of the children Blue Dragon supports. Beside that is the pitch where the first Blue Dragon football sessions took place, and beside that is a market where many children supported by Blue Dragon over the last two decades have gone to earn money for their families.

Along with children like Tai, Viet Anh and PK, Chien used to go to that market to collect loose shrimp dropped by vendors when he couldn’t find anything else to eat.

As Chien crouched beneath the train tracks and talked about children he had found there over the last year, that life of hunger and fear seemed like another lifetime altogether.

Inner worlds

For Khoa, a social worker who watched Chien grow from a six-year-old to an adult, a significant milestone in Chien’s journey came when he discovered a novel way of expressing the pain he had been bottling up since his days of struggling to survive as a child.

“For me, the day I realised Chien had learned how to stand on his own emotionally was when he began using rap as a dialogue with his inner world. I saw that he no longer let anger or sadness control him; instead, he turned those feelings into words, rhythm and a very mature sense of self-awareness.”

As well as making rap music, Blue Dragon’s weekly football sessions have been a key part of Chien’s growth over the years.

“It’s been incredible to watch,” shares Khoa, “how he’s gone from being a kid receiving support at football, to now being the person giving that support to other kids joining football.”

What matters most

Rua and Phu, the two children Chien met in the abandoned construction site in his first week on the job, often join Chien at Blue Dragon football sessions. Spending time with them every week, Chien has already seen the boys grow and develop significantly.

One day, as they sat in a small coffee shop together, Rua told Chien about his dreams for the first time.

But the path for a street kid to transform their life is rarely – if ever – a smooth rise to a bright future. Not long after Rua got the job, he had to leave it as the trauma from his time on the streets affected his ability to carry out daily tasks. 

Nevertheless, both Chien and Rua see it as a positive experience, teaching Rua about his abilities and emotions as he continues his journey of self development.

Home

Hai and Chien climbed back through the iron girders and onto the road. After a short chat, they decided they still had the energy to check on a few more locations in the area. 

They rode around, checking in on several bus stations and parks without seeing any signs of street kids before finally riding back across the bridge, past the slum area and the market, and heading home for the night. 

In a few hours, another team of Blue Dragon social workers would wake up and take their place.

Tens of thousands of children and families across the country

From that day over two decades when Michael gave the first English lesson beside the lake, Blue Dragon has grown from an informal class for six children to an organisation supporting over 50,000 children and families across Vietnam every year.

From social initiatives in rural areas of the country that prevent children from leaving school and their home in search of work, to rescuing people from human trafficking across international borders, to the outreach work that Hai, Chien and a whole team of social workers carry out every day and every night across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Blue Dragon changes lives on a systemic scale. 

Each one of those lives carries its own story; its own hardships, dreams and magic moments on the path to a bright future; and they all come together in our mission to create a world where all children are safe to thrive. Nowhere is this more evident than in the humble lunchroom at our centre in Hanoi.

Two days after Hai and Chien’s night on the streets, Hieu, one of the boys from the group of children they met on the street corner, turned up for lunch at the Blue Dragon centre. 

He sat down at a table with other kids, social workers and people from all across the organisation to eat, chat and share time together. He talked about meeting Hai and Chien and was excited to look at photos they’d taken of him posing on a motorbike. Just a few moments later, Vi came in to join everyone, as he does every day, and said hi to Hieu and the other children before sitting down at a different table. 

We are still in the early stages of working out a support plan with Hieu and his family, but for now he knows that the Blue Dragon centre is a safe space where he is welcome any time. Hai, Chien and the rest of the team are paying him regular visits at home and on the streets, and he plans to join more Blue Dragon activities in the coming months.

The long road

It’s been a year since Chien first met Rua and Phu in the abandoned construction site. While they are still far away from the life they have recently begun to dream of, there are positive signs that they are on the way there.  

Rua and Phu are very protective of each other and of their new friends at Blue Dragon. They enjoy sharing food with other kids and staff, and are very welcoming of children in similar situations as they continue the long path towards a better life.

Happy too

Chien has been down that long path. From the day his mother told him he would no longer be going to school, to the evenings he now spends supporting children like Rua, Phu and Hieu on the streets of Hanoi, he has had to fight every day to stay on track. 

He has been through the ups and downs. He has worked through issues within himself and around him, and risen above them to the point where he is able to help others do the same.

And he will keep going. Some of the children he supports will turn their lives around like he has done; others will never be able to. For Chien, the important thing is that while they are with Blue Dragon, they feel the same care, hope and freedom to choose their own path like he did.