A high school English teacher from Sydney, I moved to Vietnam in 2002 dreaming of a simple life. Within a year, I was running classes and a soccer club for street children in Hanoi, and Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation was launched.
Here I share the stories of the children and young people I meet from day to day; the extraordinary human beings whose lives might otherwise go unnoticed, but whose daily trials and joys are truly exceptional.
We get out onto the streets and into the most remote parts of Vietnam to find those who need a hand. We respond to calls for help from people trapped in slavery; victims of human trafficking who are desperate and alone. We choose to get involved in cases – in the lives of people – that nobody else would touch.
Because of Blue Dragon, laws have changed to give children more, and better, protection from exploitation. Traffickers and abusers have been imprisoned. Children who had no hope in life have grown up to thrive in education and employment and start their own family.
Our mission is to find the good in children who have given up hope in themselves. Sometimes that seems impossibly difficult, but there’s always a way.
Life is a long story, and we all have much to both share and to learn.