The Beginning
In October 2002, an Australian teacher, Michael Brosowski, arrived in Hanoi to teach English at the national university. However, within two months, Michael found himself teaching English to a group of kids he never expected to meet: shoeshine boys who walked the streets hoping to earn enough money to survive. Michael recognised the potential in these boys and took it upon himself to help them turn their lives around.
Enlisting the help of one of his university students, Pham Sy Chung, Michael and some friends began to offer classes in English, maths, art and yoga to the boys. Eventually, in an effort to give the boys a chance to just be kids, they started a football team – “Real Betis Vietnam”. The first game was attended by three teenage boys. Today an average of 45 boys and girls play every Sunday at a stadium by the Red River.
At the start, Michael and Chung taught lessons once a week for 5 to 10 kids. It wasn’t long before more and more kids were coming for help, all with varying needs. As the number of kids grew, so did the challenges presented to Michael and Chung. It was at that point that Michael decided to quit his job at the university and work full time with street kids, thus creating a snowball effect that continues today.
Birth of the Dragon
By February 2003, many more kids were coming with medical needs, seeking a place to sleep, and wishing to return to school and training. Realising that nobody else in Hanoi was willing to help these children, Michael and Chung decided to create their own organisation.
The transformation from an informal group of volunteers to a registered organisation was a slow process and wasn’t completed until late 2004. In the meantime, Michael and Chung set up the first Blue Dragon residence for six former street kids, launched a program keeping poor rural children in school and continued reaching out to street kids in Hanoi.
Growth by Leaps and Bounds
When Chung left Blue Dragon to study in the US, Michael began employing staff to reach out to more children. In March 2005, with just two staff, a combined drop-in centre and office was opened in the Long Bien area of Hanoi, close to the Red River, where thousands of rural migrant families and street children live in poverty. Two and a half years later, Blue Dragon moved to a much larger centre to cope with the huge numbers of children coming every day for help.
From late 2005, Blue Dragon started working with children from central Vietnam who had been trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City to work on the streets or in factories. After Michael and a law student, Ta Ngoc Van, rescued a 13 year old boy who had been bought by traffickers, they decided to find ways to break the trafficking rings altogether. Two years later, one major trafficking ring had been permanently disrupted and over 30 trafficked children had been returned home. Van and his wife are now employed full time with Blue Dragon as Vietnam’s only Child Rights Advocates.
In 2007, Blue Dragon’s work expanded to Hoi An, in central Vietnam. A government run home for 30 girls and boys was badly in need of extra support and Blue Dragon offered to look after the daily running of the home for several years, while putting in place new systems and practices that would ensure the children could grow up in a safe and healthy environment.
Today
Today, Blue Dragon has a team of amazing Vietnamese staff, a small number of international staff and long-term volunteers and has achieved some terrific results:
- Sent 2,360 kids back to school and training
- Provided accommodation to 114 girls and boys
- Served 251,729 meals
- Built or repaired 51 homes for families
- Distributed 33,466 litres of milk
- Handed out 29,814 kilos of rice
- Reunited 99 runaway children with their families
- Taken 878 kids to a doctor or hospital
- Put 5 teens through drug rehab
- Obtained legal registration papers for 781 children
- Rescued 160 trafficked children
- Placed 72 teens in jobs
- Played 1063 games of soccer!
By focusing on getting kids back into education, training and apprenticeships, we are working for the long-term benefit of children who otherwise would face very bleak futures. And in ten years time, we’ll still be here doing what we do best – creating opportunities for lasting change.
