Blue Dragon Newsletter - September 2010

8/6/2019 Blue Dragon Newsletter - September 2010

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DRAGON TALESAn update on the work of Blue Dragon Childrens Foundation

Vietnam - September 2010

Blue Dragon

in a nutshell

Blue Dragon works in Vietnam withover 900 of the neediest children

On average, we spend $1.70 per childper day

We support children with basic, im-mediate needs such as a place to live,food, and emotional care, while alsosending them to school and training

Children are welcome to stay in ourprograms until they no longer need

our support even if that means theyare with us for several years

Blue Dragon operates 2 childrenscentres and 2 residential homes

How you can help: visitstreetkidsinvietnam.com

to make a donation.Every dollar makes a

difference

youve ever received an email from Blue Dragon staff, you may have no-ced the statistics we put into our signatures: 1193 children back to school,75,000 meals served, and so on.

hese gures give an easy-to-grasp summary of what we are doing with youronations, but the total impact of our work is more difcult to dene.

or example, to date we have rescued 83 trafcked children mostly fromlave labor situations in Vietnam, and some from brothels in China.

What this statistic doesnt tell you is that, because of our rescues, one childafcking ring in southern Vietnam has ended: we made their work so difcultat they simply gave up. The statistics also dont reveal the extent of changed

ves, the joy of families reunited, or the resolve among villagers to keep thehild trafckers away.

ur ongoing work of rescuing kids from garment factories and drawing localedia attention to the plight of the children has resulted in three villages in

entral Vietnam being fully aware of the trafckers tricks and now there is noore child trafcking at all in those villages.

t Blue Dragon, were proud of the statistics we can gather to show that ourork is making a difference. But were even prouder of the impactof our work,hich goes way beyond what any statistics can

how.

Impact

iu, now aged 15, was taken too Chi Minh City last year after

hild trafckers spotted his familysulnerability and convinced themhat they could offer him a betterfe. Instead, they put him to work 16ours a day in a garment factory.

lue Dragon brought Xiu home in June, andes now enroled in Grade 6 at his local school.

ut Xiu and his family need a house. With the typhoon season comingoon, their bamboo and tin shack will be torn apart.

We urgently need to raise $2000 USD to build Xiu a house andurnish it. If you can contribute to this, any donation large or smallwill be most welcome, and well keep you informed with photos ofhe house as it is built.

you can respond to this urgent request, please email us [email protected], or make a donation here.

A home for Xiu

Xius family live in thisshack (left). It is hometo 10 people, including8 children.

Xiu (below) in a factoryin HCMC before being

rescued by BlueDragon staff

this year.
http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/donate.htmlhttp://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/donate.htmlhttp://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/


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DRAGON TALES

Schools in!

As summer in Vietnam comes to an end, over 600 Blue Dragon kidsare heading back to school from kindergarten through to Year 12.This includes a 15 year old boy who has never been to school before what courage for him to take this step!

Were also proud of the 9 girls and boys who nished Grade 12 inJune and are now starting university or college.

Booked

n mid September, well be of-cially opening one new schoolibrary in northern Bac Ninh

province. An anonymousdonor provided the$5000 necessary to con-struct the library in thepoorest of the 20 schoolsBlue Dragon currentlyworks with.

The children and staff of theschool are genuinely excited.They cant wait to get their hands onsome reading material!


Whats your name?Phuong.

Whats your job at Blue Dragon?Disability Services Coordinator.

Whats your typical day at BlueDragon like?

I go to visit kids in their homesor at school. I meet with parentsand organise activities, amongmany other things!

Whats the most difcult aspectof your work?Getting to know and under-stand kids behaviour takesa very long time. Sometimesworking with parents can also

be difcult.

Whats the most enjoyableaspect of your work?Seeing even the smallestimprovement in the kids.

Tell us about something youhave worked on recently.Recently, I have been working

with new cases in the Hanoiarea, also organising MummyDish Day (where a parent comesto the centre and teaches thekids how to cook a particulardish) and photography activities.

Booked again

A very special part of Blue Dragons work with kids in need is our legaladvocacy service, which, as far as we are aware, is the only one of itskind in Vietnam. Any street kid or victim of child trafcking can call on usfor legal advice, support, and representation.

Big news at Blue Dragon! Staff prole

Thanks to a small grant from theAustralian government, we are now

working to distill our experienceand knowledge into two publi-

cations: a comic book aboutlegal rights for youth, anda handbook for othercharities interested inchildrens rights. Keep aneye on the Blue Dragon

blog for launch dates,expected later this year.
http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/


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DRAGON TALES

Summer

snapshotskeeping kids in school:why its so important


What did the Blue Dragon kids get up tothis summer holiday?

ower arranging!

mong the many classes and work-hops offered at our Hanoi centre,he kids could learn the ne art ofrranging owers.

Grand Openings

Before school starts, we invitechildren in our rural programs totake part in Opening Ceremoniesto kick off the school year.

Much of Blue Dragons workinvolves helping kids who are outof the education system go back toschool; and keeping at-risk kids inschool so they dont drop out inthe rst place.

Heres why we believe this is animportant thing to do:

1. Children who drop out ofschool early are likely to leadlives of poverty. Education isthe key to reducing or endingpoverty.

2. Children who drop out of

school are commonly targetedby trafckers, who offer train-ing opportunities far fromhome. Education is critical toghting the problem of childtrafcking.

3. Girls are much more likelyto drop out of school early thanboys. Education gives girlsa greater chance of leading

healthy, prosperous lives.

Since Blue Dragon started, wehave enabled 1,193 children toattend school and training. With

your support, well continue help-ing Vietnamese children go to

school.

Hip Hop dance classes!

Blue Dragon has been putting onworkshops for kids who have been

rescued from trafcking. The HipHop dance class was a very popu-lar one!

Splashing around...

Our swimmingclasses teach the kidsvital swimming skills- as well as being agreat way to escapethe summer heat!

You can keep a child in schoolthrough Blue Dragons child spon-sorship program. Visit ourwebsite

or email us [email protected] for more

information.
http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/sponsor_a_child_donation.htmlhttp://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/sponsor_a_child_donation.html


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DRAGON TALES

Click one of the icons below to donate online.

(Worldwide) Tax-deductible Tax-deductible

Not tax-deductible for Americans for Australians

Donate today!

[email protected]

www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com

www.streetkidsinvietnam.com

In our June newsletter, Blue Dragon appealed for donations to secure our lease on a childrens shelter. Yougave even more generously than we hoped and, with matching funds from Planet Wheeler in Australia, weraised a total of $68,472!

Thank you to all who gave. Your support means Vietnamese street kids have a safe home to live in.

Featured fundraisersAt its annual conference uNAVSA(the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations) recently choseBlue Dragon as its charity of choice for 2010 - 2011. This means that over the next year Vietnamese societies inuniversity campuses across the US will be fundraising for Blue Dragon! The money raised will go towards our anti-trafcking work and will enable us to rescue many more kids from the nightmare of slavery.

This September, three Blue Dragon teens are heading to Auckland to study from 6 to 12 months on full scholar-ships donated by the National Technology Institute. To get the kids there, Jetstarhas generously donated 4 returnights 3 for the kids, and one more for a member of staff to accompany them. This is bound to be a life changingopportunity!

To mark the end of the school year, the German European School in Singapore (GESS) held their annual swimminggala, with all proceeds raised going to pay for swimming lessons at Blue Dragon. Water safety is a serious issue inVietnam, where on average 10 children drown every day. The GESS gala raised close to $5000 SGD, which meantthe Blue Dragon kids could spend their summer learning to swim and be safe in the water!

o nd out about other people and organisations who have donated, click here.

An update on the work of Blue Dragon Childrens Foundation

Blue Dragon around the worldAs Blue Dragon reaches more children in Vietnam, we need more support from our friends around the world. We are

ow fortunate to have support from three groups:

Blue Dragon Childrens Foundation Australia: This is the ofcial Board that governs our work in Vietnam. The Boardmeets quarterly, and can be contacted at [email protected] of Blue Dragon (Tasmania): Based in Hobart, this is a volunteer group working to raise funds and aware-ness. Visit their website: bluedragonfriends.org.auBlue Dragon Childrens Trust (New Zealand): This Wellington-based volunteer group aims to raise support for ourwork throughout New Zealand. Contact them at: [email protected]


Thank you!
http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/http://[email protected]/http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/http://unavsa.org/http://www.ntec.ac.nz/http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/index.aspxhttp://www.gess.sg/http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/our_supporters.htmlhttp://www.bluedragonfriends.org.au/http://www.bluedragonfriends.org.au/http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/our_supporters.htmlhttp://www.gess.sg/http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/index.aspxhttp://www.ntec.ac.nz/http://unavsa.org/https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=22403http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/donate.html#option2http://www.afap.org/afap_bd_online_donation.phphttp://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/http://www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/http://[email protected]/

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Blue Dragon Newsletter - September 2010