On the streets, children are suscep

by lynk2510 July 2nd 2011, 7:23 pm

Giving Vietnam's street kids a chance

By Danielle Berger, CNN 12 May 2011

Five years ago, Pham Binh Minh was a 15-year-old spending his nights on the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. With his father dead and his mother too poor to adequately feed or clothe him, Pham survived by collecting and selling scrap. "I didn't have time to make friends," he said. "The friends I did have ... would take me to do work that wasn't good. ... We would rob and steal from people. ... I was scared I would get arrested. I was scared people would hit me. I felt unsafe."

It's an all-too-common story in Hanoi, where many Vietnamese youth -- often poor children from outside the city -- seek opportunity. If they're lucky, they're able to get by working odd jobs such as shining shoes or selling trinkets. "Kids come to the streets hoping that it'll be better than living in poverty in the countryside, but often they find that things are much worse for them here," said Michael Brosowski, whose nonprofit foundation helps Vietnamese street children turn their lives around.

It was through Brosowski's Blue Dragon Children's Foundation that Pham was able to graduate high school and enroll in college. Since 2004, Blue Dragon has helped more than 350 Vietnamese children get off the streets and into school. "(Our) job is to make sure that the kids are safe and protected, first of all," said Brosowski, 37. "And then once they are, we've got to make sure they're working toward something, whether that's education or getting a job or improving their health."

A 2006 report from Human Rights Watch estimated that 23,000 street children were living throughout Vietnam. Brosowski said he has encountered children -- some as young as 6 -- sleeping under bridges and in trees. "Mom's in prison, dad's a heroin addict. The kids (are) thinking, 'Well, that's my future as well,' " Brosowski said. "Our biggest challenge is to stop the kids from accepting that fate -- to fight their own fate and make their own future."

On the streets, children are susceptible to a wide range of threats and pitfalls: gang violence, bullying, child trafficking, the lure of a booming heroin trade. Blue Dragon tries to combat these issues by giving children what they need to get off the streets and stay off them. Some common examples include safe housing, food subsidies, school sponsorships, job training and medical attention. "Our (initial) goal was just to get them back to school," Brosowski said. "We realized that to do that ... we would have to take that place of providing an income, giving them money for food, providing the shelter. We would actually have to take care of all aspects of their life.
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