Sinking the traffic

In November 2005, Blue Dragon rescued a young boy from child traffickers who had taken him from his village by the beach in Hue to Saigon, where he was a virtual slave.

Friends around the world who have been following the story will know that Ngoc is now 13, and studying at a special school which uses an accelerated curriculum, as he had never been to school before in his life.

A couple of weeks ago, some friends of Ngoc travelled with us to Hue to visit him in his family home. Jutta and Johann are a German couple who met Ngoc when he was working in Saigon; they desperately tried to help him, but because they never stayed for longer than a few weeks all of their efforts fell flat.

The main reason that Ngoc was originally trafficked is that his family is extremely poor; his father is a fisherman who was earning from $12 - $40 per month. For this, he would be at sea 15 days at a stretch, with a 2 day break at the end to see his family before setting out again.

But no more.

With some help from Blue Dragon staff, Johann and Jutta bought a boat for Ngoc's father. On his first day, he caught $12 worth of fish. And he was only away from home for a few hours.

That's Ngoc below, with Johann and the boat. Now, if only we could do this for all of the families...