Tran Duy Hoa is a social worker with the Planète Enfants & Développement Vietnam (PE&D) project on fighting child trafficking. His task is supporting children studying at the HCM City Social Work, Education and Vocational Center.

When talking with the children at the center, he realized that children uncared for and unaccompanied could pose a danger to themselves and society. This conclusion was made after he heard a story about a 13 year old boy who had two years of experience in theft and robbery.

H.K, 13, was born into an unhappy family in Binh Duong province. After the divorce, K’s mother got married with another man and gave birth to other children, so K became "redundant" in the family.

Enduring constant estrangement, K left home and lived with his grandmother and aunt, also in Binh Duong. One day, he stole money from the aunt, and then was expelled from the home.

Becoming homeless, K left for HCM City, where he wandered on the streets. Living in the large city with no livelihood, he was enticed by some people to steal truck and container batteries in Thu Duc City to earn his living. 

Later, he joined forces with another street boy to rob others' assets. He also began stealing motorbikes after a "big brother" taught him how to do this.

Just after two years of stealing motorbikes, K created a kind of skeleton key which can unlock all normal locks. With his experience, K sneaked into students’ dorms to steal motorbikes.

As a street boy who communicated with bad guys every day, K was enticed to smoke, drink liquor and use stimulants. After he became familiar with the roads and small alleys in HCM City, K was assigned the task of "delivering sweets" (Methamphetamine).

K often went stealing things at 9-10pm. He and his "elder brother" organized robberies on the street section from Le Van Duyet to Duong Dinh Hoi in Thu Duc City. 

K said “when we ate out at restaurants, we would rob properties from anyone we met”.

Every time he robbed assets, he always brought a sharp knife. K admitted that he once stabbed a man in his thigh with the knife.

Hoa told VietNamNet that when communicating with K, he freely talked about his illegal activities. K was arrested many times, but he was later set free thanks to the mother’s guarantee. 

After leaving police stations, he returned to live with his mother, but he just stayed there for several days before leaving again.

“The statement by the boy that he would rob anyone he meets made me shiver. I believe that if street children are uncared for and if they are not well educated, they will not only cause injuries to themselves, but also cause a serious impact on society,” Hoa said.

The thought persuaded Hoa to act as a volunteer to support street children, though this is not part of the project and no organization nor individual forced him to do so.

The ‘friend’ of street children

For many years, Hoa has spent time to communicate directly with street children to listen and get to know what they need.

The children he targets are those who live in garbage dumps and on the sides of the roads; who make their living by shining shoes; risking their life by blowing fire; selling lottery tickets; and begging for money.

Listening to the children’s stories, he gives advice and support and respects their rights. If the children agree with the plans Hoa suggests, he helps them implement their wishes.

For example, the children living in landfills want to have stable and safe accommodations and get good care, Hoa connects them with charity houses. If they want to learn a trade and find a job to earn a living, Hoa connects them with vocational centers for free training. Those who suffer from diseases will be sent to hospital.

Hoa believes that there are many benefactors in society willing to support street children by giving them food and money. But this kind of support will only help one child or one group of children. Instead, it is better if they do this with social workers, children funds or charity organizations because this will have a greater impact and efficiency.

Ha Nguyen