Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Here’s the deal – Blue Dragon need to raise $60,000 by the end of July or they’ll be kicked out of their current location. This is a hell of a shame as they’ve put a lot of work into making it a fantastic place for kids to drop in and be looked after. Also, if they move then it takes time for word to get out so future street children know where they can go to be safe.

Planet Wheeler have been hugely generous in agreeing to match every donation dollar for dollar – so BDCF “only” need to raise $30,000.

Please, please, please go to the following links and donate a little bit. If every friend I have on facebook donated the value of 1 beer we’d have almost $1500 to start with!

http://bdcf.org/dragon_house.html

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Blue Dragon: House 52 Shelter Appeal

                          

Besides, there are better uses for your cash than folding bits of paper. If you were considering sending me something the please just drop a quid into a charity box (your choice) instead. Your choice.

If you insist on getting cards, then kindly get one from here.

Thanks, as ever!

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Don’t send me cards!

                          

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Nothing I’m directly connected with, at least as far as being actively involved, but here are two good ways to waste your cash instead of… I dunno… paying tax or something.

First up, the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation are now selling Christmas cards. Yes, it’s only November but remember they’ll have to be shipped from Vietnam! Each card is hand-crafted by one of the teenagers who benefit from the money raised in their sale. They seem pricey, but note the title of each one – what you pay is what it goes towards – a desk and lamp, school books for a child, a winter coat and so on.

The full catalogue can be viewed here.

Next up is a chap who’s planning on doing something mental in 2011. Back in 2007 at the exact same time as I was walking across Europe for the aforementioned BDCF, Mark Allison was running from John O’ Groats to Land’s End in aid of a local hospice. A marathon a day, basically. In essence, he was running the same distance I was walking each day.

Run Geordie Run

Well, he’s gearing up to beat that and plans to walk coast to coast across the US. That’s 3000 miles, trebling the distance I stumbled across.

All the costs of this jaunt will come out of his own pocket and every penny raised will go to St.Benedicts Hospice and The Childrens Foundation. In addition, for every pound raised before the end of 2009, Peter’s Pies will donate 50p. That’s incredibly generous.

For full details, please see Mark’s “Run Geordie Run” website. Oh, yeah – he’s a staunch Newcastle fan!

As ever, folks, every penny counts!

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Two charity updates

                          

Front of shirt

Raffle entries closed yesterday and a huge “thank you” to the entrants, of which there weren’t many but each was very generous indeed. Please, if you missed the competition do consider still making a donation. As happens annually, the east coast of Vietnam has taken a weather-related battering and Blue Dragon needs your funding to help them rebuild their homes, and eat in the meantime.

I snipped up a few bits of paper and dropped them into a hat (actually a Tesco carrier bag, but let’s not be picky). A quick rummage and the winner that came out was…

*drum roll*

Janice!

Which is good for me as I think she’s the only UK-based entrant so it will keep the postage cost down. I actually met her a few days ago and I could have handed her the football shirt personally. Instead, I will trust it to our increasingly dodgy postal service. Keep an eye open for it in a week or so, Janice.

Again, thank you all for your entries and generosity!

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Footie shirt winner!

                          

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Michael has posted a link on his blog today to an article on a Vietnamese newspaper’s website. Don’t worry, the article is in English!

Essentially it details the costs involved in sending a child to school in Vietnam. Yes, costs. Schooling is not free in Vietnam and is out of the financial reach of a lot of people. Judging by the article it’s not helped by some schools using children and parents as a means of extracting further cash.

To put the sums in context, 2 million dong is around £70 or US$110. This is a “fee” some schools are asking for before registering a child. And a further 2 million for clothes and equipment. Other sums mentioned may seem small to us (40,000d is around £1.50) but remember that many people in Vietnam earn as little as US$ per month.

Putting their children through school, if they can afford it at all, can plunge a family into huge amounts of debt. Many simply don’t bother, which is why the country has so many street children. Runaways who don’t want to be a burden on their parents, children who need to work to help the family break even each month and so on.

Social security simply doesn’t exist in Vietnam and – as in many other countries – the children are amongst the first to suffer. And with them, the future of the country as a whole.

This is why I wholeheartedly support the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation and the other similar NGOs which it works in partnership around the country. This is why I’ve banged on about them for over three years. This is why I spent six weeks in Hanoi in 2006 working with those children and helping them develop a new, self-maintained web site. This is why I walked from Monaco to Newcastle to raise money for them.

This is why I won’t stop. Children matter in every country. Vietnam just happens to have gotten its hooks into me in a way no other country has managed.

Please pop by the BDCF web page and make a donation. As you can see by the sums above, what seems fairly small change to you or I could get a child through school for a year in Vietnam. Even a small donation will make a difference. Blue Dragon’s admin costs are kept to a minimum with the vast majority of incoming funds being used for the purposes that you, the donating public, expect them to be used.

This is why you can make a difference.

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This is why…

                          

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

I may possibly be heading to Vietnam again later this year and of course, if I do, one of my priority stops wil be Hanoi to see the kids at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation again. I’ve been chatting to Michael there recently (we’ve had a couple more generous donations via the 1000 Mile Walk page), and he’s currently in Australia doing some much-needed fundraising.

Thing is, as everyone worldwide pretty much has to tighten their belts as the money dries up. People can’t afford to give cash away. Sadly, though, the need for this money doesn’t abate. Children still need help, education… rescuing.

Mike recently posted the following video on the VietnamStreets blog. It shows a young boy who has just been rescued from a sweat shop. He simply didn’t believe that Michael and the team were there to free him from the slave-driving filth who were making him work 16+ hours a day for nothing. They handed him a telephone so his mother could explain herself.

Now you tell me. Isn’t his reaction – the tears, the relief, the knowledge he was once again free – worth a few pounds, dollars, yen, euros or whatever? Please, please, please – spare a few bucks. I know times are tight. But the price of a couple of pints can make a huge difference to these children.

Donations can be made via this page on the Blue Dragon site.

Thanks.

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Blue Dragon – keep it rolling in!

                          

Look at it this way – every time you rent a car from Rhino, a small amount of the proceeds will be winging its way to Michael and the kids in Vietnam. And Rhino’s prices seem pretty reasonable to me as well. You can’t go wrong!

Again, a massive “thank you” on behalf of BDCF to Scott and his wife, Julie. If I ever get to Cyprus I may well look you up!

And don’t forget, folks, Blue Dragon can always make use of any spare cash you have kicking about. Please, please click on the link above and check out the instructions for donations. Unlike “western” charities, their administration costs are around 10-15% of the money brought in. So well over three quarters of the money raised will go directly to the projects that need it. That’s pretty much a complete reversal of the figures of most charities run over here.

In addition, don’t forget to check out the instructions if you’re donating from the US or Australia which will allow your cash to be passed over with tax exemption.

I’m off to school again tomorrow and then to Geneva on Sunday. More updates then.

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Rhino Car Hire – thank you!