One day in 2017, while sitting in Ngoc Lam Park (Long Bien District, Hanoi) with a growling stomach and worrying about the next meal, a woman approached Dong Quang Quyet.
After three years on the streets, everything became suspicious for a child like Quyet. He no longer trusted anyone after being deceived many times, but reluctantly listened to the strange woman before his eyes.
She told him about Blue Dragon, an organization that supports street children, and assured him that Quyet could get hot meals at the center. Talk of hot bowls of rice, tofu, meat, and vegetables was all he heard at that moment.
Unable to resist the empty stomach, decided to gamble with fate once again.
And this time, he won!
"At that time in my life, I was so hurt and in pain that I didn't believe there were good people in this world," Quyet said.
Quang Quyet, currently 25 years old, owns a small fleet of cars in Hanoi (Photo: To Sa).
Escape
Quyet is the third child in a family of four children in Nam Dinh. His father has a brain disease that makes him mentally unstable, and all the burden falls on his mother's shoulders. She does all kinds of odd jobs to make a living, but all her efforts are not enough. Every day is a fierce battle for survival for them.
The child cannot get along with his peers at school, and at home the mother and child are so at odds that they cannot communicate or share with each other.
He saw that his life had no way out, so at the age of 12 he decided to stop studying and took 100,000 VND his grandmother gave him to buy a one-way ticket to Hanoi.
"I want to change my life," Quyet said.
Arriving in Hanoi, Quyet actively asked for jobs at restaurants. The child found a job at a pho restaurant, where the owner promised to give him a place to eat, a place to sleep, and a monthly salary.
Determined to work hard from 5am to 2pm, take a nap on a makeshift mat on the ground, and continue working until midnight at 4pm. What awaited him were simple meals, but the promised salary never arrived.
After half a year, Quyet planned to go home. He asked about his wages, and the owner immediately kicked him out of the shop. Quyet will always remember a winter day in 2012, when he was kicked out on the street, with only the clothes on his back, and no money. That was also his first step in discovering Hanoi.
Not knowing where to go, Quyet sat in front of a pharmacy near the shop, the only place he was familiar with in this strange city, until a kind woman stopped to give him money for a bus ticket home.
However, when he held the money in his hand, Quyet hesitated. Back home, he knew there would only be bullying, pressure and hopelessness. Quyet chose to stay and take control of his fate, took the money to buy a basket, a brush and a box of shoe polish, and started a shoe shining business.
Quyet’s first customer was a security guard at a hospital who taught him how to polish black and brown shoes. After receiving his first 10,000 VND payment, Quyet did not dare to dream of a meal. He only bought a 2,500 VND mouse sandwich.
At first, Quyet wandered the streets, sleeping wherever he could. Shining shoes earned him enough money to have a place to sleep in a rented room with many others. To survive in Hanoi, he did all kinds of jobs, from shining shoes, running a video game shop to picking starfruit to sell for money.
One day, a man came and offered Quyet a job selling candy on the street. He agreed and started working hard from morning to night. But after only a few days, the man disappeared, taking all the money he had worked hard to earn.
"After three years of living on the streets, my thoughts were extremely negative. Bad guys just wanted to "exploit" and take advantage of street children. I was helpless and hated this life," Quyet said.
Turning Point
The encounter with the woman in the Ngoc Lam flower garden opened a turning point for Quyet. He recalled the first time he set foot in the Blue Dragon center, he had lunch and "every dish was delicious". From then on, Quyet visited the center more often to receive free meals, gradually letting go of his guard.
There, he met Michael Brosowski - the founder of Blue Dragon. The foreign man was extremely patient with Quyet.
After work, Michael spent 10-15 minutes chatting with him on the sidewalk. He also taught the child to read and gave him his first book, " How to Stop Worrying and Start Living ."
Quyet was still wary of everything, but conversations with Michael helped him gradually regain his confidence.
Quyet and a hot meal at Blue Dragon center (Photo: Character provided).
In mid-November 2015, Michael asked the boy to have dinner with him. When they arrived at a luxury hotel in Tay Ho district, Quyet knew this was not an ordinary meal.
At this time, Michael announced that he would attend the reception of New Zealand Prime Minister John Phillip Key, during his visit to Vietnam.
"I saw no difference between a man in a suit and tie and a shoe-shining boy," Michael recalled of the meeting 10 years ago.
After listening, Quyet was not worried, nor did he care. He said that street children like him had completely lost some of their emotions. Stepping into the hotel lobby, the first thing that caught the child's eyes was the luxury that was completely different from his appearance.
"I was a street kid, with shabby clothes, anyone could look down on me, but there, no one looked down on me. Everyone welcomed me warmly, helping me integrate into their fun," Quyet said.
That meeting ignited a dream in Quyet. He wanted to become a person with polite and noble manners like them. Thanks to the help of Blue Dragon, Quyet started going back to school, because he knew that knowledge was the foundation to become a good person.
Determined to persevere until grade 12. Everything gradually changed when he started working as a motorbike taxi driver. After a few months, the young man set a goal of buying a car to drive a taxi. He went online to learn about cars. When he understood this vehicle, he bought his first car even though he did not have a driver's license and had only 50,000 VND in hand.
"I asked someone to take out a bank loan to have enough money to buy a car, then registered for driving lessons," the young man said.
The feeling of holding the steering wheel for the first time, carrying the first customer, made Quyet realize that this was his path. "No matter what, I have to do it," he reminded himself.
Decided to go back to school, decided to change fate (Photo: Character provided).
Own
Not long after buying the car, Covid-19 hit. Before Hanoi imposed city-wide social distancing, Quyet drove back to his hometown to find a way to survive the pandemic. Realizing the "resources" on social media, he created a Facebook page to attract customers, driving on the Hung Yen-Nam Dinh route.
Every day, he only ran one trip at a higher price than usual. A year ahead of schedule, he paid off the debt to the car owner and paid the bank interest. After the pandemic, he abandoned this model because he realized it was not fertile enough to develop.
"In my mind, I want money to work for me, not me working for money. The incident at the age of 12 helped me realize that I wanted to be the master of my life," Quyet said.
During his years in the countryside, Quyet learned to reconnect with his family. He took the initiative to talk to and care for his mother more, always looking for ways to turn to his family.
Every time he comes home, Quyet lets go of all his worries in society, and only gives himself warmth and love. He likes to go to the market, choose each type of food for his mother to cook. He thinks that when someone cares about each meal, his parents will no longer feel lonely.
"Thanks to my family, my life is better," he confided. In the past, mother and son would argue after just 2-3 sentences, but now he is willing to hug and say "I love you, Mom."
After the Covid-19 pandemic, Quyet went to Hanoi, trying to get everything back on track. When the situation gradually stabilized, he saw an opportunity to change based on the parameters of domestic electric vehicles. He came up with the idea of building a green transport service vehicle model. Each electric car running the service annually can reduce about 15 tons of CO2 into the environment.
By May 2024, the young man became the "boss" of a small fleet of cars, specializing in coordinating drivers to help people travel conveniently in the city.
"I hope to contribute more to Vietnam's commitment at the COP26 Climate Change Summit. Every citizen needs to join hands with the government to bring net emissions to zero," he said.
Looking back on his 13-year journey from a child who ran away from home to Hanoi to a 25-year-old man who doesn't dare to consider himself an adult, Quyet knows that he has let go of the inferiority complex of being a "street kid".
Quyet was also able to let go of all hatred and pain, "living only for today and tomorrow".
"Within myself, I have indescribable joys, gratitude for life, gratitude for the brothers and sisters at Blue Dragon who accompanied me to help change my fate. I have lived a happier and more positive life. As long as we are alive, that is joy, happiness, and the life of each of us," he said.
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