Topic: Family and Relationships. Most of Hanoi's street children are boys who have run away. A boy has stopped a middle-aged man on a busy walkway beside Hoan Kiem Lake, one of central Hanoi's busiest tourist attractions.
It's about pm and my fixer and I are sitting nearby, researching a story on Hanoi's runaway street boys. There are thousands of kids surviving on Hanoi's streets. Vulnerable and alone, many fall prey to exploitation, trafficking, criminal gangs or long-term abuse by foreign and local paedophiles. We watch as the man, short, squat and slightly fox-like, replies. He's from France. It's his first time in Hanoi. The man says he's travelling alone.
Where do you live? It's a popular tourist spot, but Hoan Kiem Lake also has a seedy side. It feels like they are playing a game, sussing out if they both know what they are really talking about. Eventually the boy asks the man if he would like to "find somewhere to sit down? They walk over to a park bench. A woman comes up with a little girl. She starts talking, pushing both children closer to the man, gesturing to the boy as though showing him off.
After a while, she notices us and sends the little girl over. She could only be three or four. She has clearly been given a script and beyond that she doesn't know what to say.
Meanwhile, my fixer walks towards the woman on the pretence of using a rubbish bin. As she passes, the man pays the woman and leaves with the boy. Two street boys so exhausted that they have simply fallen asleep where they are sitting. It was just too easy. Looking back, the woman probably mistook our observation for interest in the little girl. Maybe she was feeling lucky β two quick transactions then she could sell the children again a few hours later.
