Lan 0916391852

Lan 0916391852

US actor extends hands to street kids in wartime Vietnam

Dick Hughes (C) Amid the escalating Vietnam War where everyone saw evil, Vietnamese street kids saw something else. During the 8 years Dick Hughes was in Vietnam, the US actor had offered sanctuary to them, in the thousands.

Dick visited Vietnam after graduating from a Master’s degree in drama and was going to start on his promising career when news of the war shelved his acting plans. He said he wanted to do something to help Vietnam. So, in April, two months after the 1968 Tet Offensive, he set foot on Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City as a correspondent from the Carnegie Mellon University, where he graduated. With two sets of clothes and around US$1,500, Dick called a cab to a press center but the driver instead took him to the US General Consulate. While standing in front of the imposing building and rearranging papers, a dirty Vietnamese kid with a baggy pullover apparently suffering from scabies asked him in a pidgin English if he was civilian or military. Seeing his pitiable state, Dick decided to help them. Dick was only 24 years old. Charity houses After the first month living in a hotel, he left and rented a small house on Pham Ngu Lao Street in district 1 where he had numerous occasions to meet homeless kids. The street today is famous as the backpackers’ quarter. Everyday, he approached street kids including shoeshine boys and newspapers vendors and invited them to his rented house to eat, take baths and sleep. He recalled the job was not easy because the children could not believe their ears. But after trying different techniques, 11 came and slept. The next day, they started out to work and came back for the night. To finance the project, Dick visited many agencies to brazenly ask for blankets, soaps and food. A little while later, he moved out, rented another house near there, and had a volunteer teach them reading, writing and the such. In 1970, his compatriots in the US knew of Dick’s charity actions and helped him form the Shoeshine Boy Foundation in New York. The foundation received contributions from thousands, which were sent to Vietnam. This enabled Dick to rent five more houses in Saigon to accommodate more children. During the years he was in Vietnam, his program has helped 2,000 street kids and around 300 always lived in those houses. Over 18,000 people all over the world have contributed to the program. Kiet, now an owner of a bookstore on Pham Ngu Lao Street, recalled his poverty years with Dick. “He used to walk in and out of police stations because of us”. Police at that time would take Kiet and other kids to workhouses if they were caught shoeshining. It is Dick who bailed them out. “Without him, we would not be what we are today”, Tam Lan, a guard in district 1, said. In 1976 after the war was over, Dick returned to his home country to his acting career, and transferred all his charity houses in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang City to the new regime. He later told the New York Times and Life that he learnt a lot from those kids, especially about their optimism in a situation where only darkness and hopelessness reigned. He said those kids had every reason to resort to crimes but they did not and strived to make their lives better. Late January this year, Dick returned to Vietnam, to the warm welcome from all those who he once helped. Some are now successful and they live all over the country but on hearing Dick’s return, they all flocked to Ho Chi Minh City to be reunited with their patron. He is now living in New York and is a theatrical actor. He has not rested but still campaigning for funds to help Agent Orange victims in Vietnam. Source: Tuoi Tre - Translated by A.N.O.N