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This series of photographs were taken by children living and working in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as part of the Street Vision. Vietnam’s economy is gradually shifting from a centrally planned socialist system to a market-based one. The rapid economic development has greatly widened the gap between the rich and poor, with the greatest effects being felt in the countryside. Driven from their rural homes by poverty, neglect, and the lure of profits, children are drawn to the cities in droves. Once there, with little or no welfare infrastructure to fall back on, they are forced to take on menial minimum wage jobs and often find themselves living on the streets.

Street Vision one of the many projects begun by Photo Voice, an international non-profit founded by Anna Blackman in 1998, based in London. Photo Voice has projects all over the world that teach photography to disenfranchised groups and people living on the fringes of society. Photo Voice aims to use photography as a weapon of economic and social empowerment, not only providing a marketable technical skill that will be useful in the future but also as a means of communication and self-representation.

Founded in 1998 and based in Ho Chi Minh City, Street Vision now exists as an in independent non-governmental organization (NGO) managed by the Ho Chi Minh Welfare Foundation (HCWF) and is partners with fellow NGO Education for Development. Each year Street Vision enrolls 20 working and street children into its photojournalism workshop, teaching them photography skills and organizing apprenticeships with local photographers. Over 20 participants have gone on to pursue professional photography careers. Exhibits of the children’s work have been held both locally and abroad, serving the dual purposes of fostering understanding within their own communities and increasing awareness and lobbying for change abroad.

All of the photographers have shared brief snippets of their life story as fitting captions for this piece, most in their own words.

Images for this photo essay were part of an exhibition held in London. All images are available for purchase with profits going towards the Street Vision Project. For more information on purchasing prints, please email Ho Chi Minh City Child welfare Foundation at hcwf@hcm.vnn.vn.

tanja