Teaching hip hop to homeless children

Source: ThanhNien News

Those who frequent stages in Saigon may be familiar with a hip hop group of 9 homeless kids called Baby Action, who have turned into dancers thanks to their teacher’s kindness. 
 

When Luu Huynh Lam first opened a small hip hop class at his residence in Nha Be district, HCM City in 2004, he saw some young kids come to watch him and his students every day. "Some of them then approached me, begging me to allow them to pay monthly tuition fees by installments – one thousand dong every day,” said the 28-year-old teacher. 

Luu Huynh Lam said these were chiefly homeless kids who supported themselves by selling lottery tickets. After inquiring about these children’s family backgrounds, teacher Lam was very touched and decided to bring them all home to provide them with hip hop lessons – as well as many other things. 

The kids are from 5 to 14 years old of age. Some are orphans. Some were sent to live in pagodas since their parents are too poor. But they all love to learn hip hop. So in the morning, Lam sends them all to Phuoc Kieng Elementary School. From 2 to 4 pm in the afternoon, they practice dancing hip hop. 

As for evenings, these are reserved for performances on numerous stages throughout the city like Trong Dong, 126, Lan Anh or Dam Sen. There are also days when they are invited to perform out of the city. One may wonder how teacher Lam pays for all of this. 

For every performance, Baby Action earns from VND300,000 to 500,000, which isn’t much, and is making their teacher worried. He said that on sunny days, he and his young hip hop dancers did all right. But on rainy ones, people aren’t inclined to go to stages to watch shows, hip-hop or otherwise. 

"So I have been calculating a great deal – about how to have enough money to give them food, pay their school fees and buy them clothes, as well as give each of them around VND700,000 every month to help support their remaining relatives,” said Lam. 

Despite material difficulties, Lam said he told the kids that if they wanted to pursue some particular career, they only needed to tell him, and he would save money to send them off on their chosen road. 

As for the short-term plan, Lam said if possible, he would buy career insurance for Baby Action, since dancing, especially hip-hop dancing, is quite a dangerous profession.