From a long career in the military to a second calling as a philanthropist, meet the founder of Les Enfants du Dragon
Meet the children of the dragon. They may not be offspring of real dragons but their parents are fully intent on making sure their kids inherit the spirit and greatness of this mythological creature. The children’s ‘parents’ are Marc de Muynck and Dr. Buy Huy Lan, a dentist based in France, founders of the NGO Les Enfants du Dragon.
Officially created in 2009 as a French NGO under the charter and full patronage of both the Vietnamese government and the French consulate, Les Enfants du Dragon aims to help those in need through various humanitarian projects and partners. Unlike other NGOs of the same size and scope, Les Enfants du Dragon does not specialize in any specific area. With 11 core members, a dozen volunteers, the support of local governments, other NGOs, and numerous fundraisers, the association tries to support in all aspects. It has built houses, bridges, ensured clean water supply to poor localities, provided scholarships and bicycles, opened free English and French courses for children, supported teacher training projects, supplied walking sticks for the elderly, entertained sick children and organized camping trips for orphans.
Instead of narrowing it to just one focus and limiting its own members, it acts as a branch connecting various partner organizations and through its many programs aims to channel its reach to make the most impact. “The name came from the myth of how Vietnam was created, it told that the founding father, who was a dragon, and the founding mother, a fairy, together had a hundred children and these children became the first kings of Vietnam,” Marc explains of the meaning behind the name. “These very same kings laid the foundation of ancient Vietnam as a country and people and their names are still honored to this day.”
Paid in Smiles and Tears
Marc visited Vietnam for the first time in 2001. He was 51 then and had just retired from a long military career. He was on a mission, albeit of a different sort than the ones he used to carry out, bearing charity gifts from France to an orphanage in Sa Dec, located in the Mekong Delta. “There are problems here the likes of which I was not aware of back home. Poverty. Illiteracy. Children without parents. People that need help,” he says of his first impressions. Despite that, there was something about the rough, dusty Southeast Asian country that stuck with him, a “certain good feeling that is somehow unique and enduring”. The feeling endured and was the main drive to create Les Enfants du Dragon.
“After that first three month holiday in Vietnam, I went back home and joined an NGO called Volunteers of the World. I did many projects with them and helped many people in Rangoon and Mandalay, Myanmar. I started running with many other NGOs and humanitarian projects. For many years I worked with Maison Chance, Karuna, and Coup de Pouce Humanitaire. I helped all kinds of people, from orphaned children to homeless vagabonds, to people ridden with diseases whose cures they couldn’t afford,” says Marc. “Eventually though, I became… dissatisfied. I did not really find my place. Very often, a volunteer is only a pawn which is given a specific task and is involved little or not at all in the projects or the decision-making.” He had two choices - one was to quit volunteering altogether, the other to find a way to help people the best he could and in a way that he wanted. Marc’s decision was clear: “I can’t imagine my life as a retiree in laziness or in third age leisure clubs. People would often ask me, how do I go from being a lifelong dedicated military man to a lifelong dedicated humanitarian? I have only one answer to that. To forgive myself. Perhaps I want to repay the world for what I’ve taken from it. Perhaps I want to deny my past self. Either way, in my opinion, people can only feel true happiness when they help those who aren’t as fortunate in life as they are, when people bring joy to children whose parents are no longer there.”
In 2007, after cancer surgery, he returned to Vietnam, got in contact with the many friends he had made during his first trip and started various projects from helping upgrade a nursery in his residential neighborhood in Ho Chi Minh City which was often flooded during torrential rains, to building houses for poor people in the southern province of Dong Nai. These projects eventually laid the foundation for the birth of Les Enfants du Dragon in 2009. Since then, it hasn’t been a smooth road, but it has been one that is infinitely fulfilling in ways that matter the most. “None of us volunteers get paid in any way of course except in smiles… and sometimes in tears too,” says Marc. “We have a good team now. Good morale and partnership. We are doing good work and we will continue to do even more good work to people who need us most. We started because there was poverty and suffering in the world. We won’t stop until they disappear.”
Images by Charline Saudemon
For more info, visit www.lesenfantsdudragon.com
