‘Untold Stories’ of Poor Vietnamese Children

Photographer Ho Quang captures the lives and dreams of poor Vietnamese children in a photo shoot meant to raise awareness about the country’s need for more educational opportunities.

While enrollment in primary school has increased to 90 percent of the child population, according to the World Bank, low-income families still lack access to continuous education that leads to higher-wage jobs.

Many of these families do not live below the poverty line now that urbanization has created new opportunities for traditionally poor farmworkers. But these new jobs are low-wage.

Quang, born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, created the visual project called “Untold Stories” to show that moving to a big city does not equate upward social mobility.

In the project’s description, Quang states “the aim of the project is to produce a series of images that portray a variety of children who are, in reality, living under difficult circumstances (i.e. street children or from poor backgrounds), in scenes that represent their future dreams and aspirations.”

The following video goes behind the scenes of one particular shoot. The subject is a 10 year old girl who dreams of becoming a professor, and whose mother can no longer work because she lost her eyesight.

Some of the professions the other children want to grow into include architect, doctor and teacher.