Reformed drug dealer offers hope to troubled youth

A reformed Sydney drug dealer is mentoring youths to help them get clean.

When Tony Hoang, a 34-year-old Vietnamese Australian pastor, was just 13, he joined a gang and began using and dealing on the streets of Cabramatta in Sydney's west.

He was earning around $10,000 a week before he landed in jail at the age of 14.

Upon his release he slipped back into the life he knew best. “I was a drug dealer for eight years. My best friend died when he was 16 years old. At 19, I was almost gunned down.

"Things just went from bad to worse, and, by the age of 21, I had six friends dead."

But after he suffered a heroin overdose, he said he was ready to  leave a life of gangs, drugs and jail behind.

So he returned to the church he had attended as a young child.

"I cried, a broken man. I said God, if you're somewhere out there, make yourself real to me. Please just give me a sign or something.

"The next day, I was walking through Cabramatta and Potters House Christian Church Fairfield were handing out leaflets, telling people about God and a man gave me a flyer, and the flyer read, 'if you're looking for a sign from God, here it is'."

That was 12 years ago. Now, he spends his time mentoring others who are experiencing a similar ordeal.

“I show them that there is support, there is help, but it comes back down to you,” he said.

“I can show you the door, but you have to walk through it. Those that have walked through it have come out great on the other end."

One of those is 35-year-old Vu Pham, who spent 19 years of his life behind bars.

He said he was homeless and addicted to ice within a few weeks of his release, but now had a job and had not used drugs for six months.

"For a long time, I've never experienced friendships, true friendships," he said.

“You know, being in an environment like prison, everyone has hidden agendas, there was no genuine love, no genuine friendship, until I came to church."

Another under Tony Hoang's wing is 19-year-old Joshua Finauvala.

Two years ago, he said he got into the wrong crowd and was close to following a dangerous path of binge drinking and drugs until meeting Tony Hoang guided him down a different one.

"Tony helped me in many ways. He's like a mentor to me, a father. The way he teaches me about reality and being a man."