Hanoi

Nguyen Thi Thuy was only eleven years old when her world fell apart. She had to witness her own father slaying her mother. Her father was put in prison and Nguyen Thi Thuy’s life seemed to be over before it had begun. Then she heard about KOTO – Know One, Teach One. The 24-month training programme teaches homeless and disadvantaged children all the skills they need for the professional catering business, but in particular, they learn to become self-confident, independent people.

When visiting the KOTO restaurant on Van Mieu Street across from the Temple of Literature, the misery of the streets seems far away. The facility is modern, clean, and stylish. Friendly hostesses welcome guests as if they were long awaited, the waiters ask for their orders in English and inquire now and then whether everything is to their satisfaction. In the café on the ground floor you can observe the cooks as they prepare Asian and western delicacies, in the restaurant the barkeepers blend their cocktails with infectious cheerfulness. The staff radiate love and passion for what they do. Nothing here gives away that the waiters, cooks and hostesses have gone through horrific experiences in spite of their youth. “At KOTO we are confronted with intense stories: abuse, human trafficking, violence, crime, poverty. We experience children who are traumatized by watching their homes burn down,” relates Jimmy Pham. He founded KOTO to give these children a new opportunity and out of his firm conviction that everyone has the right to a good education and a life in dignity.

The project began in 1996: Jimmy Pham, who worked in the Indochina department of a tourism firm in Australia, journeyed back to his old homeland of Vietnam to search for good hotels in Saigon. He encountered a group of street kids selling coconuts who looked much neglected. They washed in wastewater and slept in trees. Jimmy Pham was shocked. He gave them food and clothing. Jimmy Pham moved to Vietnam, travelled through the country and found children like them everywhere he went. “I wanted to change something and give them a promise of a better future,” he recalls.

Korean-Vietnamese Jimmy Pham also has an eventful life story. Born in Ho Chi Minh City in 1972, his family left the country after the American forces retreated. As a small child Jimmy lived in a camp in Singapore, then was in Saudi Arabia and finally in Australia. “I was only two years old when I left Vietnam and cannot remember those days. I used to be ashamed of my origins. I wanted to be Australian. But, now I understand how dignified and wonderful the people here are. I have learned to consider it an honour to have a number of nations in me.” Even as a child, Jimmy Pham found it important to take care of others. “I have always loved people.” Yet he also grew up with a mother who was a “product of the streets.” “She lived in terrible poverty. Naturally, that was also a catalyst for me, although not my only motivation. Sometimes we do not seek out our fate, but are chosen by it.”

Jimmy Pham considered it his fate to help the street kids in Vietnam. Still, it took years before he could gain the trust of those whose lives he wished to change. In 1999 he opened a sandwich shop near the main railway station without any experience in catering or psychology. “I learned everything on the way,” says Jimmy Pham. The beginning was tough. “I had no license, no connections, and no money. And then I was a single man who wanted to work with children – that caused mistrust. But, because the children were my main incentive, I just kept on with it.” The shop did not run very well at first, though, the sandwiches and milkshakes were awful. “I understood that it is not only a question of conveying job skills. The most important thing is to build up trust, teach self-confidence, create a family,” explains Jimmy Pham. A year later, KOTO moved into the restaurant opposite the Temple of Literature. “So many people helped, supported the project and got involved.” Soon, the trainees were able to serve a meal to then US President Bill Clinton. KOTO became Vietnam’s first not-for-profit company.

Ever since, KOTO has grown steadily. A restaurant and training centre are established in Hanoi, another opened in January 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City and Jimmy Pham can envision taking the idea beyond Vietnam to Cambodia, Brazil and Kenya and leaving his homeland once again to put management here in someone else’s hands. “We have been able to help 500 children – all I wanted was to help one.” <

Twice each year, 50 trainees between the ages of 16 and 22 begin their training. Before starting at KOTO they have to go through a lengthy selection process of two to three months that examines whether they are truly in need and also whether the youngsters are suited for the work. “We cannot help every child – we must be realistic. But for those we do help, we want the best,” says Pham, who has in the meantime managed to finance KOTO through large sponsors, private donors and charity events; 200 dollars are needed per month and trainee.

Nguyen Thi Thuy is one who got through the selection process. When her father killed her mother and when to prison, the girl and her little sister had to move to their grandparents. In the province of Ha Nam, Thuy worked in the fields to feed the rest of her family. In spite of the hard life, it was at first difficult for her to leave her grandparents and sister behind for KOTO, particularly as everything was so strange to her when she arrived in Hanoi. “It was all so different and so modern. I suddenly had to speak to strangers, even though my English was so poor.” It is a situation that Hoang Thi Hanh, head of training, knows well. “It is a major challenge for the newcomers,” says the trainer for the reception division at KOTO, “It’s like culture shock. None of them have any experience with hospitality. Most cannot even speak Vietnamese well, because they never learned to read and write. Then they are suddenly confronted with an internationally accredited curriculum.” Hoang Thi Hanh is familiar with the trainees’ feelings from her own experience; she was one of them in 2001. She grew up in a very small village among many brothers and sisters, was forced to leave school and earn money to take care of her ill father. When her sister told her about KOTO, she applied because she had no future in the countryside and there was not enough money for her father’s medicine. “KOTO changed my life. I also earned enough to help my family.” Now Hoang Thi Hanh wants to give back what KOTO gave to her by instructing the trainees. “I always wanted to be a teacher. It is a dream come true.”

The training takes 24 months during which the trainees not only learn to cook, serve and welcome guests, but also learn English, for example, and – in 36 different workshops – how to handle their money, control their anger, communicate appropriately and what personal hygiene means. The first year they spend more time in the training centre and in the second year they do more practical work. Their performance is regularly evaluated by professionals from respected businesses such as Interconti. “You can really watch as they transform themselves,” says Amanda Loader, who is presently working as a volunteer at the restaurant in Hanoi. “They are so enthusiastic and determined to learn.”

At first, the trainees live together, but after awhile, KOTO encourages them to find their own flat in order to promote their independence. This is a step that Nguyen Thi Thuy has already taken. The 18-year old is the best in her class and will complete her training in four months. “I am studying a lot but I don’t mind because it’s fun,” explains Nguyen Thi Thuy. She would like to work in a big hotel in Vietnam or perhaps even in Australia in order to support her grandparents and her sister, who she hopes can go to university. KOTO has given Nguyen Thi Thuy a far larger family with many brothers and sisters. But, most of all, she now knows that she has a future.