An update and review

KOTO Kids

I thought it was about time I updated and reviewed what I am doing here and what we at KOTO have achieved.

Three years ago I took a year out of work. Vietnam was my first port of call. I absolutely, totally and utterly fell in love with the place. Head over heels doesn't quite cover it. Reading back over my emails home I told of a lump in my throat when I sailed away to Cambodia up the Mekong Delta. I also wrote the phrophetic words: "one day I will come back".

In the end, it was fate that steered me back to 'Nam. While I was travelling, people told me my plan to "get it out of my system" was flawed. In actual fact, the reverse happens - the wanderlust gets in your blood.

So having tried and failed to settle back home I signed up to VSO. I did the interview. I passed. I did the training and I waited and waited. They first found me a job in Joberg, South Africa. It was working at an AIDS clinic in a ghetto where the murder rate was 5%. In all honesty it sounded like hell on earth. But, fearing no other options being open to me I accepted.

Then I waited again.

Then I got a call. I knew from the tone of their voice that it was bad news. "Sorry," they informed me. "But the Joberg job is off". There was, however, something else.

"But, really," they said. "We're not sure you would be interested."

I was gutted and a little relieved about South Africa. But was curious about the new potential post. "Where is it?" I enquired. "South Africa again?"

They replied: "No, it's Hanoi....Vietnam"

And then time stood still for a second. Did they just say what I thought they said?

"Sorry, did you just say Vietnam?"

They had and I was stumbling over my words all of a sudden. Yes, yes, yes...I was very interested in Vietnam. Vietnam, I informed them, was my most favourite place in the world. The chance to live and work in Vietnam was a dream. Two minutes later the phone was down and I was dancing around my living room. Ten minutes later I had texted, emailed and phoned everyone I knew to tell them my wonderful news.

And now I'm living the dream. I have bad days but far fewer bad days than I had in the UK. And every so often I snap out of a day dream and grin this dopey grin and think: "I'm in Vietnam".


Beautiful Hanoi

But, in essence there is now something bigger and more important than just being here. I work for the most wonderful organisation. I work for KOTO.

KOTO is amazing. In short it takes in disadvantaged and street youth. It trains them so they can find work in hospitality. During that training they provide a wage, a home and a million other things besides. They get field trips and days out. They become part of the KOTO family. I am proud to be a part of that family.


Classroom fun. Pic by Yie Lim

In the few years since KOTO was established it has trained nearly 200 kids. KOTO has a one hundred percent success rate in placing these kids in employment.

During their time here the kids choose to specialise either as front-of-house or kitchen staff. Check into any five star hotel in Hanoi and there is a very good chance that your food will be prepared and/or served by a KOTO graduate.


Kitchen trainees. Pic from Yie Lim

And there are moments that tug at the heart strings. I attended the lavish wedding of a former postcard seller and a tea girl - a real rags to riches fairytale. I was there when 25 new bikes arrived for the new class intake and I saw the excitement. I've travelled back from long days in the countryside with kids sleeping contentedly on my shoulder. And in terms of support I take from them as much as I give.

Now here comes the crunch.

My position here is as fundraiser. On my second day here it was broken to me that KOTO needed $80,000 and it needed it fast. We run a training restaurant and the lease was about to run out. This restaurant is a home for these kids. It is also the place where they gain the experience and skill to find permanent jobs. The money it makes also helps to sustain a large part of the organisation. In short, no restaurant = no KOTO.

And now here we are in February. The good news is - we have found a new restaurant. It's perfect, it's in a great location and I will give you more details soon.

Even better fundraising has been going well - we have raised half of the money. That will pay for the new place - now we just have to find the money to fit it out. And make it a place worthy of the KOTO trainees.

At the end of March I will be going home, I will carry on fundraising there. If you are in the UK and would like a talk and can help make a donation then let me know.

If you are not in the UK and would like to help then find out how here. Apologies if it's not the most high tech system in the world, right now its the best we can afford.

Oh and if you're ever in Hanoi then drop in for a feed. The food is fantastic. We are currently at 61 Van Mieu. I will tell you the new address very soon.

So there you go. Hope that all helps. If you have any further questions then comment below or drop me an email.

Love it.

Photo nicked from www.noodlepie.com

Things I love about Vietnam:

Last night I got home late and ring for a pizza at nine. I am told: "Maybe tomorrow, I am sorry but the staff are very tired."

Hmm. Can't argue with that.

Today I go for my customary egg butty (pictured) on the way to work (the best ten pence you will ever spend). But they've run out of bread. Ah well - so I have noodle soup instead. Then half an hour later someone rings my extension at work to tell me there is an old lady at the front with bread for me.

It turns out she had not only tracked down bread but also tracked down where I work. Bless her.

All things in common - All People One

Okay - put it down to a level of sustained joy that I got my camera back but I thought it was time to put up a few pics together. So there's a spread below - enjoy them. As always click on them if you want to see a larger version.

Enjoy.

Oh, nearly forgot - if you were trying to work out the relevance of the title you'll be wondering a while. Basically I was inspired to put it there because I got into work early today and, thinking no-one was around put "The Diggers" on full blast on my little stereo.

Only later did I find out that interviews for the new KOTO intake were taking place in the next room.

Ah well - if you can't play socialist revolutionary music in Hanoi then where can you play it?

Halong trip at Tet

On the street wear I work.

Love those cumquat trees.

More cook book fun

Kids enjoying books sent over by KOTO wellwishers in Australia.

Tet far from offensive

The fabled tree on a bike

Bizarre Vietnamese moment #932:

Leading the conga through the crowds around Hoan Kiem Lake, half an hour into the year of the rooster.

Whenever I told other ex-pats that I was planning to stay in Hanoi for Tet, you could see them exchange glances. Between the traditional sticky rice with pork fat (truly rank) and the demands for lucky money, most figured it was a good time to be out of the country.

But I stuck around. Have to say I'm glad I did.

Because last night we made it through the crowds to take up a vantage point by the lake. Actually it was only about 20 metres from the fireworks launch site. It was fun.

For half an hour they peppered the skies with rockets and the smoke didn't have time to clear before another half dozen sets of exploding lights colured the skies.



And it's nice to do Vietnamese things. It's great to have two New Years to celebrate. It makes me grin like an idiot to be in a big crowd of oohing and aahing locals.


Grinning like a fool

Then, when the final crescendo signalled the end of the display we started to make our way to the pub. The roads were chocka in every direction. But as ever, it was patient, friendly and we were moving - albeit slowly. We saw a couple of congas going the other way and thought perhaps that was a way to force our way through.

Barely had I voiced the legendary sounds of "da DA da Da da DA DAH!" then suddenly I had Vietnamese people grabbing me by the waist. I think they thought a 16 stone Brit, with newly shaved head looked menacing enough to force his way through. In the meantime they would have the advantage of following in my slipstream. So all of a sudden I looked back to see there was a snake of people following me. Even when the dancing stopped and we hit solid crowd again they clung on.



Then strangely, as we came to a fork in the road - they departed, thanking me, as you might a bus driver. In between there were many chuc mung nam mois (happy new years) and a good few oi troi ois (oh my gods). But everyone in the crush was in good spirits.

We wound our way back to GCs bar (always good for late night drinking and music) and had a few more before giving in to tiredness.

Another great night. And a whole lot of fun.

On Friday, many of the KOTO kids who have been home to families in the countryside, are returning for a trip. So we're going to Halong Bay for the day. I've decided it's well worth the macho points on offer to go swimming off the boat. I mean - it's winter but not as we know it.

Actually the weather has taken a turn for the weird. The cold that kicked in at Christmas has now temporarily gone. After wearing all the clothes I owned and still feeling cold - I'm back to t-shirts again.

The only downside is that the humidity has risen and so has the amount of rain. Everything feels damp right now. You can't get clothes dry and our stone floors have pools of water on them. The sofa is like a sponge and even my bed feels wet. Not pleasant.

Happy year of the rooster folks.

Lost and found

The next lines should preferably be sung - for best effect do so in a cha cha cha style while doing an approximation of a one-man conga in front of your computer screen. Off you go....

I found my cam-RA!
I thought I lost IT!
It was down the so-FA!
La la la la LA!

etc etc etc

Happy New Year from a beer swilling ex-pat

I've been a little down in the dumps recently.

I had one of those weeks where everything seemed to go wrong. They started with problems with my personal life and ended with frustration at work.

Throw in the misplacing of my digital camera (lost, stolen, whatever) through to the breakdown of my laptop (are all pictures taken to date lost forever on my hard drive?).

You can add to that a concern that my trip to the UK in March would have to be cancelled due to work commitments. And, I think, the death of my friend in Thailand hit me harder than I realised at first.

Anyway, I've been grumpy. I've been lacking focus and I've taken my eye off the things that are important to me here and the things I love about Vietnam and Hanoi.

After a night at the pub yesterday evening my western colleague voiced his concern that he doesn't want to become: "another beer swilling ex-pat". I know what he means, that fear has already crossed my mind too. The social scene isn't always what you want or need but when the option is stopping at home and watching Vietnamese TV, then what the hell else do you do?

Ironically I was talking about this in the pub last night. I'm aware that I drink far more here than I do at home. One ex-pat told me he had friends visiting at the weekend. He described how, at midnight, he and his wife were still fresh as daisies, and he suddely realised that his guest from Australia could barely stand.

While traveling, and early in my stay here, I had a mistrust of ex-pats. It was largely misplaced but there are characters here that I really don't want to turn into.

In the meantime I have been slowly getting that Tet feeling as we approach the onset of the New Year festivities. The ex-pats are leaving en masse and flying to warmer climes to avoid it all. Basically if you stay then it's cold, nowhere is open and you have to negotiate Vietnamese invites to their homes where it's an etiquette minefield. Not to mention the dent in your pocket created by having to give out lucky money.

But, and I many regret this, I am glad I am hanging around. One of the most heart warming sights over the last couple of days is the army of cumquat tree-laden motorbikes. Basically these trees are the Vietnamese symbol of Tet. Watching them being transported on the back of a bike is a sight to behold. Damn the absence of my camera.

It all makes me smile though and I have vowed to re-connect with Vietnam rather than just my ex-pat bubble. Spending time with locals isn't always easy. Especially as my language is so limited. It puts them under pressure to speak English and when dealing with non linquists you just get into that smiling and nodding routine.

Add to that the problems of undesireable food - eating dog at Tet is apparently very lucky.

But despite all of this I will accept a couple of Tet invitations and try and at least soak up some of that Tet thing.

Anyway, back to my gloom. It's strange how little things can lift you. Or maybe they don't lift you - maybe they're just what's happening as the black cloud blows away.

Whatever. Harking back to the last post, occasionally there is a meetings of musical minds in Vietnam. I like to play CDs in my office and I put on Tracy Chapman's Greatest Hits.

The first track is "Baby Can I hold you Tonight". I was suprised when my young, female, Vietnamese colleague joined in with my awful singing. Suprised, that is, until I remembered it was covered by Boyzone - still big in these parts.

So we sang and smiled and it was a nice little moment. Suddenly between the cumquat trees and the smiling trainees looking forward to going home for Tet, the world seems a nicer place.

So I'm still loving it. I'm smiling again and I'm going to do some hard thinking about how I want to live my life here.

Five months down - 19 to go. Bring on the year of the chicken. Late wobblings, not withstanding, the year of the monkey was a blinder.

Chuc mung nam moi. Happy New Year to you all.

************

PS. Mum and Dad, don't worry the UK break has been resolved. I will be home in March. Looking forward to it.