KOTO fundraiser helps street children in Vietnam

In December last year a fundraiser was held for KOTO, a not-for-profit hospitality training program for disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.

The event was a fabulous night of food, champagne and music. And it was all due to the efforts of Nam (pictured above), a KOTO graduate. Nam organised the fundraiser as part of his Diploma of Business at Box Hill Institute. He approached Sofitel on Collins who kindly agreed to support the evening.

Nam spoke about his life before and after KOTO, giving us an insight in what it is like for many young people living on the streets of Vietnam. We heard how KOTO Hanoi was founded in 2000 by Australian, Jimmy Pham and there are now two KOTO restaurants, one in Hanoi and one in Saigon.

About KOTO
KOTO trainees enter the unique 24-month program as timid, shy teenagers and leave as well-rounded, responsible citizens who are ready to embrace the challenges that lie ahead. The aim of the KOTO program is to combine hospitality and English-language training with the development of life skills.

Director Lorette Brown told us that KOTO has a 100% success rate placing graduates in their first job in the hospitality industry. Since it began, over 400 students have graduated from the program.

Van's story

A real highlight of the evening was hearing from Van, another graduate of the program. When Van was 8 years old she started living in a children’s village in Danang with almost 300 other children. She stayed until she was 18 years of age. Van explained that one day, an American couple visited the children’s home where she lived, and asked to sponsor a student. They couldn’t possibly bring themselves to pick which child, so they simply chose a number out of a hat. That number was 105, and Van was the 105th child to be placed in the home. And so began her new life and her education at KOTO. 

A happy ending

An auction was held at the end of the evening and the profits of this, combined with the entry fee and a raffle raised a total of $13,500. This is almost the cost of sponsoring six street and disadvantaged youth, and putting them through a two year training program at KOTO.

This fundraiser completes the circle of KOTO graduates coming back and supporting the program that helped change their lives.

If you would like to learn more about KOTO, please visit the website.

You can also look through all our trips to Vietnam, as most offer a visit to one of the KOTO restaurants where you can meet people just like Nam and Van. 

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