Cafe Koto serves up more chances for kids

The Canberra Times - September 11, 2002

Jimmy Pham, an Australian who did his final year of secondary school in Canberra, has every reason to smile. Back in the country of his birth, Pham is working miracles with the street kids of Hanoi, giving them a future by training them in hospitality. Anyone who has been to Vietnam will be familiar with the constant pleas of "You buy postcard? You buy souvenir?" There are an estimated 25,000 children trying to survive on the streets of Hanoi. When they are young, cute and appealing, they can make quite a decent living, but when they reach their teens it’s a different story. Children become the victims of the ugly side of tourism: prostitution, crime and abuse.

All of that was new to 30-year-old Pham when he returned to Vietnam to work as a tour guide in 1996. It’s been a big learning curve. Born in Saigon to a Vietnamese mother and Korean father, Pham spent his childhood in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Australia, attending TAFE in Canberra and Haydon Travel College in Sydney. Despite having only "scratchy" Vietnamese when he returned as a tour guide, he got talking to some of the street kids who told him they were showering near an open sewer. Inviting them to his hotel to shower, twice the number turned up: "Word had got around there was a new sucker in town."

By the end of his two-week stay, he was taking 60 kids to dinner and had earned their trust. "Soon they were apologizing for ripping me off or spinning me a story. One night after a tour dinner, a group accosted me and said they needed a job. So I got the idea of starting a coffee shop." Using $10,000 of his own funds, the first Cafe Koto opened in June 1999. He set up a registered charity, Street Voices, and took nine kids under his wing. "They were learning so fast I could barely keep up with them. At first they didn’t know what beetroot or broccoli were; now it’s orange syrup cakes and linguine. The kids were learning belonging and ownership and also about other cultures. So many nationalities walk through our doors."

The first Koto – an acronym for Know One Teach One – seated 10 people and outgrew its space almost immediately. It closed a year later and after four months of renovations, a new Koto seating 80 people opened at 61 Van Mieu Street in 2000, opposite Hanoi’s historic Temple of Literature. The brightly decorated cafe serves Asian and western dishes, priced around $5 to $6 each, with the menu presented on a series of postcards – a clever reminder of where these children might otherwise be. The food is presented attractively and delivered with a smile. Former US president Bill Clinton has been their highest-profile customer to date.

The most inspiring thing about the whole operation is that it is no longer just a restaurant. Thanks to Pham’s vision, the project also incorporates a vocational training centre, from which the first intake of 17 graduated in March. Many have already been offered jobs in Hanoi’s top hotels and restaurants. With the help of a small team of volunteers and support from international organizations, 30 more students are undertaking an 18-month training program in all facets of the hospitality industry, from cooking to serving and greeting customers. The British embassy has provided equipment while the Danish embassy provides the food used in the training kitchen. The kids are given a small wage, eat the food used in training and are accommodated in five rented houses integrated into the community. "Though we would like to achieve sustainability that is not possible at the moment," says Pham.

Through a partnership with Australian Volunteers International, Intrepid Travel is sponsoring Melbourne woman Kelly Armiger to take charge of the training kitchen for the next year. Armiger worked at Stephanie Alexander’s Richmond Hill Café and Larder for the past four years. As well as acquiring practical skills, the students, aged between 16 and 22, learn about the environment, first aid, hygiene, law, occupational health and safety, drugs and health. They are vaccinated courtesy of funding from the Bill Gates Foundation and they take intensive English lessons.

Asked if any are beyond help, Pham says the school has a 93 per cent retention rate. "The program is not designed for kids to fail, it’s designed for kids to succeed." When they are chastised for "sloppy habits" or misdemeanours, they later apologise and beg to stay. "I know it’s possible to make a difference because I see it every day." Pham’s plans include a cookbook of recipes from the restaurant and replicating the program in other towns and cities across Vietnam. "I don’t expect to help every street kid in Vietnam but I can help a precious few who in turn can help someone else."

One of the youths saved by Koto: Long, a boy from Sapa in northern Vietnam, was illiterate and malnourished when he came to Koto. His only experience of restaurants was sorting through the trash cans behind them.
"It has taken three years for him to develop trust," says Pham. "He had a lot of anger for such a young man, to his family, to society and himself. Four years on, he is a good provider for his family. He can read, write and spell. He works as personal chef for a family and has applied for a job at the Sofitel in Hanoi. A community that once looked down on him, he is part of now."

How you can help:
Café Koto and training school are the main ventures for Street Voices, a registered Australian charity.

More information at www.streetvoices.com.au

© Christine Salins

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