Dear family, dear friends,
I am going to open a training centre for professionals where handicapped adolescents can learn following the dual system. We will start with the faculties cooking and restaurant staff.
When I lived in Germany, I spent 34 years cooking. I cooked between Munich and Berlin, in station restaurants and 5-star hotels, for simple guests and VIP’s. There was always plenty of work, I was never unemployed. This is not just because I am an industrious person, but also because there will always be enough work in gastronomy.
Education is the Central Chance
For me, too, it was hard to climb up the ladder to the master’s level. The reasons were diverse: financial problems, needing more time for family and children, having to learn a totally foreign language and all the restrictions because I was a non-native.
Why was I never unemployed? Because gastronomy never died. Why did I continue up to the master level? Because in Germany, the opportunity to continue your education gives adolescents a chance.
Dual Educational System after the German Model
Consequently, I will try to offer all I find positive in Germany to the adolescents here in Vietnam, too.
Since the dual educational system is new and alien to the Vietnamese, it is not easy for me to create educational openings. Currently, I am doing a lot of work in order to get there.
As to finances: I receive support from Germany for building and furnishing the school. But it is difficult to run the school, because most of the apprentices come from bitterly poor families. The apprentices also receive wages from the companies they work for, but this is minimal and many parents cannot even spend an Euro each day for their children.
Children from Poor Families – a Vicious Circle
The apprentices come to the city from afar, mostly from the country – where there is still a family tradition: three generations living under one roof, many children and little rice. Many children will terminate their school education and move to the city, such as Saigon, in order to find jobs. They will spend their entire lives working as untrained helpers, they will live in the slums and again have many children who, again – like their parents before them – will spend their entire lives working as untrained helpers.
A finished professional training will give the adolescents a chance to escape from this vicious circle.
We want to give the adolescents this chance.
Take me for an example. I come from a catholic family with nine siblings, bitterly poor. When I was a small child, I lived in the Don Bosco home for orphans, where I had the chance to graduate from high school and get a chance to finish my professional training in Germany.
I managed because many benefactors gave me a chance. That is why I firmly believe that adolescents in Vietnam, too, can do it.
Please support my project!
Let us give them the chance to show it to us and let us lead them on the path; with love and patience, they will manage!
Give me the chance and I will hand it on to those who need it most. That is why I returned to Vietnam: in order to help build Vietnam and preach Christian belief through my own example.
For more information about the new project, consult the website: anremaisen.com
Best regards xin kính chào
Francis Văn Hội
(MS – Editing / Translated by EG)