The Man Who Changed 1,700 Lives with Laughter
The Journey of KOTO: A Beacon of Hope for Disadvantaged Youth Laughter echoes across the grounds of KOTO's new school in Bac Ninh Province during the annual "Home for Dinner" event in early October. Surrounded by nearly 100 young students, Jimmy Pham recalled his first visit to Vietnam three decades ago, when meeting street children inspired him to establish KOTO (Know One, Teach One), a hospitality training school for disadvantaged youth and likely Vietnam's first social enterprise. One afternoon during that trip, under a blazing sun by the Saigon River, 24-year-old Vietnamese-Australian tour guide Jimmy spotted four children selling coconut candies. He sat down to chat and bought them some daily items. Over his two-week work trip, he sought them out every night and got them meals. Word spread among the kids about "a silly guy," and one time some 60 children trailed him to a pho restaurant. On returning to Australia, he switched jobs to one that would st...