PANO – The 5th Ilga Award was presented to Jimmy Pham Viet Tuan, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of KOTO, at the awards ceremony on September 7th in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Launched by the Ilga Foundation, the Ilga Award aims to honour contributions of individuals worldwide to the development of Asian countries and peoples.
Speaking at the ceremony, Jimmy Pham, whose father is a Korean, said that he felt highly honoured by the RoK’s recognition of his contributions, and that the award encouraged him to overcome difficulties for the education cause and the development of KOTO.
Born in 1972 in Vietnam, Jimmy Pham went to Sydney, Australia, along with his Vietnamese mother and her children. He was interested in tourism and studied hotel management. In 1996, he returned to Vietnam for the first time as a tour guide and saw many street kids in Hanoi.
He decided to establish KOTO (Know one Teach One) to provide living and vocational skills for street kids to help them earn their living. Over the past 14 years, KOTO has provided vocational training for 500 traniees.
To acknowledge his social contributions to Vietnamese children and youth, in January 2013, Jimmy Pham was conferred with the Membership of the Order of Australia (AM).
Translated by Son Ca
Đăng ký: VietNam News
