A Life Changing Initiative for Toc H Australia

Historical record. The Toc H Vietnam Training Partnership, begun in 2006, is no longer active. These pages are kept as a record of Toc H Australia’s work in Vietnam; some of the partner organisations’ websites mentioned here no longer exist.
In 2006, Toc H National Youth Development Officer Dr Owen Nichols and then Vice-President Tony Reade launched an exciting new project designed to help the needy in Vietnam. 

Why Vietnam? Owen explained ‘there are a lot of good reasons why we chose this country. It is relatively close to Australia, and because it has suffered through many years of war, it remains one of the poorest countries in our region. The Vietnamese people are real battlers, and now that the country has opened up, there is an excellent opportunity to give them a helping hand and be confident that the difference we make will be sustainable. Given our country’s involvement in Vietnam during the 1960s and early ’70s, we now have a great opportunity to implement the values of Toc H through practical service projects that emphasise reconciliation and multiculturalism’.
​Tony Reade explained ‘the mountainous regions north-west of Hanoi are incredibly beautiful and support a rich diversity of different hill-tribe groups. Tourism is developing rapidly, but below the surface, many struggle in very poor rural communities, or in towns like Sa Pa where young people without education and support are at real risk of exploitation. Achieving sustainable development whilst still retaining the people’s traditional values and family links is critical, but won’t be easy. It will need the co-operation of all organisations involved in the region’s development.’

So how does the Toc H project work? In short, the intention is NOT to create a new aid organisation, but instead to work through existing, trusted organisations that already have a good track record in the country, good contacts, and the capability to implement the projects Toc H members decide to support. By working through carefully chosen partnerships, Toc H is ‘value adding’ to the work these organisations carry out.