This is the end

WE DID IT.

So the new KOTO is open.  Officially.

The Australian Ambassador did his duty and later, less formally, the KOTO graduates opened it too with a roof top cutting of the cake.

Like I said before, when we first moved in, it didn’t quite feel like home. But, at the opening, with it so full of people, it felt so vibrant and the smiles were everywhere. We’re growing into it.

Since my last visit to the restaurant there were so many new details that I hadn’t seen before.  Each one seemed to strike a memory. In the formal dining area where they’ve started a gallery of past graduates.  Among them is the wonderful Miss Hanh, now a major star at Le Pub and who looks after me so well on my frequent visits.

Alongside her was Miss Thu – with that open, warm, Vietnamese smile of hers.  Last year we both appeared in a BBC news clip.

On the walls, alongside 1000 bricks were posters I had designed plus souvenirs from the bike ride.

Around me, all the kids were wearing the t-shirts created by my talented mate back in Newcastle.

Meanwhile among the guests were so many old friends.  It was also, incredibly gratifying to see Mr Huy, my old marketing colleague playing a role in the unveiling. He was one of the original nine KOTO trainees.  His dedication to KOTO goes way beyond us here today, gone tomorrow, foreigners.

Also there was Guyette who my mother and father sponsored through her training.

As ever it was good to see all the KOTO staff.  Volunteer Clare (pictured with me and KOTO kids below) and Vietnamese colleague Tham, are the real stars of the new KOTO.  They lived it for well over two years.

Every coat of paint, every piece of furniture, every electrical socket, every tile, every light fitting – they made it all happen.  Two people who did an incredible, and an incredibly stressful, job.

The new KOTO is quite a place.  We’re so close now to getting KOTO right and when it’s perfect then replication is next. There will be so many hundreds more young people that KOTO can help.

It has to succeed.  It will succeed.

It has been a pleasure to be in Vietnam.  It is a truly wonderful place.  In all honesty I find it had to be objective about this country.  I am too much in its grasp.

Being part of  Hanoi felt so invigorating.  What did I do to deserve something this good?  How did I get so lucky?.
It felt most strong in those early days – flying around Hanoi on the back of a motorbike with the biggest grin on my face.

This was me.  Doing this.  Living this life.  Who would have thought it?

There is also one more happy slice of my life that has been conspicuous by its absence in this blog.  I have met someone.  Someone special.  An environmental volunteer.  She will be with me on my next adventure.

She is yet another example of how my life has gone so right here.  I will shut up now because otherwise she will kill me, but life is good. Very good.

So, where are we going?

In March I fly out to Nicaragua.  There, by a lake, in a beautiful city called Granada, is a street kid cooking school called Café Chavalos.

Guess what?  They need a new restaurant.

It starts again. What could be more perfect?  I’ll see you at Our Man in Granada.

* The rest of the KOTO opening party pics here plus one more youtube movie here.