In recent months, Mr Angelo Caccavale from Italy has been actively involved in teaching English free-of-charge for poor children in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Bac Commune. His English classes now have around 100 pupils in totals.

Caccavale English classes full of laughter

Caccavale made his first visit to Viet Nam 5 years ago.  When travelling through many provinces and cities across the country, the 49-year-old Italian man witnessed that many Vietnamese people were living in very difficult circumstances.

After returning to his hometown, the Italian man nurtured an intention of doing charitable activities in Viet Nam. Therefore, he started to study Vietnamese language, as well as read books and learn about information relating to Viet Nam.

In early 2015, Caccavale came back to Viet Nam and became actively involved in helping children and poor people in Soc Trang and Gia Lai provinces, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Early last year, he visited Da Nang and implemented a charity project in Hoa Bac Commune. When visiting poor families there, Caccavale realised that local children have a high demand for studying English, but there are not many English classes for them.

Therefore, he opened two free English classes for poor children in February. These classes are open every Saturday at the headquarters of the Hoa Bac Commune People’s Committee. One class in the morning is for primary school pupils, whilst the remainder in the afternoon is for junior high school pupils.

Mrs Tran Thi My Dung whose son is studying English at Caccavale’s class said most of local people realise the importance of English language in this modern world, but they cannot afford to send their kids to English centres. Hence, she was very happy with free English classes taught by Caccavale, and tried to take her son to the classes regularly.

In addition to teaching English, the Italian man has exerted every effort to help poor families, and studious pupils in the commune.

Angelo Caccavale is the founder of the Belgium- headquartered Mai Vision charity organisation. Every month, he presents scholarships, worth 500,000 VND each, to 20 poor children, and other ones, valued at 1.5 million VND each, to 8 poor students. In addition, he donates monthly 3 million VND to each of 3 people with life-threatening diseases. All the cost is funded by the Mai Vision organisation.

The foreign kind-hearted man remarked that although he is not rich, he realises that there are more people poorer than him. Therefore, he has done his utmost to appeal for his friends, relatives and non-governmental organisations in Belgium and Italy to join efforts with him to help poor people.

He noted that he loves to do charities in Da Nang because the local people are very friendly and hospitable. He added that helping other people makes his life happier and more meaningful.

Vice Chairman of the Hoa Bac Commune People’s Committee Thai Van Hoai Nam said that Angelo Caccavale is a representative for the Mai Vision in Viet Nam. Under the support from the municipal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Hoa Vang District People’s Committee and Mai Vision together entered into an agreement on implementing charitable activities in the district for 3 years, with a focus on doing in Hoa Bac mountainous commune.

Vice Chairman Nam underlined that Caccavale’s meaningful job has helped to create extra motivation for poor local pupils and students to overcome their difficulties to achieve better academic results. Moreover, the financial support from the Italian organisation has helped poor people with life-threatening diseases to partly reduce the financial burden.