For several years now educationists in the central city Da Nang have been familiar with an Italian man named Enzo Falcone. Small of build and with a captivating smile, he is enthusiastically devoted to projects to help children and women in the central region.
Part 1: A mother of 166 children
Part 2: Italian philanthropist gets Vietnam citizenship
Part 3: Savior of the mentally ill
At the end of 2002, after working for Unicef on AIDS control projects for women, he decided to go his own way to try and help unfortunate kids and women.
He set up Care the People with an initial corpus of just US$3,000. He used it on an experimental basis to provide scholarships to 10 students.
Besides students in high-school, the NGO also gave scholarships to those in universities. One such is Nguyen Thi Khanh Trinh of Da Nang who has benefited for the eighth year in a row.
Trinh says: “The amount of VND5 million is huge for me and my mom. It not only helps with my tuition, but also our lives.”
She is among 130 students who received full scholarships from Care The People this year.
The money comes mostly from Italian donors who in fact become adoptive parents to support the children.
Enzo says: “The kids are all diligent and bright. That is such a joy.”
For years he has also saved up, appealed to his friends in Italy, organized music shows, and delivered speeches, generating over half a million dollars.
Care The People now has 200 members.
Enzo explains why he chose to help the young: “Children are the country’s future but are vulnerable. If they are steady, the nation will be strong.”
Pham Dinh Hao, chairman of the Da Nang City Association of Education Promotion, says: “Over the years, Enzo has helped 900 poor students with scholarships worth over VND1.5 billion (US$71,500). It is not just the monetary value but also the sincerity and kindness of Enzo and his wife towards the children that count.”
Enzo is also involved in other charity projects. For example, he spent VND2.1 billion in 2008 to build a charity home for children for 40 disadvantaged children.
He is now planning to build a retirement home in the central region for old people.
“My name is Hoa Binh” (Peace)
After graduating from Milan Medical University (Italy), Enzo traveled to Africa to do charity work for six years.
In 1994 destiny brought him to Vietnam when he accepted the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ invitation to replace another doctor.
Enzo says smiling at his wife: “It should have taken only two weeks to finish my job in Vietnam. But on the flight from Italy, I knew I would spend the rest of my life in this country.”
On that fateful flight, he met Luu Thi Minh Tam and was struck by her energy, youthfulness, and charm. “My wife is tough, totally different from Italian women I met before.” For Tam, it was his gentleness and smile that attracted her to him.
They married three months later with a simple, traditional Vietnam ceremony. The couple had to overcome cultural and geographical barriers and get approval from their families.
What makes them stick together is their common viewpoint on life. Enzo says: “Being a doctor, earning money is not important but helping others is.”
Having known Vietnam through the US war – he took part in anti-war protests -- the 52-year-old finally got Vietnamese citizenship last February as Luu Hoa Binh.
“My name is Hoa Binh because I love peace, my surname is my wife’s.”
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