An Opportunity to Give Back

Nguyen and I met five years ago. He’s an engineer. When I first met him, he was a pretty sad guy. One reason was his brother, Nam, had a congenital heart disease. His heart would not fully develop. So Nam had all kinds of physical issues, was always on medication, and never grew into a full-size adult. He was not expected to live long. And as you can imagine, this was difficult for Nguyen.

Nguyen was kind of a recluse. He did not go out a lot and wouldn’t do a whole lot of things. He worked to help care for his brother. Besides that, the only thing he would do was go to EndeavorViet’s English Club.

That’s where I met him.

I’ve always been kind of blown away by Nguyen. At the English Club, we’d hang out and talk about life. We would have these conversations about there being a lot of hope in the world. There’s opportunity. We encouraged each other to seize those opportunities. Nguyen couldn’t imagine why I would take the time with them. Most foreigners wouldn’t spend five minutes with English language learners, let alone hours.

I remember a conversation with Nguyen, two years after we met. He said, “You know, my brother is doing much better.” Nam made an overwhelming recovery. They still can’t explain that. He has to be on oxygen, but he can live a pretty normal life. And Nguyen went on about all the things his brother was doing. Lê Hữu Nam was going out and meeting people, getting to know other people! He’s even written 2 children’s books, both published: Mật Ngữ Rừng Xanh (Secret Language of the Green Forest) and Con Đến Như Một Phép Màu (Son Arrive Like a Miracle).

Nam had so many seeming disadvantages. Nguyen was healthy, he had a good job, but he lived his life as a recluse. After our conversations and his brother becoming this hero, Nguyen realized his life could be more.

He now talks about how there’s so much potential for Vietnamese today. They have more opportunities than they’ve ever had. What holds most back is that they can’t imagine the possibilities. They’ve never seen the potential they have. A lot of Vietnamese get lost in life and don’t ever go for anything else, or try for anything better. They don’t have anyone to push them to see and realize their full potential.

It was in this context that Nguyen said to me:

“What you are doing with EndeavorViet, giving Vietnamese the opportunity to interact with foreigners, learn something from them, and experience conversational English. I can see it being a huge way to understand our potential. ‘Wow! I can really do something! I can really become something.’ I haven’t seen a way for Vietnamese to have this opportunity.”

Nguyen is one of EndeavorViet’s Ambassadors. He’s so jazzed and excited about the whole idea. He sees the opportunity for people all around the world to get another perspective. He sees this as an opportunity to do something meaningful in his own life.

Nguyen and others like him are the whole reason why I meet with the English Club. It’s the reason why I started EndeavorViet. Because I see that the Vietnamese people know there is something more. There is something that they can do, but they just cannot imagine how to do it, or how to take the risk. Nobody takes any kind of risk.

In Vietnam last month, we asked everyone to introduce themselves. We asked them to say was why they were there. Nguyen was there. He got tears in his eyes, and he got a little choked up. He said, “I am here because my friend, Mr. Jack, is willing to give me the chance to do something that I never thought possible.”

If there’s one thing I would like people to know about EndeavorViet, it’s that we give you that chance. You can give something back to somebody in a way that you may not be even able to comprehend. Through us, you’ll meet Vietnamese English learners and experience their world for a time. But the impact you will have on their lives will be incomprehensible. You’ll never realize the influence you had.

Nam inspired Nguyen by going against all these unbelievable odds and accomplishing something amazing. And Nguyen found inspiration in this foreigner, who said, “You know what? You matter. And people matter.”

How about you taking the time to say this to someone else. Make this world a better place for them.