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| Mr. Vo Minh Toai (4th from left, standing row) and young volunteers give gifts to visually impaired children, including a group of children participating in the English For The Blind Project. |
Mr. Vo Minh Toai shared with Dong Nai Weekend about the project he founded and his journey to becoming a knowledgeable young person who inspires and spreads good things in life.
The solid foundation for personal development is education.
* Hello, as the founder and teacher of the English For The Blind Project, can you share more about this non-profit project?
- As the founder of the English For The Blind Project, I have the opportunity to accompany blind secondary and high school students - children who are unlucky in having visual difficulties. They are the ones who suffer many disadvantages in daily life, especially in accessing knowledge and integrating into school.
The non-profit project was established 1.5 years ago, to help you have the opportunity to learn English, express yourself, and be known by more people with more positive perspectives. In particular, through educational activities, we "empower" you to speak up, confidently express yourself and pursue your dreams.
* What impressed you and motivated you to stick with and continuously develop the project?
- As the founder of the English For The Blind Project, I have had the opportunity to work with visually impaired children. Through this, I have realized that: Although they are a disadvantaged group, facing many difficulties in daily life as well as in studying, their determination is very great. They have a very good ability to perceive sound, can sing, play the flute, play musical instruments... Thanks to their good listening ability, they pronounce very well. That is the reason I carry out the English teaching project to help them be more confident and integrate better.
After a period of working and teaching the students, what impressed me and what I learned the most was their ability to grasp and apply technology.
Although they are of middle and high school age and have many visual limitations, they are very proficient with technology. They cannot see, but can accurately remember each shortcut key, key combination, and key position on the keyboard - operating as quickly as people with normal vision.
Thanks to that understanding, they can study and connect more conveniently: do homework on the computer, communicate with teachers and family over the phone, even use social networks to livestream, sing and share - creating an inspiring world of connection.
From there, we - the teachers - were forced to adapt, learning how to use technology to teach more effectively: building websites with integrated audio, applying AI language to support learning, and constantly searching for new ways to help students access knowledge with their ears and hearts.
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| Mr. Vo Minh Toai won the title of 1st Runner-up of Mr. World Vietnam 2024. Photo: NVCC |
* According to you, what factors are needed to do projects for visually impaired children in particular and disadvantaged children?
- The most solid foundation for young people to develop themselves is education. Minh Toai himself always reminds himself to continuously learn every day, because the spirit of progress and the desire to improve himself are extremely important on the journey to adulthood.
Next, it is “understanding”. For Minh Toai, when doing projects with visually impaired children, it is necessary to have a spirit of sharing, sympathy, and understanding. Especially when interacting with children in the classroom, project members must use appropriate words. Or, for example, children are very sensitive to touch, so how they “touch” and interact also shows the teacher’s sensitivity.
In fact, when teaching children in the project, we always have love, understanding, sharing, listening, thereby creating an environment for them to develop best. Minh Toai is very happy because the project develops from the love of blind children. From there, the members of the project continue to have the motivation to develop, spreading the sharing of good things even more.
In addition to Mr. Vo Minh Toai, the founder and head of orientation and teaching, the English For The Blind Project also has a core team of 6-8 members who are teachers of autistic children, hospital technicians, university students, etc. They meet in common a love of English, a spirit of volunteerism and a desire to contribute to the community. The project is currently accompanying 10 visually impaired students of middle and high school age in Ho Chi Minh City. The project plans to open a new class by the end of 2025.
Create common values for those around you
* As someone who has been inspiring with specific, practical actions, what message do you want to send to young people?
- I have 3 things to tell young people as I have shared, which are: grasp technology, pursue education, learn languages…; and cultivate a heart that knows how to share, listen and understand - not only with others but also with ourselves. Because when we truly understand ourselves, we can “empower” ourselves - to believe, to commit and to develop.
When you know how to “empower” yourself, you will also be able to “empower” others. One special thing is that when implementing the project, we “empower” disadvantaged children through education, however, we also “empower” ourselves to have the opportunity to contribute and connect. That is what we receive when implementing the project. Through that, it can be seen that each young person can “empower” themselves to have the opportunity to contribute more to the community and society.
* Returning to the journey from a bachelor of international finance from the Foreign Trade University in Ho Chi Minh City, you switched to active activities in showbiz and are now constantly spreading and developing the non-profit project you founded. Can you share about these turning points?
- For Minh Toai, choices are not right or wrong, but rather more suitable turns. What is important is the value and meaning that the journey brings.
After graduating from university, I taught English, then pursued my passion for modeling, participated in reality TV shows, entered the Mister Beauty contest... After a long journey, I reflected and realized that: the journey of pursuing passion is only truly meaningful when I create common values for the people around me.
That is why Minh Toai wants to use his expertise and influence to create a project that helps vulnerable groups such as visually impaired children. Pursuing an educational project also helps create extremely sustainable values, "empowering" young people.
* Thank you very much and wish your project continued development!
Lam Vien (performed)
Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202510/anh-vo-minh-toai-a-vuong-1-nam-vuong-the-gioi-viet-nam-2024-nha-sang-lap-du-an-english-for-the-blind-trao-quyen-cho-ban-than-de-co-co-hoi-lan-toa-nhung-gia-tri-tich-cuc-2d62a84/
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