What a Night, we thank you!

Well the CBT Vietnam team's event of the first screening of Kyle Sandilands' "When the Villagers Left" was a success, with over 120 in attendance! It was not without a lot of last minute calling, facebooking, tweeting, and texting though as earlier in the week we were concerned that we would not meet the goal we of 100 tickets.

I personally phoned, texted, emailed and mailed every person I could think of and invited them to the event. I felt like mission control, counting out loud every time we sold another ticket. 40 soon jumped to 50, then soared to 70. I checked the Eventbrite page more than I checked my email, Facebook and Instagram combined.

Everyone worked tirelessly on this event. Hedieh collected five amazing films to support Kyle's, Emily organized the venue rentals while Sabrina dealt with our suppliers and coordinated the liquor licence, and Maggie took on posting signs everywhere and anywhere building  awareness for the event. Working as a team was incredible which bodes well in terms of the successes we will be able to reach when we travel to Vietnam.

This entire event never would have happened without our fearless leaders. Stephanie Wells and Chris Carnovale took charge of this event and guided us through every step. The success of this event directly reflects their leadership and efforts.

When the event day finally came around everything had come together We cheered when we sold over 100 tickets, (which was our goal) and Chris promptly said "lets make it 120". Alumni of the project came through and supported us with over 15 previous team members in attendance.

We were especially honoured to have Dr. Geoffrey Bird in attendance as he was one of the original founders of this project. Dr. Chris Bottrill, Dean of the Faculty of Global and Community Studies, as well as the project's Director was our MC for the night. In addition, 12 Dao community members who not call Surrey their home, came to the event in their traditional clothes.

All in all the event was a remarkable experience. It is one that I will never forget and I will be forever grateful to our friends, family, colleagues and supporters for showing up in hoards and backing the CBT Vietnam Project.

23 Days until departure. Not that we are counting or anything. 

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CBT Vietnam's roots. The story of the 'CIDA Project', Phase 1 and the volunteers that helped make it happen.

Projects like the ones Capilano University have been taking part in in Vietnam include the efforts of many people, lots of effort and a little bit of good luck.   In 1999, Dr. Geoffrey Bird visited Vietnam to assess the need for community based tourism training.  Living in Malaysia at the time, he was piloting training in CBT in Sarawak, working with the Canadian International Development Agency and an industry operator, Borneo Adventure.  A chance meeting with a representative of the Dutch aid agency SNV, Ms Annalisa Koeman, led Geoff to visit Vietnam in 1999 to explore potential opportunities for training. By 2002, he returned, along with Maggie O’Sullivan, Dean of North Island College, to begin planning with Hanoi Open University (HOU) for a five-year project.  Ms. Judy Storr, a Canadian based in Hanoi, played an important role in liaising with local officials and HOU, namely Dr Ngyuyen Thanh, Ms. Ncoc Anh and Mr. Dan.

The project was proposed to the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), with the goal of alleviating poverty in villages through the development of sustainable tourism services.  The actual purpose of the project was to develop training and to build the capacity of HOU to deliver it over the long term. Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the ACCC a five-year program focused on skills based training was created. To ensure sustainability a train-the-trainer model would be adopted and implemented in the programming. 

With funding attained, a team of five faculty and five students from Capilano University and North Island College visited Vietnam and, along with eight faculty and students from HOU, toured the Sapa region. The mission was to find two communities to pilot CBT training.While taking part in village-to-village trekking the team saw an opportunity for economic development through sustainable tourism.   The teams choose to work in two ethnic minority villages: Taphin and Tavan. The villages were selected for a number of reasons:  difference in experience with tourism, and different hilltribes:  one was Red Dao (pronounced zhao), the other Giay (pronounced zai).  By the end of the five years 3 new homestays would be set up in the Red Dao village of Taphin, and nearly 15 new homestays would be licensed in the village of Tavan. In total over 200 locals would be trained.


To stay up to date with the current project visit the CBT Vietnam Project website and / or "Like" the CBT Vietnam Project facebook page. 

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Meet Jordan Kallman. Past CBT Vietnam Volunteer

Meet Jordan Kallman! He is a past CapU Volunteer with the CBT Vietnam Project when it was funded by CIDA; a 'Next Gen' tourism professional; Capilano University Alumni; a "creator, life-long explorer, and experiential entrepreneur";  and, all around great guy to be around. We (barely) caught up to Jordan and had the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Here's what he had to say:

Can you tell us a little about what you did on the CIDA funded project with Capilano?

I was involved in year 2 (2004) of the project at a time where training in the villages was just beginning. I took part in the first train-the-trainer experiences, first village training experiences in areas such as English communication, food safety, cultural protection, waste and collection and product development.

As with any new venture, relationships were just beginning to form as well. From the many different levels of government, local and regional NGOs, with Hanoi Open University and in the villages themselves – it was all new.

Very exciting times.

How did - what you did on the projects - inspire you?

The project was inspiring for many reasons. It was the first time I had ever worked on an international development project, first time I had found myself in a rural, very economically disadvantaged part of the developing world and first time I had ever officially taught on a topic with learners staring me in the face. All three were incredibly intoxicating.

To this day I still wear an anklet sewn and gifted to me by a young girl in Ta Phin. I am shocked it has survived eight years around my leg, but I look at it everyday as a reminder of how lucky I am to be who I am, living in one of the most advantageous, democratic places on the globe. And everyday, I take that inspiration and put it to use creating value.

If only that young villager knew the power of the gift she gave me.

Can you tell us about the last time you may have included the CapU CIDA project in conversation with a colleague?

I talk about this project all the time. Most recently I have been involved with the Vancouver Chapter of Acumen Fund. We meet once a month, gathering in the time-honoured tradition of a “discussion salon” to talk and debate over great food the many facets, both positive and negative, of international development.

What would you say to other students that would consider going on these projects?

"Run. Jump. Throw yourself off a mountain 

if it means you get to take part in a project like this. 

It will change your life. Guaranteed!"

As a past volunteer, turned tourism professional what would you say to potential funders who are thinking about funding such a project (i.e. involving students to volunteer as changemakers) -- or if you rather, Cap U who might be thinking about enhancing its international development programs?

International development projects are not without their perils. There are incredible pitfalls, most of which I will avoid in detail here. But generally speaking, as long as the project shares value along the stakeholder spectrum, deeply involves local communities and decision-makers as leaders, spawns community-directed independence, is genuine and accountable, the project is likely worth a deeper look in regards to funding.

Utilizing student talent in a project, engaging young passion and championing emerging changemakers – now that is amazing stuff. If a student can finish their education with a greater awareness of what it will take to create positive change from their future actions, that institution has done its job. In a world where education takes on many forms, the traditional university needs to take a more active role in developing innovation, creativity and social progress – core drivers of a changemaker.

As a person working in tourism / development where does tourism fit into making the world a better place?

I don’t necessarily classify myself as a tourism professional, more an experiential entrepreneur constantly in search of opportunities to create shared value. But having worked in the industry and extensively travelled, I

do have a deep love for tourism.

At its simplest, tourism brings people together. And it is the interactive aspect that has always excited me so much. But from a big picture I suppose it is the hope, from greater cultural interactions comes greater understanding, empathy and togetherness. Unfortunately, I don’t think this  is always the case.

The tourism industry has a lot of work to do in innovating shared value amongst the communities, social structures, environments and cultures it operates within. And it needs to be done without the consumer sacrificing much of what they have come to expect, but rather continuously adding value to the proposition. 

What the industry needs is brilliant social entrepreneurs who are willing to turn the industry on its head.

Most profound learning experience you gained from the communities?

Be ready to ditch your well thought through, meticulously organized, “bullet-proof” plan for something that works in the moment.

What's next for Jordan Kallman?

I live in the next! I have two very cool entrepreneurial ventures on the go that I am incredibly excited about. I live for that adventure right now.

Last words?

“Columbus wasn't looking for America, my man, but that seemed to work out perfectly, didn't it?” – Vince Vaughn, Old School

To get in touch with Jordan you can follow him on twitter @JordanKallman.

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