Former regional press journalist Steve Jackson is quitting his PR firm and home in Newcastle to become a fundraiser in Vietnam.

Steve, (33), who began his career at the Gateshead Post before becoming a Homemaker writer with The Journal, has been selected to work for the Volunteer Services Overseas organisation.

He will spend two years raising money in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to help train street children to find accommodation and jobs in the hospitality industry.

Steve said he fell in love with the country after he spent eight months backpacking through south east Asia and central America.

He said: “I decided to take some time out after working for 12 years and travelled. I had a fantastic time and I didn’t really settle when I got back so I started looking for another adventure.”

Steve will have to develop his own fundraising strategies to raise the $40 that it costs to train one child for a month.

He said: “I don’t know yet if I’ll be shaking a bucket on the street or looking to multinational companies for sponsorship.

“One idea is to keep multinationals involved by showing them how their money makes a difference – perhaps through web logs and diaries from the children.

“It’s something I’ve always been interested in. It’s quite shocking how we profit in this country from other people’s demise and it’s made me all the more resolved to do something about it.

“We will be trying to create sustainable development – giving something while we’re there and training them to do jobs when we’re gone.”

Steve has sold his house and said he will close his PR firm, which he may start up again when he returns to the UK.

He will be learning to speak Vietnamese and said he was particularly inspired by the street children he met on his first trip to the country who despite no schooling, were fluent in English.

He said: “I have to learn the language which is quite frightening as it’s a tonal language where it seems as if one word can mean six different things depending on what tone of voice you use!

“English is relatively widely spoken there. The street kids I met were fluent from having hung around tourists.

“The kids seem different over there – they never cry or whinge and there is a different idea of family. A family business is genuinely run by the family and you’ll often be served by an eight-year-old child.”

• Volunteer Services Overseas is an international development charity which aims to eliminate poverty and create a fairer world by bringing people together to share skills, creativity and learning.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail [email protected]