Ms. Cecile Le Pham (second from right) presents reflective jackets to members of the syndication

The fate with the Ancient Capital

Ms. Cecile has two bloods in her, from her French father and her Vietnamese mother. In 1979, when she went to France with her husband, she found that her father’s hometown was in Paris, and she learned that her father had died three years earlier.

Recalling her childhood, Ms. Cecile said that she had gone to a French boarding school in Da Lat. In the school, everyone communicated in French, and lived in French culture. Ms. Cecile's childhood was only "enclosed" during the time she was in the school and her summer vacation at her mother’s hometown in Can Tho. Sometimes, she thought that she was a French as she was so different from her peers in the hometown. “When I arrived in France, I realized that I was a Vietnamese. That thought kept motivating me to think towards my homeland," Ms. Cecile shared.

From her young age, her mother often told her about the time when she had given birth to her in Hue, which was a strange feeling for her. Although she has a typical southern accent, she always feels that she has something very close to the Ancient Capital. In 1999, when serious typhoons and floods hit the Central region, as she visited garment factories in Ho Chi Minh City, she met many workers from the Central region crying sadly because their relatives had passed away in the disaster. Without much thought, she mobilized 1,000 gifts to be delivered to the Central region so as to help the disaster-hit people; however, she had to "miss the promise" with Hue because the traffic was divided.

Ms. Cecile Le Pham (second from right) and leader of Hue City present supporting gifts to members of the Cyclo and Motor-taxi driver Syndication

In 2005, Ms. Cecile officially "reunited" with Hue when Dacotex Group bought 55 percent of the shares of Hue Garment for Export Joint Stock Company (Hudatex), as this company was equitized. In 2009, Dacotex held all of Hudatex's shares, and expanded its second production plant in Huong So Industrial Park.

According to Ms. Cecile, she wants to do something to help young people in rural Central region have the opportunity to work in their homeland, avoiding making a living in other places. The income here may not be as high as it is in developed cities, but workers can gather with their family at dinner after work.

Sharing benefits

“Every enterprise must have the consciousness and responsibility to contribute to the land where they are making their fortunes as a way to repay it. Irrespective of the amount of money, it can be VND ten billion, VND one billion, or only VND one million; the important thing is the sense of self-awareness of each enterprise in joining hands to bring social benefits to people in less fortunate circumstances,” Ms. Cecile emphasized during the conversation with us.

In that spirit, General Director of Dacotex Group, and Director of Hudatex Company, Ms. Cecile Le Pham decides to accompany Hue City’s Labor Federation to provide physical support to members of Cyclo and Motor-taxi driver Syndication in the province such as: uniform T-shirt, reflective jackets, accident insurance, repairing and repainting the cyclos, etc. For Ms. Cecile, cyclos and motor-taxis are very close and beautiful images associated with Hue Ancient Capital.

Visitors going to Hue often travel by cyclo at least once. The members of Cyclo and Motor-taxi driver Syndication are the ones who are closer to visitors than anyone else. Ms. Cecile hopes that every time the cyclo and motor-taxi drivers wear the syndication’s uniform, they need to be aware of their role as "on-site tour guides" to promote tourism for Hue; and, the most important thing to impress the visitors is their greetings.

As Ms. Cecile had visited many cities around the world, one thing that she has paid most attention to is the friendly greetings of the locals, who provide the services. Hue is not an exception, by printing the greetings in popular languages ​​on the T-shirts, she hopes that when meeting foreign visitors, cyclo and motor-taxi drivers can response them with warmly and friendly greetings, so as to be truly worthy of the culturally rich city like Hue.

Ms. Cecile was really touched when she heard a sincere sharing of a syndication’s member: “We now love Hue more than ever; we are proud to be Hue citizens knowing many foreign greetings so that we can be able to make a small contribution to build the image of a tourism city”.

According to Ms. Cecile, there is no shortage of big enterprises in Hue willing to help the community, but they sometimes do not think of the smallest things. Via the above-mentioned action, she hopes to create a premise for other enterprises to join in, gradually improving the image of a tourism city, attracting visitors, and being worthy of the depth of culture and history here.

Being one of the founders of the Association for the Support of Orphans and Destitute Children in Vietnam (ASSORV) in France, Ms. Cecile Le Pham has traveled all over the country to help poor children and children in difficult circumstances by establishing Hoa Mai Orphanage Center in Can Tho, Hau Giang, and Da Nang, etc., as well as other charitable institutions to help children with difficult circumstances and diseases. In addition, she has many times brought volunteer groups including foreign doctors and physicians to Hue, and Quang Nam, etc., to give medical examination for children in remote areas.

Story and photos: Minh Nguyen