We were fortunate enough to be awarded a chance to participate in one of approximately 10 United Nations Volunteers missions that Kraft Foods Global Inc. sponsored world wide. Our mission was to travel to Hoa Sua School in Hanoi and teach them how to make meat products, cheeses, and catering applications. These products would be useful for Hoa Sua School in their catering business, their schools restaurants in Hanoi, and potentially as items for sale in their bakery.

Hoa Sua School is a Vietnamese non-profit organization whose main objective is to contribute to the fight against poverty in Vietnam by training and placing disadvantaged and disabled youth into the working sector. Students attend free of charge. The school focuses on hospitality, restaurant management, catering, embroidery and tailoring as these are considered empowering skills that will provide the disadvantaged and hearing-impaired with good opportunities in a developing country such as Vietnam.

Cory, Steve, Hoa Sua catering teachers and students (C. Painter/Kraft)

We worked extensively with Do Thanh Xuan - the catering teacher at Hoa Sua School. The three of us got along very well from the beginning and developed a great friendship over our two week stay. Several of the schools other instructors actively participated throughout the two weeks to learn as much as they could as well.

The students in Xuan’s class were approximately 18-19 years old. They were very attentive, but shy at first. However, as the first week progressed the students began to really interact with us. As we worked, the students would ask us to help them with their English. Two months prior to our trip, we had worked hard to try and learn as much Vietnamese as we could. So as we helped the students with their English, they would help us with our Vietnamese. It was a huge ice breaker and really was quite comical on both sides. The American mouth just isn’t made for some of the Vietnamese sounds, nor is the Vietnamese mouth made for some of the English sounds. So this was fuel for many, many laughs over the two weeks.

Cory instructs the students how to stuff the hams in the casings. (C. Painter/Kraft)

We began each week with a presentation covering key details for the items we were going to cover for the week. We also emphasized sanitation and food safety. The first week we focused on making meat items. We demonstrated how to make sausage items which included beef summer sausage, beef hot dogs, bratwurst and others.

We also demonstrated how to make two different style hams including Capicolla (spicy Italian style) and honey ham, and the specific techniques required for each ham. Everyone got involved in the mixing and stuffing of the hams. It was quite fun and rewarding watching the student’s faces as they put into practice the methods they were learning and produce a finished product that everyone loved. The teachers were very excited about the new product as they enable them to deliver high quality ham product. And it was exciting to watch as the team blended what we were teaching them into items they currently made.

Xuan, Steve, Cory and Hanh enjoying the food and the conversation (C. Painter/Kraft)

We spent a couple nights over the two weeks with Xuan and his fiancée Hanh learning more about each others cultures and just having a good time laughing and enjoying some wonderful food. Steve and I both agree that our time spend with Xuan and

Cory and Steve relaxing in Halong Bay (C. Painter/Kraft)

Hanh was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Some day we can only hope we can host them in the United States.

We took a trip over to Halong Bay over the weekend between our two work weeks. We had experienced the wonderful cultural sights, sounds, smells and flavors of what Hanoi had to offer. However, we were very excited to get out, and see the beauty of Vietnam we had heard so much about. We stayed over night in Halong bay on a Chinese style junk boat. The beauty of this bay is hard to put into words. But this is one place we will be talking about for a very long time.

The second week at Hoa Sua School we focused on producing cheese items. We demonstrated different methods to produce ricotta cheese and cottage cheese. We also taught the teachers and students how to make both full fat and reduced fat cream cheese, which made wonderful bases for many spreads. For instance, a very tasty combination was incorporating some blackberry jam, made by Hoa Sua, into the cream cheese. The biggest excitement for us was the availability of such wonderfully fresh fruit. The fresh mango ricotta spread was one we wish we could replicate in the States, but unfortunately the mangos we get are a far cry from Vietnam mangos.

The final Friday of the two weeks was left as a presentation day at the school. It was a show case for all the hard work the team had done over the prior two weeks. We highlighted all the various meat items, cheeses, sauces, catering applications that had been developed over the two weeks. There was a good buzz at the school as everyone was excited about the new items.

Steve and Xuan draining the curds from the whey during the cream cheese process. (C. Painter/Kraft)	The school staff and Director begin the evaluation of all the products. (C. Painter/Kraft)

We departed Hanoi that Friday night for a few more days enjoying all that Vietnam had to offer. We headed to Hue and Hoi An for some wonderful rest and relaxation at the beach and Vietnam’s cultural shops.

The degree this mission trip impacted our lives is hard to fully put into words. It is deeply fulfilling to have the ability to travel around the world, and share our skills with an organization as wonderful as Hoa Sua School. The impact on us and the Hoa Sua School is far more than just the sharing of skills and techniques. Our memories of Hoa Sua and Vietnam will be highlighted by the sharing of cultures and friendship, which was just as rewarding and life changing.

Where do we sign up for the next Kraft Foods Global Inc./United Nations Volunteers mission!