With concrete construction experiences in Belgium, Jan Peeters, a Dutch businessman, has given free schools to children in Vietnam for more than six years.

Peeters has so far built an orphanage in Pleiku, Gia Lai Province, and three schools, including a kindergarten for about 150 children in Pleiku, an elementary school in Bao Lam, Lam Dong Province, and a kindergarten in A Luoi, Thua Thien-Hue Province.

The two latter schools have been built in cooperation with FrieslandCampina Vietnam. He talked with the Saigon Times Daily.

How did you start your charitable activities in Vietnam?

My charity work started in Vietnam in 2009. I still have a house and a company in Belgium, but now I spend most of my time in Vietnam. I started living here and bought an apartment in 2009. Actually, at first, I came to Vietnam to look for business opportunities in the real estate sector. I didn’t come here to do charity work. Before settling down and doing charity work in the country, I went to about 100 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I visited Vietnam for the first time in 2007 for holiday.

Whenever I take a vacation, I always have a budget for charity. I often spend 15% of my holiday expenses on donation. So, it means that when I have US$10,000 for a vacation, I’ll give away US$1,500, often in poor countries. However, I don’t see any clear results from my donations. Now, I want to see something real. My background is concrete and construction, so I want to build something and see the results. It’s great to see your money spent effectively. I always meet people benefiting from my projects and those who want to run the project.

I don’t run any projects. What I do is to finance and follow construction. Therefore, in Pleiku City, I worked with nuns to build two schools. Another school was built in Bao Lam together with the  local government and FrieslandCampina Vietnam. The government set aside land for the project and we built a public school.

Everybody takes part in my projects voluntarily and no one gets paid from the charity work. I have worked with FrieslandCampina Vietnam in recent projects and they also work for free. They visit construction sites once or twice a month. FrieslandCampina Vietnam also helps us with the legal issues and contract signing.

Do you mean that you don’t work alone?

- Yes, I can’t work alone. I need good Vietnamese partners to realize the projects. It’s very difficult to apply for a license. I also have to spend more on the projects because I can’t expect everybody to work for free. So, in my opinion, it’s better to join hands with a Vietnamese partner who has experience in this field.

My job is to find out these partners. I spent a lot of time on finding nuns in Pleiku to take care of kids and provide them with good education. They also have a licence to run the kindergarten. So experience means so much to my projects.

And why do I choose FrieslandCampina Vietnam?

-  Because the company has built many schools in the Den dom dom (Firefly lanterns), a program to help children follow education. I also know some people in this company. So, I tried to cooperate with this firm for a school project in Bao Lam and A Luoi and everything went smoothly.

How do you find places where local children need your free schools?

- I get information through FrieslandCampina Vietnam which can collect information from a network of its local distributors. Then, before building schools, I visit the place to be sure that they really need the construction.

For example, we have visited a poor community of about 80 families living at the foot of a mountain range in Ha Nam Province and the children there really need a new school. We have decided to build a school there next year. We have pledged to contribute US$70,000 to build a kindergarten for children in the community. Also, this project will be implemented in cooperation with FrieslandCampina Vietnam.

As far as I know, all sponsorships for these projects came from individuals, not organizations. Could you share any information?

- All the donations come from my acquaintances, my family and friends. I financed the first school with my own money. In Europe, there’re many people who like to help poor people but they don’t want to give to big organizations. They want to see how their money will be spent. I visit the construction sites regularly, inspect everything and report the progress to sponsors through e-mails. It makes sure that the donors can see the results.