Aide à l’Enfance de Vietnam (AEVN), or “help for the children of Vietnam,” is an organization that was started in 1970 during the Vietnam War. Originally established to help children suffering the effects of the War, its primary goal is to provide support for disadvantaged youth in Vietnam today. It is involved in providing young people under 25 years old with the shelters, schools, social centres and professional training they need to get ahead.

The “Boulangerie Française” in Hué—a city in central Vietnam—is an example of one of AEV’s initiatives: French volunteers pass on the secrets of bread- and pastry-making trade to young Vietnamese people.

Marianne Favre, Assistant Director of the organization, and Céline Jansen, who spent time volunteering for AEVN in Vietnam, tell us how a bakery in the heart of the country can be a source of growth—and of hope.