Hope Through Education and Mentorship
03August

Hope Through Education and Mentorship

Posted on , in Section Teens & Tweens

George and Johnny Huynh have beat the odds and come out on top of an incredibly difficult situation. Their parents had come from Vietnam and their father was a military vet who had fought along the United States in the Vietnam war. They migrated to the United States in 1992, only to face tremendous difficulties. Their mother doesn’t really speak english. Their father killed himself several years ago. But thanks to a focus on education and some guidance, they were able to overcome all of this.

Billy Baker, a feature writer for the Boston Globe, tells how he watched these two grow. Their family lived on a meager $1300 dollars a month. But they wanted to break the chains of poverty and live a normal, stable, life. Both boys attend Boston Latin School, a prestigious entrance exam school (and the oldest school in the nation), and both boys are at the top of their class. Their education was one of the few things they could control, and it was their ticket out of poverty.

The boys mother, Nhung Bui, tells the story of her existence. Her mother died in a bus accident in Vietnam when she was only 8 years old, so her father decided to move them out into the countryside. She met her husband, David, while working at a coffee shop. But she didn’t care for him. She thought he was “weird,” but Nhung’s step mother insisted that they marry because his military service opened the door to immigration to the United States where money was much easier to come by. She knows that her boys blame her for much of what has happened to them, but they don’t know the details of her private life. Communication between them is sparse, as they don’t speak much vietnamese and she doesn’t speak any english. She has mental health disorders, and spends much of her time locked in her room.

Outside Help

Emmett Folgert, the Founder and a mentor at Dorchester Youth Collaborative (DYC, a safe haven for teens to spend time after school), has helped these young boys along the way. Folgert met Johnny several years ago when Johnny was hanging out at the DYC playing cards. Folgert asked Johnny how he was doing, and Johnny had a breakdown, sharing about his fathers’ suicide and tough home situation.

Folgert has the reputation of a saint. He will regularly give kids a couple of dollars to go to Mcdonalds and get some food. Johnny, however, would pocket those dollars to buy things that the family needed. Folgert has stepped in and guided these, among many, youth to a better future. 

After an incredible journey, Johnny has made it to college and attends the Universty of Massachussets. George has recently been accepted into Yale, a reality beyond his wildest dreams.