A young Vietnamese man who first started his YouTube video blogging career as a food reviewer has ended up using the video-sharing platform as a channel to call for donations to financially support underprivileged people.

Pham Van Chau, 24, is the founder of ‘Chau Dai Duong,' a YouTube channel producing videos about needy families that he got a chance to visit, through which he calls for financial support from philanthropists in Vietnam and those living overseas.

Chau first pursued this career as a YouTuber reviewing all kinds of Vietnamese food.

As he was filming a new video, Chau accidentally met a woman named Ba, who made a living by selling boiled crabs in a small alley in Ho Chi Minh City.

After learning of the woman’s hardship, especially her numerous debts, Chau decided to give viewers an insight into her life on his YouTube channel to call for support.

The act did help improve her financial condition as well as boosting her sales, as people not only donated money but also visited her boiled crab stall.

“I started to think about helping people through my video products,” he recalled the decision to change his channel’s focus.

He began making videos about unlucky lives across Vietnam to raise funds to help them.

One of the most-viewed videos on his channel features Thuan, a lottery ticket seller with disabilities in Ho Chi Minh City, which has garnered more than two million views.

Thuan, who was born with no arms and legs, still manages to make a living and raise her own child, which makes a strong impression on Chau.

“She was born disabled but her determination is stronger than anyone I’ve ever known,” Chau spoke admiringly of the woman with an extraordinary desire for survival.

Another inspiring story is about 80-year-old Pham Cuu in the central province of Quang Ngai, whose congenitally disabled son always thought of himself as a family burden and many times longed for death.

The video about Cuu’s family immediately went viral and touched the hearts of so many philanthropists that Chau had to travel to their house six times to hand over all the donated money from people on the Internet to the father and son.

Chau’s work received praise and encouragement from even viewers living overseas, which was the biggest motivation to help him keep moving forward.

“I’m quite touched that some people recognized me when they came across me on the street despite my rare appearance in my YouTube videos,” Chau said.

But the YouTuber has many times faced negative comments doubting the real motive of what he did, which got his mood down for a long time.

“At first I was really sad, but I decided to ignore them and focus on what I was doing,” he shared his thoughts about the negative opinions.

‘Chau Dai Duong’ has gained about 150,000 subscribers with 400 products and Chau is planning to further develop his channel to help others, while moonlighting as a freelance reporter for an online news website.

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