SOS Children's Villages Vietnam and SOS Children's Villages in countries around the world have hosted memorial ceremonies to honor Helmut Kutin, founder of SOS Children's Villages Vietnam and former president of SOS Children's Villages International.

SOS Children's Villages Vietnam, which supports local children and their families, announced on April 29 that Kutin, an Italian, passed away on April 23 at the age of 83 in Thailand.

He spent decades serving as a wonderful father to the children living in SOS Children's Villages Vietnam.

He was also the former president of SOS Children's Villages International, the world's largest non-governmental organization dedicated to assisting children without parental care and vulnerable families.

Kutin's cremains will be repatriated to Austria and a funeral service will be held on June 8.

The ‘father’ of SOS Children's Villages Vietnam

From April 26 to 28, the national office of SOS Children's Villages Vietnam, SOS children's villages in local communities, and the Hermann Gmeiner High School System in Vietnam held memorial services in honor of Kutin.

Following Vietnam's reunification in 1975, Kutin began raising funds to open the Dien Bien Phu SOS Children's Village in Muong Thanh, located in northern Dien Bien Province.

According to Do Tien Dung, country director of SOS Children's Villages Vietnam, Vietnam had long held a special place in Kutin’s heart thanks to his admiration for late President Ho Chi Minh.

The Italian man began his career in 1968 at the age of 26 when he began caring for approximately 500 Vietnamese children.

From 1985 to 2012, he served as president of SOS Children’s Villages International, during which time he worked to build connections and persuade member organizations, enterprises, and individuals from countries around the world to support Vietnamese children in need.

"Every time he visited Vietnam, he would decide to support a new initiative. [SOS Children’s Villages] projects in Ca Mau Province and Dien Bien Phu City were built using funds raised by Kutin on his birthday," explained Dung.

Thanks to the US$171 million it has received in donations over the past 30 years, SOS Children's Villages Vietnam is able to help 25,000 children annually. 

Vietnam is home to the third-most SOS Children's Villages in the world, trailing only India and Brazil.

His life story was featured in the article on Kutin and the first SOS children's village in Vietnam, published on July 8, 2017, as part of the SOS Children's Villages Vietnam series.

When speaking about the Vietnamese children he had helped, Kutin was clear how much they meant to him.

"I am not the children's father, but they are my children, and I have now become their grandfather," he said.

A friend to Vietnam

In 1967, Kutin was a student and a teaching assistant at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where he found himself frequently engaged in protests against the war in Vietnam.

At the end of that year, Professor Hermann Gmeiner, founder of SOS Children's Villages International, offered Kutin the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and build an SOS Children's Village.

Kutin accepted the offer, traveled to France for three months to study Vietnamese, and then came to Vietnam.

Though the war was going on, the decision to go to Vietnam was a no-brainer for him. 

Kutin himself was an orphan who had been raised in one of Gmeiner’s SOS Children’s Villages.

The Italian wanted to give other orphans the same opportunities he had.

Eventually, he was named director of the SOS Children's Village in Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City, which included 41 SOS houses and was the world's largest SOS Children's Village at the time.

In 1971, Kutin was appointed as the representative of SOS Children's Villages Asia.

When the Go Vap village closed in 1976, Kutin was distraught and spent over a decade negotiating its reopening. 

In 1987, Vietnam allowed the SOS Children’s Village to resume operations.

"He has provided deep insights into Vietnam to international friends, which has spread enthusiasm for Vietnam and helped raise funds to support us,” Dung shared.

A lifetime of dedication

Kutin dedicated his entire life to assisting orphans and had a unique connection to Vietnam.

He will always be remembered and honored by all SOS Children's Villages Vietnam and SOS Children's Villages International.

Vietnamese authorities presented him with numerous decorations, commemorative medals, and badges in recognition of his significant contributions to the country.

Among them is the Third-Class Labor Medal, which the state president bestowed upon him in 2015.

He also received several other honors and commemorative medals, including ‘For the Young Generation,’ ‘For the Career of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs,’ and ‘For Peace and Friendship among Nations.’

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