Astig in his own terms

At first glance, he looks like a typical Chinese Filipino, a mestizo next door who could be in the next TV commercial.  But the moment he starts to talk about helping the Filipino poor in his Australian accent, people are taken aback with Khoa Bui, an Australian entrepreneur who was born in Vietnam but has got the heart of a Filipino.

   Building Homes.  Khoa Bui ( in white shirt) at the construction site of the 

Citizens of the World, a housing project by Teleperformance that he 

helped to put up.

In his inspirational talks and workshops, his last word “Astig” would always be heard with that accent familiar to Filipinos who want to succeed.  But this inspirational speaker seemed to be more Filipino when it comes to his heart, which goes to the poor children and calamity victims who he’s been helping for two years now.

Khoa came to the Philippines two years ago as a corporate trainer and public speaker in the areas of leadership, communication, ecommerce and entrepreneurship.

It was in his stay in the Philippines for the first time that Khoa witnessed many tragedies the biggest was the Ondoy floods. 

The major that submerged so many parts of Metro Manila and killed more people shocked him, and something inside him was hurting.  He was already feeling the pangs of pity when he saw the street children.  The children suffering in hospitals and many orphanages without proper care bothered him to the core.

“Every morning while I’m on my way to a speaking engagement, I see so many homeless people living underneath the highways, many kids going through rubbish bins looking for food and many other people in unfortunate circumstances. Seeing this really makes you feel so  grateful for the life you have” Khoa said.

It was after the Ondoy floods that he decided to be a like a real Filipino and help the needy.

Khoa’s life in Australia, he said  is not used to seeing sights like this in his country.

“Australia does have it’s problems just like every other country in the world but not at this scale. This is really so difficult, so bad.” Khoa said.

Seeing the  what happened during the Ondoy floods in Rizal, Khoa immediately joined various charity organizations in his effort to help make a small difference to the Philippines.

His first initial effort was a volunteer in an orphanage where he donated thousands of pesos to help educate and assist the orphans. He managed to help fund an entire year of schooling for one of the children who was incredibly grateful for his donation.

It was during this time, he realized he could make a tiny difference to the Philippines so he began to try bigger charity projects.

A few weeks later, he joined a charity group called “Citizen Of The World” which is part of the Teleperformance initiative where he helped rebuild the community for the victims of Ondoy in Rizal. 

Khoa with Warren, a heart patient at the National Children's Hospital. 

Visits like this and reading stories to sick  children make a difference 

in the lives of the patients here.

Khoa and his partner immediately saw this as an opportunity to help so he bought a house and donated it to charity. The house currently houses a family of 5.

Another charity was the visitation of the National Children’s Hospital in Quezon City. 

Khoa was one of the volunteers during that event and was part of a group who helped entertain the children.He was assigned to a little girl named Sandra and was playing with her through out the day by reading books and making paper planes.

“Seeing these young children lying there in hospital, with no education, connected to machines all day with a chance of dying really tore my heart apart. I decided to try and do something” Khoa said.

Inspired and motivated by Sandra’s positive outlook and will to live,  and what he saw during histime in the National Children’s Hospital, Khoa vowed to return with help. 

Within a few weeks, he began his next project which was the creation of his first children’s book.

The real story is that a big chunk Khoa's earnings is used to help poor 

Filipino children and Khoa even have time  to see them and have 

storytelling sessions with the kids he's helping.

He quickly created the story in 10 minutes and began to hire a cartoonist. Within a few months, he published over 1,000 copies of his children’s book and began donating it all to hospitals, orphanages and children who need help. 

The message of the book?  Never Lose Hope.

His most recent charity project was the assistance to  flood victims in the August 2012 Typhoon. 

“I was stuck at home and couldn’t make it to the Red Cross due to the flooding so I decided to help from my computer instead” Khoa said.

He posted a message on Facebook that he is donating canned foods, bottled water and clothing to anyone who are  on their way to assist any stranded people. He would be willing to give them a supply of goods and act as a pick up point for supplies.

Within minutes, he immediately received several volunteers from his friends who were on their way to assist the flooded victims. He also helped locate missing people through his network of friends and people who were appearing on the radio.

 “It’s amazing what you can do if you set your mind to it. You don’t have to have money to help, you can help using your time, your skills, your knowledge and even your Facebook,” Khoa said.

Khoa continues to formulate plans to help the Philippines before he heads back to Australia. His future projects include constructing bridges to assist people in their travels in the provinces. 

He also hopes to setup an orphanage sometime in future and a library to help educate orphanages and children who don’t have access to education.

 “Just do what you can to help, you’ll be making a huge difference to the lives of others and you’ll also feel a lot happier in the process too. I’m also grateful that the Philippines was the first country to raise it’s hand to help the Vietnamese refugees during the war. I’m incredibly grateful for that, it’s time to repay my thanks. Oh, and it’s more fun in the Philippines as well! Astig!” Khoa added.

Astig is Khoa’s Filipino word, a word that he used to describe the Filipino’s resilient and strong attitude despite all the natural calamities that put their lives in danger every rainy season. But now, everytime Khoa says the “Astig” word, his friends, and even the people around him look at him with admiration and, say,”Khoa, you are the ASTIG one!”

Kho currently speaks at seminars, workshops and events and is still learninghow to speak Tagalog, which he is also getting better every day.A best selling author, International Speaker, Entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of Secrets Entrepreneur,  a site dedicated to helping people create wealth online and offline, Khoa has been featured on Entrepreneur Magazine, various TV networks and radio stations for his work and charity efforts.