I have asked a few of the JWOC Scholarship Students to be “guest authors” for my blog and to tell you a bit about themselves, their lives, their aspirations and their experiences with JWOC.  I’m truly pleased to introduce the first of those, Vanthen, who I have been sponsoring for the last couple of years.  I have so enjoyed finally getting to meet and talk with him in person that I wanted to share that — but I realized that rather than me trying to tell you his story, he could do a much better job!

My name is Kim Vanthen and I am a 2^nd year student at USEA University major IT (Information Technology).  In the future I don’t want to work for somebody else; I want to work for my own. I want to be a web developer, designer and programmer.  I like playing sports especially volleyball, not professional but only for fun and healthy. I love watching movies like education movies that can blow up my mind with critical thinking, and listening to music which can improve my English. Nowadays I work and study at university this is the only way that can improve my English.

Nowadays I involved the CLA (Community Liaison and Assistance) program with JWOC. There are many projects we do in CLA. We do:

o   Home garden: we trying to change the way that people who live far away from town live. We teach them grow their plants different ways with new technique and chemical free. We teach them make dry compost and liquid compost and new technique to some sort of plant.

o   Liaison: We research and try our best to find some free classes, job opportunities and short courses and we do the advertising to the villager, poverty children and jobless people. Assist them to reach out new destiny.

o   Emergency Assistance: Any kind of emergency by the natural we try our best to take care of villagers.  We focus on health care, using clean water and offer what JWOC can. In 2012 in Siem Reap, Cambodia had a big flood which never happened before, we tried to announce the emergency news, offer some medicine for the skin problem and some pill to clean up their drinking water and we also rebuilt road which cut by water for emergency use. We went to each villager’s house to give some advice.

o   Food for Work (Road rebuilding): At the country side some road are damaged and there’s no solution for them. I mean the government doesn’t see this but we do see and we do the rebuild by gather the villagers to discuss and give back some benefit (rice) with the local market rate.

I have a friend his name is Vong Chann. He’s also a scholarship student at JWOC. He met some problem in his family. His father was away the family economic went down. This is because in Cambodia father is the one who support the whole family and mother the one who take care the whole family. This culture was followed since the Khmer Rouge, so now his parents are apart the whole family 2 little brothers and 2 sisters need support and that time he finished high school, so without JWOC he won’t be able to study in university, and now he became an outstanding student in the class. I’m so proud of him.

I was born here Siem Reap, Cambodia. My situation not so different from Vong Chann. I finished high school in 2010 and had no opportunity to support myself with the college thing and 2 years later I know JWOC helps me a lot and not just me my whole family and also affect my community. Every time I leave home for work or for school my neighbor look at me in the eyes that so proud at me.

I have 1 brother and 1 sister. I brother got married 2 years ago and he has 1 child, and my sister is studying in high school grade 10.  She has 2 years more to finish and in that 2 years I believe that I will be able to support her.

I don’t have much thing to add, just want to say Big Thanks to JWOC, not just me who JWOC help many poverty students in this province had been support by JWOC, so JWOC is a Big part of developing Cambodia. JWOC built good human resource more than 200 already. I will never forget JWOC and in the future, one day I will come back to JWOC and use my knowledge, experiences to help JWOC back.