10 Years of Journeys Within

To celebrate 10 years of Journeys Within Tour Company, Andrea Ross talks about an incredible journey. A journey that not only changed her life but has changed the lives of thousands of members of our community.  

The truth is that our 10 year anniversary was last year…but we were busy and I just couldn’t quite get around to celebrating it, I think it was because deep down I wanted to wait and really complete 10 years! It wasn’t okay to say we’d gotten to the 10th year, in typical Journeys Within fashion we had to go above and beyond and excel in that 10th year too!! To highlight just that, in the last week I’ve received emails from guests describing their recent trips as “epic”, “once-in-a-lifetime” and “life-changing”. Our tenth year was truly the icing on our anniversary cake!

When Brandon and I started Journeys Within Tour Company 10/11 years ago in Cambodia neither of us realized where it would go and the lives it would change. When I talk about exceptional experiences I’m not just talking about our guests…I’m talking about the Journeys Within team as well. I feel so lucky to have a team that truly loves what they do and I think we are able to really appreciate how exceptional Southeast Asia is. Because we truly value it we’re able to create these experiences for guests that just go above the norm and create unforgettable trips. On a personal level, the last 10 years has been an exceptional experience for me!

When I realized that I shouldn’t just let our anniversary fade into the Angkor Wat sunset I looked online to see what people did for their 10-year-anniversary. Turns out, people have parties…they throw big events and they have a very good time. I thought about doing this, as I do like a good party, but my team is spread across 6 countries and getting them all together seemed unlikely. I will be taking the kids to Southeast Asia in February and in each country I’ll celebrate with my Journeys Within Family, but I needed something bigger, something that defined Journeys Within. I didn’t have to look far.

Shortly after founding Journeys Within Tour Company we founded Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), a non-profit that has a mission of empowering local communities through health and education and inspiring change. When we founded JWOC we again had no idea of the impact it would have. Today JWOC has given access to clean water to thousands of villagers, we’ve provided education for hundreds of students at our school in Siem Reap, we’ve given out microloans to those living below the poverty line and we’ve sent over 200 students to university. And when I say JWOC has done this, I mean WE have done this — it turns out that the most exceptional experiences are not necessarily helicopter rides and private pampering (though those are great too!), but actually the experiences you take home with you are the ones where you make a difference in someone else’s life. When our guests saw the needs in the countries they were visiting they wanted to make a difference and they have! Our donors are the travelers — people that not only want to see and understand these countries, but also make a positive impact on the people living here. The idea of Active Philanthropy through travel has made measurable impacts in the communities that we work in. Our teams both at Journeys Within Tour Company and at JWOC have made these contributions count, every penny of them! In return our guests have not only seen the highlights of Southeast Asia, but they’ve made a difference in the lives of the local people that inspire us to travel. The experience has gone beyond Angkor Wat and Wat Phou and the Grand Palace, and into the villages and communities.

This to me is what the last 10 years has been about. Making travel bigger than just going somewhere new. So to celebrate 10 years of exceptional experiences Journeys Within is donating $10,000 dollars to JWOC. This donation will go towards the projects we founded and believe in and will help JWOC continue to change lives. This donation adds onto the thousands of dollars given throughout the course of the year by our guests who visit our schools and see our projects, as well as the donations that come in from our amazing travelers after they come home and want to continue making a difference!

I am so proud that what we founded 10 years ago has become something so powerful. I am so thankful to have a team that strives to give our guests the best experience possible every single day and I’m so excited to see what will happen in the next 10 years. On the phone today, I was speaking with a guest about his trip and he couldn’t say enough nice things, finally he said, “for a small company with so much heart, you really have the service to back it up.” And that, well that was all I needed.

Why I'm Racing 4 Change

Chhorvy is the inspiration behind the JWOC bike ride, she is a Communications student at JWOC and is working hard planning and organizing the bike ride for the scholarship students. She is also the student who put forward the idea for scholarship students to enter Race4Change to raise funds and awareness for JWOC.


Hi, My name is Chhorvy Seng, I am a 4th year scholarship student volunteering in Communications at Journeys Within Our Community, studying Accounting in my final year at Build Bright University. I come from Svay Prei village in Siem Reap and I just started a new job working for Malaysia Airlines. I love volunteering with JWOC , I have made so many great friends and I love having the opportunity to be able to help my country. I have learned and grown so much during my time at JWOC


 

Why did you want to take part in this bike ride?

It is good exercise!!! but also it is an opportunity for me to represent JWOC and help them to tell people about all the good things we do. JWOC has given me so much help and support over the past 4 years, I wanted to do something to say thank you for this. Riding with the other scholarship students and staff for JWOC will be such a fun opportunity, I hope by doing Race4Change, friends of JWOC around the world will want to support and help us. If I can't donate to JWOC myself, I want to try and inspire others to donate themselves.

Have you ever cycled 30km before, do you think you can do it?

I have never! but I will try my best, it will be such a wonderful experience and it is around the Angkor temples which makes it more special. I am so excited to be part of this.

How will Race4Change help JWOC?

Each of our 4 programs are trying to raise money for parts of their project which are really important. We are trying to raise money for 140 water filters, to continue our art and science classes for one year, fund 15 microloans and provide one whole village with 60 Home gardens. It is a dream of ours to be able to achieve this but if we did, my community would be proud of my hard work.

 

If you would like to support Chhorvy and her fellow scholarship students please donate here.

The Difference a Scholarship Makes...

Vantha has managed our Scholarship Program at JWOC for over four years. Here he talks about the importance of education  in Cambodia and the opportunities that a scholarship can provide...

3 JWOC Graduates at our Annual JWOC Graduation Party.

 

Why is education important? One of many answers is that education can be the key to a better life; it can help open the doors of opportunity and give people a chance to find 

what they need.  Education helps people achieve their goals. However, all people have different lives, and some have fewer chances than others. So if they want to continue their education they have to find jobs or scholarships to support them. All students think they will have a much easier time finding a job if they are better educated. They really do not want to live in the same family situation forever. I really think that the students thoughts are right. That is why JWOC scholarship program has played a significant role in providing education for students. We can say the gift of knowledge cannot be stolen and it can enable student to reach their dreams.

Vantha and students during a team building activity.

I have been working on JWOC’s Scholarship Program for years and I can see from one year to the next many students have changed their path to a more positive one.  I am so excited when I see how students are able to change their lives for the better with help from our scholarships.  

Sokphak, JWOC Computer Teacher and Scholarship Student.

One of our current scholarship students who is going to graduate from us soon, is our full-time computer teacher and computer lab supervisor, Sophak. His life has improved in many ways, especially in his knowledge and work experience.  Before he got a scholarship from JWOC he had to live with his older cousin and received a little amount of money from his family to support of his daily expenses. After he got scholarship, he could afford to rent a room himself and was able to  support his younger brother. Sokphak volunteers in the free classes program, studies at university and works full time.   JWOC promoted him to be a full-time staff as computer teacher after all his hard work and dedication.  He does very good job at JWOC. The impact of his hard work is that he gets good grades from his academic studies and also he is able to successfully teach students in JWOCs’ free class program to learn the basic computer course (Ms Office word, Excel and PowerPoint and Internet and Emai). His dream career is to be  an  IT teacher at university. He also wishes to run a small IT shop in his hometown. With all his hard work, one day his dream will come true.

Sokphak, teaching a computer class at JWOC

This year we are going to provide 17 scholarships to students, especially for those who cannot afford to go to university or continue their studies due to change in circumstances.

On behalf of all JWOCs’ students I really want to say many thanks to our supporters for continuing to support the program, and give many chances to our generation and the next. With your support we can give students the best opportunity and help Cambodia become a strong and educated society.


 Interested in supporting a student through university?  Click here.