Bouakham talks about the difference his JWOC scholarship made

When I was at year 4 and5, I was lucky to get the scholarship from JWOC in order to continuing my education. I was very lucky and happy at that time. I am now graduating in August and I am going to find a job as a teacher in Luangprabang first. If I could not get a job here, I will return my hometown and work there. This is one of the problems I am thinking and deciding in order to get a good job.


As parts of my volunteer works at JWOC throughout two years, I could learn many new things as well. I could learn a lot about working, teaching and learning styles. It’s worth and valuable for me. I gained lots of new experiences from JWOC. Yes, I was lucky to have such a great opportunity to learn and develop myself. My learning-teaching improve as well as thinking because of JWOC. I compared everything in the old days and now. Everything changed. 


Furthermore, my English also improved while I was volunteering at JWOC. I could meet and make new friends as well. JWOC supported me with great assistances especially the financial aids. From that time, JWOC is there for me throughout two years. Of course, JWOC is not only help me with financial aids, but also trained, taught me many new things that I never study before. I will never forget these things. Everything I got from JWOC is very useful and valuable for me. 


Yes, I love my volunteer work very much even I had a tough time or work to do, but I never give up until the present time.  I led the students to play games and we did arts and crafts differently each week. I also taught them Basic English as well. Of course, students like it very much. They are very motivated about learning. They are also curious to learn new things. I also went to the Big Brother Mouse organisation to study and develop myself . It’s good place to practice English face to face with English native speakers. 


This weekend we are celebrating all of the JWOC scholarship students’ successes. I could have a great time and enjoy my last time meeting with everyone at JWOC. I am also sad to leave JWOC as well. I wish to express my true feeling to JWOC, sponsor and Lao Managing Director as well.


 I would like to express my thanks, gratitude to JWOC that offered me a great opportunity, assistance and suggestions to me. I am very impressed about that.


I also would like to extend my sincere thanks, gratitude, and appreciation to my sponsors, Todd and Shiela for financial aids, suggestions, encouragement, support and sharing ideas and experiences in the email with me.I am deeply indebted to Nicole, the Lao Managing Director, who is supported, trained, taught me a lot of new things and great suggestions. I wish to express my thanks, gratitude to her that always encourage, motivate, and advise me throughout the time.


I think I would not be successful and graduate my education without your help mentioned above. I also hope I could not find these people anywhere else besides JWOC. I am very very happy!!! I am the one who is Lucky! I will never forget your generosity. 


If you would like to change a life and sponsor a student, please take a look here to find out more. 

A rewarding experience...

Students from West Point recently came to volunteer at JWOC. In their blog posts they explain about what they did and what they learned...


I have done a lot of community service project before in the past, especially in foreign countries. However, I have never traveled to Asia. All of my projects have been in Central and South America. I was a little nervous before this trip because I just didn’t know what to expect. However, I had a blast running our self defense class and helping out in conversational English classes.

 It was an interesting challenge to overcome the language barrier during these activities. This was especially true during the conversational English classes we helped out with. I often found myself relying on my body language or simplified English to help them learn. This challenge was not only beneficial for the student learning English but it was a lot of fun for me to think of different ways to express what I wanted to say.


I also had an especially fun time during our self defense classes. I can say with confidence that the participants all learned something from the class. Some may have learned more than others but if nothing else everyone including myself had a great time. In addition to interacting with the kids who participated in our self defense class, I also had an amazing time playing with the kids between classes.

Through all of my experiences I have always found it amazing how happy all the kids are despite the poverty they live in. I am truly envious of these children’s ability to live a happy life without the worldly possessions that we often take for granted. I always felt so welcome and everyone I encountered, staff and students, were always energetic and polite. All in all this was a truly rewarding experience.

The challenges and rewards of volunteering in Cambodia

Students from West Point recently came to volunteer at JWOC. In their blog posts they explain about what they did and what they learned...

Before this summer, when I thought of vacations what came to mind was usually drinks on the beach or camping in the wilderness. However, this summer I had to opportunity to visit Cambodia for 3 weeks with a few of my classmates from West Point. During our vacation, we did the typical “touristy” things such as visiting the ancient temples and trying out our bargaining skills in the market. But what set this vacation apart from others that I have taken is that our group had the opportunity to work with the non-profit organization, Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC). While at JWOC, we were able to participate in many of the different areas of the organization.

                The first thing we did when we arrived at JWOC was to take a walk into one of the local villages right behind JWOC to see some of the people that JWOC supports. Visiting this village really put into perspective JWOC’s motto of “See a problem, Solve a problem.” I had never been exposed to how the poor live in third world countries, and JWOC’s mission to support these villages to give them opportunities that they usually do not get definitely goes a long way.

                Most of the work that we were involved with while at JWOC were the free classes offered. We spent most of our time with the conversation English class. Here we got to help the students practice speaking English with native English speakers, something they are unable to do very often. This was a lot of fun because all of the students are so eager to improve their English so they can do well in the universities or career fields. I had a blast getting to know the students that we worked with in that class. Sometimes I felt bad for the teacher because the students just wanted to talk with the foreigners instead of listening to the lesson. We also joined a children’s English class a few times, which was a little harder for me but still just as much fun. The kids don’t really care who we are, they just want someone to play with and love anyone who does. 

We also joined an art class, which involved much younger children than we had worked with previously. Most of them spoke very little English so trying to communicate a craft was a challenge but I think I had about as much fun as the kids making spider webs with them.

                We also had the task of teaching Self Defense classes for anyone who was interested. We had all taken self defense classes at West Point and knew it pretty well, but trying to explain it in a way that the class would understand and could be easily translatable proved to be the real challenge. I was definitely nervous heading into our first class, but it turned out great. The class even demonstrated every move in order at the end of the class, which showed us that they understood it all. There was never a moment in any of the classes where there was not laughter or smiling. That was rewarding in itself to see them all having a great time. And I have loved walking into JWOC since then and having one of the students run up to me to practice their moves some more.  

                We joined the Clean Water Project on a Saturday to follow them to some schools and see the wells that have been installed or maintained by JWOC. Being an environmental science major, I loved this part of the trip. We went to three rural schools and checked on the wells as well as interviewed a teacher and student on how the well works and hygiene. The best part about the Clean Water Project is that it is run by the students that JWOC has given university scholarships to, as a way to pay back to JWOC and the community.

                Overall, my experience working with Journeys Within Our Community has been amazing. It is hard to forget the children’s laughter as we play monkey in the middle, a child that won’t let go of my hand during arts and crafts, or the smiles that greet us every time we walk into a conversation English class. I have had an awesome time on my trip to Cambodia and I know it will stay with me when I go back to the United States.  

-Susan Kiernan

Justin looks back at his JWOC activities

Students from West Point recently came to volunteer at JWOC. In their blog posts they explain about what they did and what they learned...

From the moment I was told I would have the opportunity to go to Cambodia I was excited. The prospects of a new culture, new people, different food, and a different language had me thrilled. However it wasn’t until I got to Cambodia and started working with Journeys Within Our Community ( JWOC) that I realized just how rewarding this adventure would be.

            It was awesome participating in the normal tourist activities, but what I really looked forward to each day was my time working with the children and young adults in the Journeys Within Our Community. The conversational English classes were so much fun. I learned as much from the students in the class as they learned from me. I learned about the customs and traditions of the Cambodian people and at the same time was able to share my own customs and traditions with them. The students were capable of asking a seemingly endless amount of questions, and helping them with their English while answering their questions was more fun then you could imagine. We also painted a very colorful mural in order to teach the children the English alphabet. Painting the mural was fun in and of itself, but the crowd of children that surrounded us and were already putting the mural to use was awesome.

Though the classes were fun, the greatest reward came from teaching the self defense classes at a local high school and at JWOC. Though we prepared in advance, it was interesting speaking to the students through a translator and using more body language than spoken language to teach the lesson. Before the classes started I never could have imagined how excited the kids would be. They seemed genuinely excited, and tried to learn everything we could teach them and more. On top of this, it was amazing to see the looks of accomplishment on their faces. Most of the children had never learned anything about self defense, and the confidence that the classes gave them was the highlight of the trip.

The importance of murals and self defense....

Students from West Point recently came to volunteer at JWOC. In their blog posts they explain about what they did and what they learned...

I had a great time while at JWOC. It was an amazing experience to be able to come around the world and help kids that are less privileged than me. While we were here we got to interact with the kids and really make an impact on their lives whether it was when we were sitting in on an English class and helping students learn the language or when we were teaching self defense courses. Either way I always felt that what I was doing was important and seeing the kids faces after talking to me in English class, even if they could understand me or not, was worth a whole lifetimes worth of happiness.  I felt best during the self defense classes that we taught at the school. Seeing the kids start the beginning of the class with no self defense experience at all and through the whole class seeing the kids progress is an amazing feeling. I know that I have truly made a difference on some kids in the community whether this class helped the kids in the class or a kid that was impacted on a second hand basis I know that I have made an impact and may have saved a child’s life. 

                The kids in this area are amazing. They are always willing and ready to learn about anything you will talk to them about.  They are shy to begin with, but they warm up to you fast and now it is easy to go up to any kid at the school and start a conversation.  It is a great feeling to have the kids run up to you in the morning when you get to school and start playing with you and calling for you by name.  This is an experience I will never forget.  We left a lasting impression on the school by painting a mural on the wall of the school of the alphabet.  It was a fun project that we got to be creative with and it will definitely be useful in the future. However the best part is that the kids really got involved and loved watching us make the mural.  The kids would always come up and play with the paint and play with us as well as ask about the painting.  Like I said the experience was amazing because of the kids and the teachers around the school.  I could not have asked for a better team of people to work with and I will never forget the things I learned or the encounters I have had while I have been at JWOC.