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.
