Having been in partnership with JWOC (Journeys Within Our Community) since 2008, the Collette Foundation is enthusiastic about future projects with the Cambodian site as previous collaborative efforts have proven to be rewarding from every angle. In the year 2012, the Collette Foundation was able to fund JWOC in essential projects such as the completion of a community center for the village, the implementation of library activities, installation of wells to provide a clean water system for the entire village and the start of new children’s classes rooted in creativity and education.

With the completion of the community center came not only a safe and secure building to meet, but the building was designed to include both classrooms and bathrooms for the village. Both the library and community center are home to education regarding learning resources targeted to those less than 8 years old and hygiene education, in which additionally provided hygienic kits for children. Most importantly, funding from the Collette Foundation enabled JWOC to install a clean water system. The infant mortality rate in Cambodia is 43 per 1,000, significantly higher than the United States. Through the installation of wells, the village will be able to exercise a higher level of hygiene and continue to improve their sanitation through the use of clean water.

The funding provided in 2012 by the Collette Foundation will continue to help in the year of 2013 by supporting the installation of four more wells in a rural village and the continuation of the under 8’s classes. We hope to continue our partnership with JWOC and further our support of future projects regarding its education and health.

We received an update from our project in Cambodia – Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC) – letting us know about the ongoing success of the Under 8′s Classroom project that the Collette Foundation supports and funds. The program is doing great, introducing the young children to new, engaging ways to learn. Check out the email:

Dear Siobhan,

The provisions provided by the Collette Foundation have enabled JWOC’s Under 8’s Classes to progress and develop a great deal since implementation. JWOC has been running the Under 8’s Classes for over six months now; two Kindergarten classes for children aged three to six years old (in English and Khmer) and two Let’s Go Classes for ages six to eight years old. The classes have developed significantly and are running smoothly. Collette’s funding has enabled JWOC to run classes of high quality education free of charge with some great resources; making learning interactive, fun and engaging for our students. Our young learners have not seen many of the resources and materials used in the classes before. Their extremely poor backgrounds and Cambodia’s poor state school funding prevents them from using the basic tools we often associate with school and education.

Our classes go beyond just paper and pen to promote an interactive learning environment with items that help students to develop skills, not just in language development, but motor skills, creative skills, experimentation and critical thinking.

Guest Blogger: Meghan Kelly (Collette Foundation Team Member)

The Foundation’s recent donation to Cambodia’s Antangkum village is supporting work that will substantially improve water sources throughout the community. As this village is smaller than most others, the people of Antangkum have requested to share the Foundation’s donation with a neighboring village to help improve its water sources as well. Wells are being built so the community can have safe, sanitary water for everyday use.

Having traveled to this village myself (among others that do not have clean water sources), the impact fresh water has on community members, specifically children, is overwhelming. When speaking to some natives via a translator, they said the water before the wells were placed was no good; I recall them calling it dirty. They did not like to drink it, and would only if they had to, leaving many people dehydrated and suffering from heat exhaustion.

It’s great to hear from this community now that they have easy access to clean water! The report was so promising. They have energy and love being able to put a cup to the faucet, drink the water and know that it is safe. Many of the children emphasized how much they loved the fresh taste and that they were never thirsty anymore. Antangkum seems to be thriving. For me, having visited this project site, that makes me so happy and eager to see other communities around the world that benefit from the foundation’s good works.

I received word from our friends from Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), our Cambodia project, in regards to our donations in late 2011 in response to the flooding there.

Dear Siobhan,

In 2011 The Collette Foundation kindly donated to our Emergency Appeal to help us carry out relief and recovery work in response to the regional floods. I’m writing today to direct you to our latest project update where you can see how you helped make a difference.

The road repairs were completely finished in February 2012, and it has been used for many different activities by villagers. On March 30th, 2012, Community Liaison and Assistance Team spent a full day to conduct observation and interviewing with some different people using the road. In total we observed 354 people using the road, mostly using bicycle or motorbike, showing it is well used.

The most common uses of the road were children going to school, going to the market (to buy and sell) and going into Siem Reap town to work as a laborer. All of these activities are important for people’s economic situation. Other than these common uses we also found people travelling to the  health clinic, visiting family and going to work in another area. Everyone interviewed agreed that with the road rebuilt recently it helped and supported their travelling to their destinations quicker and felt safer on the smooth road.

I just got a letter from my friend, Phillipa from Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC) – our Cambodia project — and it honestly made my day. This is a GREAT way to start the week!

Dear Siobhan,

I have just got back from Cambodia  and want to drop you a line as I think of the difference the Collette Foundation has made every time I walk across to the JWOC grounds!  It is so special to walk over and to pass the classrooms full of students, to see the sewing classes hard at work and to hear the little ones chanting their ABC’s in the library; and now the 6 to 8 year old classes are getting going. So much of this was made possible due to you and the Collette Foundation’s generosity — thank you so much.

… As always we are all working together to ensure we maximize the benefit the donations we get brings to the people and I will enjoy staying in touch with you to ensure the Collette Foundation remains part of the excitement and the action!

Best wishes,

Philippa

At the close of 2011, Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC, our project in Cambodia), set some high level project goals for the Free Classes Project and now just a few months into 2012, they are well on their way to achieving them. The Collette Foundation has gotten involved with this wonderful project and we’re so excited at the progress made already! The goals:

• To improve the quality of classes through increasing the ability of teachers and availability of resources.
• To increase the number of children under 8 benefiting from free English classes at JWOC.
• To ensure that at least 85% of students finishing one course are capable of moving to the next level of English.

The Collette Foundation is funding JWOC’s Under 8′s Program, which launched in February. The program is designed for 3 – 8 years olds.  This is a child-centered program where classes and learning involve art, stories, singing, games, and puzzles as well as other language and writing based activities.  They have opened 4 new classes for this program, raising the number of children able to study at JWOC in this age group from 18 to 76.  There’s a lot of interest, as well, in JWOC’s Let’s Go classes which are for children aged 6-8 years old — another program the Collette Foundation hopes to assist in getting off the ground! We cannot wait to see how this program evolves throughout 2012.

-Siobhan

 

After last year’s flood, our friends at Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC) have gone through a lot — and based on this letter I just received, it seems they’ve only come out stronger — and continue to inspire through their actions. Check it out:

Dear Siobhan,

It’s “Dry Season” at JWOC and we’re excited to share all the goings on here and the amazing work continuing in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. This week I accompanied a group of donors out to Brasat Char village, our latest Clean Water Village. As always the trip was eye opening.

As we headed towards the village along incredibly bumpy roads I explained that the town we just passed was where the only high school in the area resided. A while later into our bumpy journey we reached a piece of road that I explained had been washed out in the flooding but JWOC and the villagers had rebuilt it. It occurred to me that because of JWOC and our partnership with these villages this road was now back up and running and the kids who bike it daily to get to and from school once again have a safe way to travel.

A natural disaster anywhere is tragic, but in the developing world it is a truly harsh event as those already fighting to improve their lives have one more thing to overcome. Once we got to the village and I chatted with the family members using their new well I felt incredibly grateful that we can be a part of these communities and help them not just get clean water, but also help them when the world and the natural elements seem to be against them.

We couldn’t have done this without you so thank you for your ongoing support and may we see JWOC continue to change lives and empower us all!

With best wishes,
Andrea and the JWOC team

The Collette Foundation wishes everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. We received this letter yesterday from our partner in Cambodia, JWOC and it really captured the meaning of this holiday so we wanted to share:

“I still remember my first Thanksgiving in Asia, before we had moved to Cambodia or started JWOC. At the time we were traveling in Borneo and I sent an email back home to my friends and family to wish them a happy Thanksgiving and I just went back through my emails and found it! Here is an excerpt:

“We just had noodles at a local stall restaurant for dinner, it didn’t feel much like Thanksgiving and I definitely missed turkey and home! We walked back to our hotel and there were so many people on the street, begging, or working or just struggling to get through and I realized that this is the perfect place to be for Thanksgiving because it reminds us how truly thankful we should be…to have been born in the West, to have an education, to be healthy and to be able to travel and enjoy the luxury of seeing another culture, not everyone has these things! I don’t know where our travels will take us, but I hope I never forget how thankful I am and I hope somehow we do our part to make someone else thankful as well!”

This was written ten years ago and a couple of years later we moved to Cambodia. It makes my heart full to know that JWOC still exists and is really spreading the values of Thanksgiving — we support families so they can sit and have a meal together and have health, hope and something to be thankful for.

Ten years ago when we were young and naïve, we wanted to make a difference and because of your support we’ve been able to. We can never thank you enough for making JWOC possible and giving so many people a chance to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving from Andrea, Brandon and everyone at Journeys Within Our Community!”

Nicola, my contact from JWOC, recently wrote me after our efforts to help their relief outreach following the floods in Cambodia. She gave me an update on how our efforts have impacted the organization since we began working with them a few years ago.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I felt especially humbled at what I read:

“In an average week, nearly 300 children at Journeys within Our Community benefit from the Collette Foundation’s efforts to date. We’ve come a long way in the past few years. Passengers on Collette programs have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the children — reading to them, playing with them, and hearing about their lives.

Between December 2008 and July 2009 the Collette Foundation funded the construction of the community centre. This building now hosts 9 different classes each week as well as being used for microfinance and scholarship student training sessions. Seven of the nine classes are for children between 6 and 18 years old, and there’s 25 students in each class. Since the building was finished we have been through 3 class cycles.

In other words, 525 children have benefitted directly from the lessons held in the building Collette Foundation funded. And these cycles will keep going — helping hundreds of children learn useful skills each year. This building is also used for activities during summer camp and movie nights, where up to 50 children come to join fun and creative activities during the school break.

In 2010 and 2011, the Collette Foundation funded JWOC’s community library — both its construction and materials and activities, including much-needed hygiene training. The library has approximately 100 children using it each week and it is also home to the kindergarten which has 25 children. The children attending kindergarten will change over the years as they grow up and move to one of the other children’s classes.

In total, The Collette Foundation’s donations have so far had a direct impact on 700 children, but the most important impact is that the donations have put in place facilities that will continue to help children year after year.”

I was so happy to receive this message, because this project means the world to me. And right now, after all the suffering in Cambodia from the floods, this is just the kind of uplifting message that keeps me going… it’s the kind of message that keeps everyone going.

If you watched the news or heard the tales, you know that Cambodia had massive floods that began in August and carried on through September, claiming at least 250 lives, attacking 17 provinces, and covering roughly 400,000 hectares of rice fields. Lives were turned upside down, people were forced to evacuate their homes, and people near and far have been trying to figure out how to help. We are no different.

Being in travel and offering tours to Cambodia, we undoubtedly have friends over there. Offering moral support to our friends and colleagues, we have lent financial support to our awesome project in Cambodia – Journeys within Our Community. The Collette Foundation is excited to have recently sent $5,000 to assist JWOC in their disaster relief outreach in the local community.

We are very committed to our partners and friends; they are very real to us. They are people with faces and names and this is our latest contribution in our efforts to improve their lives, particularly to help the children have the safety and clean environment they deserve.