In July, JWOC hosted four Oxford University students from TravelAid who volunteered their time and hard work to help with our projects. For two weeks, the volunteers conducted household surveys of rural villagers, gathered and compiled data on rural health conditions, scouted new water well locations, and interviewed Dollar for Scholar candidates. They also donated two water wells on behalf of Travel Aid!

• Stories and adventures from the volunteers can be found at: http://jwoc.blogspot.com
  
• TravelAid Website: http://www.travelaidonline.org.uk

Thank you Anna, Andrea, Michael, and Rhodri!

New Dollars for Scholars Selected

JWOC is proud to announce the selection of 7 new students who will receive scholarships for one year at universities in Cambodia. All the students are very excited to receive support for their studies, and also to give back their community.

Working with the students and the donors, we will be encouraging international pen-pals through e-mail - a great opportunity for the students to learn about other cultures, and a great way to learn about Cambodian culture!

New Pilot Project: Micro-Lending for Small Businesses

We have started an extremely promising pilot project which gives small loans to Cambodians who want to start or expand small businesses. With the help of the Travel Aid Volunteers, we found villagers paying 80 - 150 % on their current debut. It is the very fact these villagers are poor that perpetuates this cycle of poverty. Some have wonderful ideas to start a new business but are unable to develop their ideas because they do not have access to reasonable interest rates. So we began a pilot project to help.

Based on the Grameen banking system, JWOC started the Village Microfinance Fund. The projected started with ten people, eight of whom are women, who borrowed no more than $100 to implement their business idea. Many of the business ideas were wonderful. One woman needed enough money to purchase a new sewing machine to increase her output, and another needed some extra money to purchase additional goods to sell outside her home.

The interesting part of scheme is that there is no collateral associated with the loan, so it is perfect for those in poverty. The incentive for re-payment is that each borrower will be entitled to borrow more money in the future if they re-pay in full. To make the process easier, each week a JWOC loan officer (a Dollars for Scholars student) visits the village to collect the money.

The response has been overwhelming. The villagers, in fact, call us and tell us to come to collect the money because they have the money ready! We can't believe how eager people are to have access to fair interest rate loans, and we think there is a great potential for this to be a wonderful project.

Education through Computers: Phase II

JWOC is currently seeking funding to expand its existing computer project. The idea is to create am IT Computer Learning Center where students from all over the town of Siem Reap enroll in free computer classes and use the technology to enhance their second language skills.

The benefits for this project are tremendous, as computers open a whole new world to students who are eager to learn. By equipping the computers with educational software, students will be able to practice Thai, English, Korean, and Japanese with microphones and headphones. They will also have the opportunity to participate in classes, and practice their skills in an open lab section. The ability to use a computer is a great way for students to gain skills necessary to get well paying jobs. In developing the project, we hope to increase the educational opportunities available to the Cambodians by giving needed technology to students.