Chim Veth is 24, and is from the rural province of Takeo, where his family grows rice in the rainy season, and has no work in the dry season because his parents are too old and his father too sick to do anything else.  His mother died of a disease when he was six months old, and his father remarried.  However, his stepmother did not consider him or his mother’s other children as her own, and therefore Veth had a bad relationship with her.  His father was very strict, and all of the children were afraid of him for good reason.  Veth never understood what happiness was as a child and grew up without any hope and with limited horizons.  As a child, he went to school and worked for his family.  He did many jobs on the farm, such as carrying water and looking after the cows.  To find grass for the cows, he would have to walk very far from home, cut the grass, and bring it back.  This task especially frightened the young boy.  To help his parents pay for his schooling, he would get up between 4AM and 5AM to gather palm tree fruits and sell them.  During high school, his father got sick, and everything became more difficult.  He had to support his parents, take care of his siblings, and run the farm.  During those years, he would tell himself to be strong, and would hope to escape from the fields someday. 

            Upon graduating high school, he took the exam to be a high school teacher; but because he did not have the money to pay and did not know the right people, this goal was impossible.  He did not know what to do.  He initially worked in a factory far from home, but after a year traded that job for a construction job closer to home, so that he could work in addition to helping his family and the farm.  In the evenings, he would study English.  After two years of evening study, he could understand enough English to study in an organization called Neighbor of Cambodia, (NOC).  NOC paid for room and board while he studied for a year.  After that, he worked as a volunteer teacher for six months.  The most important thing Veth learned there was how to build his confidence and develop his goals and ambitions.  Then, in 2005 he came to Siem Reap, Cambodia’s boom town, and worked as an English teacher in a relative’s private school.  He saved enough money to start at Build Bright University, (BBU), and after his first semester there applied for received a JWOC scholarship.  He is currently finishing is first year of university.  He is majoring in English Literature. 

            At JWOC, Veth helps with the education project, teaching English at Wat Thmei, a JWOC sponsored English language school that is free and open to the public.  He likes to teach because he has a background in teaching, and therefore he can most effectively help others by teaching English.  He wants to share all of his knowledge with others.  He also helps find new well locations for the Clean Water Project.  He hopes to help the community by developing a new project for JWOC and by teaching young people English so that they can get good jobs.  Veth feels that Cambodia’s biggest problem is corruption.  For example, to become a tour guide you have to pay around $1000 to someone in the Ministry of Tourism, so if you do not have that money, you can never be a tour guide.  In fact, most of the time a person has to be related to someone in the business to get a job there.  If he could change one thing about Cambodia, he would ensure that all kids get an education so that they become good citizens.  In the future, Veth would like to be a professional lecturer, and eventually get a masters degree and start a family.  He would also like to open his own private school. 

            Veth’s idea to improve JOWC is to teach more subjects than just English at the JOWC schools and to make it a more structured program, where students must enroll and attend all classes.  Then, at the end of each course, the student should receive a certificate saying which course they have completed.