Emergency Relief
Small scale disasters, both natural and man-made, occur with unfortunate frequency within developing countries. It is usually the poorest people who are affected and who have the least ability to help themselves. All too often their situation is ignored and the most marginalized of the people are left to fend for themselves. JWOC’s Emergency Relief Programme seeks to help at a local level in communities that are often forgotten. To read about the times when JWOC has used its Emergency Relief Project please click on one of the links below.
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30 November - 4 December 2009 - A life changing experience
On the last day of November 2009, Sokhorn (JWOC School Project Assistant Manager and Intern) and Steve Srey (JWOC Volunteer) took 4 children with cleft lips and palates to Phnom Penh to see Operation Smile. Upon his return to Siem Reap, Sokhorn and Steve wrote about how it went...
Every year, Children in Cambodia are born with cleft lips and palates, but because of the limited access to health care and the lack of skilled surgeons, the children are seldom afforded the opportunity to receive medical care. In addition to potential self esteem issues, a cleft palate can significantly affect a person’s ability to speak and eat. Recognizing how much corrective surgery can improve a child’s life, Journeys Within Our Community sought to partner with Operation Smile in order to provide medical treatment for four Siem Reap Children. The goal was to safely transport the children from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh where each child could receive a medical evaluation and the Operation Smile Doctors could assess whether each child could receive surgery.
“Operation JWOC Smile” was able to take four children to Phnom Penh - Yung (11), Sokcheata (9 months), Many (12), and Longdy (17). Of the two boys Yung lives in a local Pagoda and Longdy works with his mother in Angkor Wat, selling food. Of the girls, Sokcheata was found abandoned in the forest and was adopted by her ‘mother’ Run Reurn and Many lives in a village near to JWOC’s community center.
After the initial blood tests and screening three of the children were able to proceed to surgery but unfortunately Sokcheata was not big enough to sustain the anesthesia and so will wait for the next Operation Smile mission in March 2010. Surgery for the others was scheduled for 2nd December.
Because the families seldom have the opportunity to visit Phnom Penh and because they did not have to have surgery until 2nd December, JWOC took the families to see some of Cambodia’s cultural sites. The families were taken to the National Museum, the Royal Palace, and Toul Slang, and all the families were happy for the opportunity to see these sights. Upon completion of the sightseeing, the kids were taken to eat ice cream. Nearly all of them never had ice cream so they were thrilled!
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The surgeries for Yung, Many and Longdy were a great success and we are thrilled to report that they are now back in Siem Reap recovering and looking forward to a new beginning in their lives thanks to the doctors, staff and supporters of Operation Smile. JWOC was also honoured to receive a certificate of appreciation during the closing ceremony for is efforts and its partnership with Operation Smile.
Journeys Within Our Community continually seeks ways to help the plight of the local people, and especially children. Seeing the children with the cleft lips and palates, JWOC sought to provide them access to medical treatment through our partnership with Operation Smile. In the end, three of our children received medical treatment, while the fourth child will receive treatment in March. The families were extremely appreciative and they expressed gratitude for helping their children. This experience working with Operation Smile and the great success we were able to achieve to change the lives of these children will provide JWOC with a wonderful foundation on which we can build by helping more children follow in the footsteps of Yung, Many and Longdy in the future.
Village Fire 2007 | Village Fire 2008 | Cyclone Nargis | Typhoon Ketsana 2009
