Foster Children Program in Takeo

Written by: WFWP Cambodia

On July 30, 2023, members of WFWP visited WFWP’s foster children in Takeo, Cambodia. Some WFWP chapters in Japan and in the United States have been supporting students as foster parents for many years through WFWP Japan’s foster parent educational program, so that they can continue their studies.

At every visit, volunteers arrange educational activities in order to provide new experiences to these students and to expand their ways of thinking. WFWP volunteers have decided to conduct career education programs during each visit throughout the year, for several years.

In this program, students first envision their ideal future, and then specifically think about what kind of goals they should set and what kind of challenges they should overcome in order to achieve that ideal. WFWP has asked them to set goals in the past, so this time the students had time to reflect on how their goals have been achieved or not achieved. In doing so they were able to reassess their goals and plans. That is how WFWP aims to encourage them to grow every few months, and every year.

It seems that the poorer the area, the less likely children are to think deeply about their future careers. In the first place, there are many cases where it’s difficult to go on to higher education without financial resources. At the same time, many of them may not know in detail what kind of jobs exist in society or how many jobs there are in the world. In the future, WFWP plans to include "meaning to work" in the discussion and promote dialogue among the students, but this time WFWP focused on letting them spend time on self-analysis. Questions that were asked included: what are your strengths, what are your dreams, what can you do for your classmates etc.

WFWP hopes that they will make good use of their individuality, uniqueness and special skills to become members of society with a rich and deep perspective to offer.