The NGO World Hope International (WHI) hired us to create an afterschool program for children ages 8 – 12, focusing on the world around them. WHI is supporting seven schools in areas where Bunong people live. The Bunong are a minority – living in the border area of Cambodia and Vietnam -; they have their own culture and beliefs, but they are more and more integrating in Khmer society.

Originally the Bunong lived with and from the forest, but with new rules, the loss of land, deforestation, and the attractions of modern society, life is changing rapidly for them.
Our Jahoo Club afterschool program aims to teach about nature and the environment, to inspire young children to see and appreciate what they have around them and remind them of the rich Bunong culture.

We have written 80 lessons (in English and Khmer) and provided all the associated materials. It is a two- year program that concludes with setting up an exhibition to inform the rest of the school and the village as well.

It was a pretty intense job but we managed to come up with a wide variety of activities to make sure everyone enjoys it (it is an afterschool program so it should be interesting and fun), learns from it and gets inspired. The students will do experiments, and will observe. They meet some very interesting people with jobs like elephant caretaker and gibbon researcher. They receive information, and acquire new skills (like drawing maps and using a compass), they design and play a lot of entertaining and interesting games, and there’s a lot of crafting involved, often with recycled or natural materials.

We have provided some training, but the lessons contain extra tips and tricks to help the teachers with all of these new things. And, of course, they can ask for our assistance whenever they need to.