I Learn, I Grow.

PeopleStories achieved its new milestone on 19 April 2022 by organising the I-Grow Holiday Learning Program for its 150 scholarship children.  I-Grow is designed to empower the rural community, including children, teachers and their families with greater life skills to make sustainable change.

I-Grow is a newly established interactive learning program and this time we are focusing on Problem Solving skills. In a constantly changing environment and with the dramatic impact from the pandemic, life skills are an essential part of being able to meet the challenges of everyday life.

Our Founder & CEO Victoria shared, "We're chuffed to host our first ever I-Grow on April 19 with 150 of our scholarship children! Even more excited to train 12 teachers to become facilitators whom will be supporting I-Grow!"

The success of I-Grow comes from a teaching community aboard as well as in Cambodia.  As one of the designers, a virtual volunteer to PeopleStories and works as an educational programme developer at McGill University (Canada), Maria Orjuela shared, “Volunteering with PeopleStories for the children in rural Cambodia is definitely something new for me”.
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Maria shared her feeling throughout the program development journey, “It has been an absolute pleasure. Victoria empowers me to get my imagination and creativity growing without losing perspective on what is realistic and what is not.”

When talking about the challenges, Maria said that not being familiar with the context nor the language is a challenge. “It is difficult to plan without too much knowledge of the context and I constantly questioned if the activities were at the level of the learners, but Victoria and Pheak Heng (also a virtual volunteer of PeopleStories) were fantastic in helping answer all the questions.”

It takes the teaching community to make I-Grow a reality.  After attending the Facilitation Training, newly trained facilitator Tip shared, “I really enjoyed the Facilitation Training. I believe it can help me to enhance the quality of learning with our students very much."

Teaching is not always equal to Learning.  PeopleStories sincerely wishes I-Grow can uplift learning experiences and achieve greater outcomes.  With much excitement, Maria further shared, “First and foremost I hope they have a wonderful day. That at the end of the day they feel energized and happy to have attended. I also hope not only they learn about problem solving, but also that they value the importance of constantly learning - learning not only happens at school - I hope we can create more spaces for them to grow as learners!”

Maria, who dedicated her life to education said: “I have been working in supporting professors at the university level in enhancing their teaching. I have also been working with students in creating spaces for them to learn how to become lifelong learners. I hope we get to run many more iterations of I-Grow and provide PeopleStories children the skills needed in their near future.”

With full endorsement, Director Reangsey from the Ministry shared at his closing remarks, "I am delighted to see the active participation to all the learning activities from our students and teachers. Thank you PeopleStories for bringing the power of education to Bakong, especially the important life skill like problem solving."

Would you want to help us expand I-Grow with the deserving children in rural Cambodia?  Join us as a virtual volunteer now: https://bit.ly/Join_PS

Story written by:  Volunteer Pei Khoek