Working at TLC: The Student Experience

Working at TLC: The Student Experience

 By Marissa Alexiou and Emily McGregor

From Tuesday 11th December, a group of 10 students from the University of Newcastle began a placement at This Life Cambodia as part of a legal externship.

In four groups we each undertook a research project, exploring child protection, drug sentencing, diversion of young offenders and domestic violence in Australia and Cambodia.

We found the experience working with This Life Cambodia expanded our knowledge and skills significantly. Our usual classroom setting does not provide us with the educational opportunities we had at This Life Cambodia.

Visits to non-government organisations and institutions, conversations with locals and lectures at the Royal University of Law and Economics and other cultural experiences we had in Cambodia helped us develop a platform to base our research on. Many of us were also able to see the impact of the social and legal framework that impacts the issues we are studying through our visits to the court here in Siem Reap.

We hope our research will assist This Life Cambodia in their current and future programs and are grateful for their time and knowledge they shared with us.