Whydev Interview With Weh Yeoh

WhyDev interview : Why did you create OIC?

Oct 31, 2014Who is OIC Cambodia, and what do you do?OIC is a project that aims to bring speech therapy services to the 600,000 Cambodians with communication and swallowing problems. Despite this huge need, there are no Cambodian speech therapists. OIC stands for that moment when you suddenly understand something you didn’t before. “Oh, I see!”Why did you create OIC?I never wanted to go to Cambodia and create another organisation for the sake of it. OIC is a project bringing together existing organisations that are doing great work. For me, it’s very much about Cambodians helping other Cambodians, so that one day, as a foreigner, I can walk away.What motivates you to do your work?For over a year, I worked side-by-side with a Cambodian health worker named Phearom, who told me that about 70% of the children she worked with had a problem with communication. Yet, she was unable to use speech therapy to help them. There are 600,000 people like the children she works with, who struggle to communicate with their family, friends or community every day.Why should WhyDev readers support OIC?There are issues in the world that get lots of the attention and therefore plenty of resources, and then there are those that get swept under the carpet. WhyDev readers should support OIC because it’s addressing something that is a huge need, yet doesn’t receive the attention of other issues. People who are in Melbourne can come to our launch extravaganza on the 12th of November to find out more.Can our readers get a discount on the OIC launch tickets?Absolutely! As a limited offer, we’re offering a 50% discount on tickets to the first 20 WhyDev readers who sign up to come to the launch. Simply enter the promo code “BONO4AFRICA” at the check-out.First Published in WhyDev.