Paula Bruce on holiday in Cambodia, before she decided to go back and volunteer in the country. (Submitted)
Paula Bruce is taking her skills as a social worker and an educator to Cambodia, where she hopes to make a difference training social workers of the future.
It was on holiday early this year that Paula Bruce realised she could live and work in Cambodia.
"I really felt quite comfortable and at home there and felt I would really like to come back and do some work there." She says.
Paula is a coordinator and teacher in the School of Social Work for Latrobe University in Mildura.
When she got back to Australia, she found a job advertised with Australian Volunteers International (AVI), at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, setting up the third and forth year of their social work degree.
It was a perfect match for Paula, so she applied and was offered the position.
Paula says social work is becoming more of a global profession, as issues that are happening internationally are impacting us more and more in Australia.
"I think every Australian social work graduate needs to have exposure or experience about global and international social work issues." She says.
"Whether it's migration, climate change, population movement because of poverty, unemployment, wars or displacement, these are the issues of the future." She says.
Paula will spend 12 months volunteering at first, but hopes to develop some student exchanges between Mildura and Cambodia in the future.
Paula will leave in early August with four other AVI volunteers to Phnom Penh.
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