The PEPY Team Journal
New Faces at PEPY
29.06.10
by Adam Kronk
One of the humbling things about working at a place like PEPY is the steady stream of talent that flows through our doors. We have recently been fortunate enough to have some wonderful Cambodian staff join the team. Sao Srey Mao, Chhunn Noem, and Try Seakngoy have all started recently and their energy and enthusiasm is contagious.
Srey Mao, originally from Battambang, is putting her talent as an artist to use in Chanleas Dai’s Creative Learning Classes, making sure that the different units covered in the curriculum engage students in more and more stimulating ways.
Chhunny is spending a few months rotating between various programs, sharing his perspectives and gaining a working knowledge of everything we do before we decide together which role best matches up his skills and interests with our staffing needs.
Seak, who used to intern with us when we were based in Phnom Penh, has come to Siem Reap to lend a hand working as an Accounting Assistant and Bookkeeper.
Join us in welcoming them to PEPY!
File under: PEPY News & Updates
Field Trip on the Tonle Sap
29.06.10
by Maryann Bylander
The best way to make education come alive is through experience, which is why we're making sure that secondary school students in Chanleas Dai have the opportunity not just to read about Cambodia and its environment, but also to SEE and FEEL it. Last week, all of Chanleas Dai's 9th grade students joined our team for an environmental lesson about the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and an essential part of the livelihoods of many Cambodians. Often referred to as "the heartbeat of Cambodia," the lake is the source of nearly half of all the fish captured in Cambodia – an estimated 8% of the country's population relies directly on the Tonle Sap for their livelihoods.
Though their homes are only 75 kilometers from it, most students had never seen the Tonle Sap until this weekend, when PEPY joined the Sam Veasna Center to offer students a tour of the environmental reserve, Prek Toal (). As the group took boats across the lake to the reserve, they learned from guides about endangered birds, mangrove forests, the 130 species of fish inhabiting the lake, and the precarious livelihood of those who make their homes on the floating villages of the Tonle Sap.
To see pictures of the students’ trip, check out our pictures on Facebook. Stay tuned next month for news from the upcoming 7th and 8th grade field trips as we help making learning come alive for students!
File under: PEPY News & Updates
Children's Day in Chanleas Dai
29.06.10
by Maryann Bylander
International Children's Day is celebrated worldwide on June 1st. In Chanleas Dai, teachers, students, administrators, and the PEPY team worked together to celebrate students through a creative market – a space where students practiced life skills and financial management by making and selling small products in their classes. Every grade and several area child clubs had their own stalls where they sold handmade paintings and drawings, clay pottery, paper picture frames, homemade treats, and other handicrafts. Using fake money they traded for Cambodian riel, community members from nearby villages joined the market to purchase students’ work. After the market closed, hundreds of parents and community members stayed to watch skits, game shows, and songs that PEPY child club members created together about child rights, child protection, and children's needs.
The spirit and motivation of the day are hard to translate via words, so be sure to check out our pictures here. If you can read Khmer, you can also read an account of the day that was created by the group of "journalists" from the 9th grade who interviewed community and student participants and wrote up a newspaper account of the day. Special thanks to all the teachers and PEPY staff who worked so hard to make this day possible!
File under: PEPY News & Updates
JETs on Jitenshas - the PEPY Ride Japan
30.05.10
compiled by Laura Graham
This Spring saw the biggest PEPY Ride Japan yet, with ten prefectures taking part in bike rides all over Japan. Hyogo, Hokkaido, Shizuoka, Tottori, Nagasaki, Aichi, Okayama, Hiroshima, Ehime and Yamagata have all entered teams for this year’s event, raising a massive 500,000yen (around $5000) for PEPY’s educational projects.
The PEPY Ride Japan: JETs on Jitenshas event was started by a former Ehime JET Aileen Cameron and PEPY intern Josh Bloomfield last year. The event involves groups of JETs and their friends getting together for a bike ride around their prefecture (or further in some cases). All those involved pay a participation fee of 2000 yen which goes directly to PEPY’s projects.
These rides have ranged from a handful of hardcore bikers pushing themselves to some extreme distances, to large party-style gatherings including BBQ picnics and onsen (hot spring) stopovers. The event is held across weekends in April and May, just in time for the last of the cherry blossoms and start of the warm weather – perfect conditions for biking! Or at least that is the idea – a bit of snow didn’t put the Hokkaido team off! Read on for more details from each ride…..
Hokkaido
“They said it couldn’t be done. You can’t bring a yearly spring cycling event from Honshu and plunk it down in Hokkaido…They should know by now that Hokkaido JETs don’t take “no” for an answer. Our ride was about 20K through the countryside in front of the beautiful Mount Yotei, complete with a coffee break at the Weiss Hotel and an exhilarating 7K downhill finish. Now when I look at the pictures and see the snow piled up around our bicycles, it does look a little absurd, but I can’t wait to do it again. And hey, only a few of us fell off our bikes! As with any foreigner summit, the event snowballed from a bike ride into a fantastic beast of a weekend.”
Hyogo
In stark contrast to Hokkaido’s super chilly and crazy weekend, Hyogo’s team followed a route which took in drifting cherry blossoms, Sousha Shrine, Himeji Castle and a riverside picnic accompanied by beautiful spring sunshine. One of the team leaders, Emily Lemmon, wrote:
“All those who came out were cool people and I know that at least I personally made some new friends! Everyone seemed in pretty good spirits (I think the perfect weather and showers of sakura petals kind of helped) all day!”
Shizuoka
In Shizuoka (former home of PEPY’s founders and original PEPY Ride members) participants, many sporting attractive PEPY t-shirts, celebrated their triumphant ride with a delicious picnic lunch! “With the sun shining brightly and a gentle breeze blowing, the riders made their way leisurely down the Magome river to the ocean. We then followed the beach trail east as far as the Tenryu river before stopping off for an al fresco lunch at SurfQuest. Everybody had brought their own bowl, spoon and cup, and we were soon tucking into the delicious curries, raita, rice and naan breads that had been prepared.”
Nagasaki
The ‘Let’s Biking Goto’ team did a sterling job in Nagasaki, getting support from the local community. Team leader Kelly Trombley wrote:
“Riders enjoyed flying down the mountains, stopping at a waterfall and other gorgeous lookout points, and enjoying bananas and mint water from the support car. Everyone finished by 6pm and the BBQ party began. Some friends from the community also came to support PEPYs cause and brought more food! By the time everyone woke up on Sunday the BBQs were fired back up and we ate the loads of remaining food, while sun bathing, swimming and jumping off the pier until the last ferries left around 4pm. It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend!”
Aichi
Team Aichi got together once again for a 40km ride through Okazaki and Anjo. PEPY Ride Japan veterans Lindsey Tulloch and Karen Gawne worked together to create this ride for a small group of friends and showed their dedication to PEPY by joining this event for the third time. Here’s to many more Aichi bike rides in the future!
Okayama, Hiroshima, and Ehime
All three prefectures did the Shimanamikaido Bike Ride, across 77km of suspension bridges, beautiful islands, mikan groves and beachside trails. Ehime and Hiroshima briefly passed each other at the lunch-stop (great yakisoba!) and the hike uphill to the bridges was more than worth it to fly down the other side in the beautiful May sunshine and warm breeze. A group of Hiroshima JETs and friends stayed in Matsuyama Youth Hostel and made a weekend of it; others camped and a few impressive Okayamans turned round the next day to ride all the way back!
Yamagata
For Yamagata, this was no ordinary ride. This was a mission. Did they achieve their mission? Read on to find out…
Primary Objectives:
-To boldly bike where no one has biked before (aka Atsumi) – accomplished.
-To raise money for PEPY - accomplished (16,600 yen).
-To have fun - very, very, tres, hontouni, mecha mecha accomplished!
Secondary Objectives:
-To stick our feet in one of the most wonderful foot onsens known to humankind – accomplished.
-To avoid dropping any food in the foot onsen while eating lunch – failed.
-To avoid getting poked in the butt by kids with toy guns – failed!
-To minimize casualties - under review.
Notes: No hostages were taken despite the warning on the PEPY waiver. It was a great time, the weather was fine, the large Shonai hills were alive with the sound of musical screams of agony, the coastal view was idyllic, and we hope to do it again.”
Tottori
Tottori’s ride was so popular that even the local press came to find out what it was all about: “We rode around Lake Togo, in Yurihama, out to the ocean, and along the coast. We stopped at several scenic points to take photos and to have short breaks. The ride lasted about 2 hours and 30 minutes. After we returned the borrowed bikes, we went to a nearby onsen to clean up and relax before an AJET-organized cookout. The local access cable TV station was on hand to interview participants and shoot some footage of the ride, as was a photographer from the town newsletter.”
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in these rides and continued to support PEPY’s work and increase awareness in Japan. We are looking forward to more rides in the future! If you are interested in organizing or participating in this event please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
File under: Friends, Partners & Participants
Dear PEPY Friends
30.05.10
by Maryann Bylander, Managing Director
In many ways, writing "PEPY Friends" is redundant for me. For the past five years, nearly all of my friends have been made through PEPY, and I would consider all of those who have worked with our team, contributed to our programs, or joined our trips to be my friends.... even some of you who I've never met! In all of the ways that count, the PEPY community in Chanleas Dai, in Siem Reap, and abroad has become my family.
On June 30th, I'll be officially resigning as Managing Director, a position I've held for the past three years. In that time I’ve had the privilege of living at Chez PEPY with 51 of you, working with more than 100 Cambodian and foreign friends, and meeting nearly all of the 500 tour participants who have joined us since 2005. Much more significant than any of those numbers, I’ve been inspired on a daily basis by the team of thoughtful, bright, and passionate people that PEPY attracts.
As many of you know, I made the difficult choice to leave my role at PEPY a year ago, when I realized that finishing my PhD was something that would require more dedicated time than I'd be able to manage while continuing in this position. For both PEPY and for me, I know that this is going to be a positive step forward. I'll be handing over parts of my role to Adam Kronk, our new Chief Operating Officer, and others to our Cambodia staff. Adam will be working closely with Daniela, who will remain as Executive Director, and a yet-to-be-hired Khmer Country Director. Jacqueline Kronk has joined our team as well as our "Chief Connector", managing our Siem Reap office and connecting with donors, sponsors and PEPY's voices out to the world. We've also recently hired or promoted several Cambodian staff to take over stronger program roles working in our PSDP, Classroom Library, and Community Programs as well as HR. In many ways, seeing the changes already taking place as we move forward with this new management team has made me even more reluctant to leave. Our team is stronger than ever, with a renewed motivation, passion, curiosity, and sense of potential that is re-inspiring for me as well.
It's challenging for me to step back and think about moving into a life where PEPY doesn't play a central role, though in many ways I expect that it still will, just in a different way. Instead of being a PEPY employee, I'll move back to where I started--- a Board Member and invested supporter. Like with family, my PEPY ties are binding, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
As we move through this transition I wanted to send a thank you to all of you who I've crossed paths with along the way. The sense of purpose, community, self-criticism, and passion that every one of you has contributed has left a mark on our organization and on me. The ways that PEPY has shifted my ideas, passions, actions.... my whole life really, are beyond words. Thank you for being a part of that.
In gratitude,
Maryann
File under: PEPY News & Updates
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