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Dear PEPY Friends, Read on for updates on all things PEPY!
The PEPY interns have settled into the Phnom Penh office/house, funds have been raised by costumed people in the streets of Tokyo and Calgary, and we're a few steps closer to providing the best possible education for our 500+ students in Chanlaes Dai, Siem Reap at The PEPY Ride School.
Many thanks, The PEPY Team |
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In an exciting step towards the permanent impact PEPY will make on access to education and educational development, 4 interns have traveled to Phnom Penh to participate in the first PEPY internship program. Until October, PEPY operated as a virtual organization: emails, websites and teleconferencing brought ambitious PEPY plans to fruition. Now a small cohort of interns divide office and logistical tasks, grant writing, research and networking in Phnom Penh.
Let’s meet the new members of the PEPY team for Fall 2006 and see what they’re up to:
 Maayan
Bacher joins PEPY in the middle of her world travels
following her required army service where she acted
as one of the few female combat soldiers. Born and
raised in Israel, Maayan also holds a US passport
and has recently lived in New York City, Vail and
Maui-teaching laughter yoga, surfing, bartending and
earning her realtors license. Maayan supports PEPY
with her incredible marketing and PR skills, contagiously
positive attitude and ambitious outlook on the challenges
we face in the day-to-day operations of a small NGO
in Phnom Penh. “ I’m in love with fried bananas!”
is Maayans reaction to her first month in Phnom Penh.
Full of extra energy, Maayan is also tutoring neighborhood
children in basic English skills in front of Chez
PEPY.
 Adam
Vaught comes to PEPY from Orange County, California
via 2 years teaching English in Miyagi-ken, Japan
and a degree in International Relations from UCLA
in 2003. Adam, a former PEPY Ride participant, is
the trip coordinator and office accountant for PEPY.
When he isn’t balancing the PEPY ledger, he can be
found managing the constant flow of PEPY emails and
sharing his famous peanut and raisin snack mix to
hungry, hard-working interns. Adam plans to add
Khmer to his list of foreign languages he speaks,
including Spanish and Japanese. When asked about his
first month in Phnom Penh, Adam says, “After two years
of living in Japan and working in a job I wasn't passionate
about, working for PEPY is pretty awesome!”
 Erin
Kollings adds to the US west-coast contingency of
PEPY interns, hailing from Portland, Oregon. She studied
International Studies at the University of Oregon
and maintains a diverse range of hobbies and interests,
not limited to: poi dancing, playing scrabble, traveling
and reading. Erin supports PEPY in her role as the
Bike-to-School program manager. When not making contacts
around Phnom Penh you’ll find Erin researching bicycle-based
educational intervention, figures on development and
working on programs to increase opportunity and teacher
accountability at the PEPY Ride School. “Phnom Penh
is the land of binaries,” says Erin after her second
month in Phnom Penh, “you can live on a dollar a day
here—or buy $150 opera tickets at The Raffles hotel-
it’s frustrating, the obvious gap between the poor
and rich.”
 Doug
Beacom also grew up in Orange County, California but
has joined PEPY after teaching 6th grade in New Orleans,
Louisiana and English in Nagasaki ken, Japan for 2
years. Trying to keep alive his BA in Nonfiction Writing,
Doug helps with grant writing for PEPY and webpage
content for the upcoming enhanced PEPY website. The
buzz of development and NGO work in Phnom Penh is
the perfect venue for him to work in, as he plans
to pursue a degree in international education development
starting next fall. “Cambodia has just signed it’s
first comprehensive national curriculum, and this
is huge,” says Doug, who will work on implementing
the curriculum with teachers at the PEPY schools,
“it’s a way to begin measuring student growth instead
of just moving kids forward based on age and time
spent in classrooms.”
The group enjoys working together so much that they’re often found sitting at their desks in the PEPY office at all hours of the day, cycling around Phnom Penh on bikes sporting PEPY stickers and explaining the goals and vision of PEPY to people they meet all over Phnom Penh. Interns will work for a 3-month period with PEPY, including a volunteer trip during the holidays in December.
For more information on the PEPY Internship please go here.
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| Donate Airline Miles!
We need United Mileage Points! Help support PEPY by donating flight miles and lowering our operating costs! United goes through nearby Bangkok and donated miles would help PEPY bring in an expert graphic artist to work in Cambodia as well as providing an opportunity to keep our intern, Doug, in Cambodia a little longer to work on curriculum implementation at the PEPY Schools. If you have airline miles with United/Star Alliance please contact us at teamleader@pepyride.org
Laptops! PEPY desperately needs laptops with wireless internet capability. Can you donate an old laptop...or even a new one? Email teamleader@pepyride.org.
Projectors!
PEPY needs a portable, battery-powered projector to take images, videos and power points to the remote villages we serve. A projector would also allow us to enhance PEPY tours and our ability to connect potential donors with our mission and progress.
If you, your company, school, club or organization can donate or fund a laptop or projector, please contact us at: teamleader@pepyride.org
Advocate for PEPY and help fundraise!
You can now download PEPY's Bike-to-School flier at http://www.pepyride.org/downloads/bike-to-school-flier.pdf. Give it to friends and family! During this holiday season, encourage your loved ones to give bikes to Cambodian children as gifts to friends and family!
Volunteer Translators
As we update our website and continue to expand our tour market, PEPY has a need to reach a wider audience. If you can lend your multi-lingual expertise to PEPY for web content, informational materials and correspondence please join our database of volunteer translators!
Contact Doug at dougb@pepyride.org
Grants?
Do you have experience writing grants, or know of any that PEPY might qualify for? Let us know: teamleader@pepyride.org |
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 From
traveling karaoke vans to soap making workshops, educational
outreach programs to scientific labs, Resources Development
International or RDI, does it all.
A team of PEPY volunteers worked with RDI for the first time in August to successfully build two rainwater collection units. The project lasted a week and upon completion two towns had collection units providing them with clean water to last through the dry season. This November, the PEPY team met with Mickey, the director of RDI, to further build upon this alliance. Within two weeks of the meeting, new hand washing stations have been installed in the PEPY Ride School.
 These
devices are powered by human energy, which is funelled
into a machine mirroring a stair stepper. As a child
moves the stair stepper, water is pumped up above
into large tank, then travels down into a hand-washing
sink. The PEPY Ride School children now have a place
to easily wash their hands after using the toilet.
PEPY's continuing partnership with RDI not only supports a wonderful organization but also is strongly in line with PEPY's mission. Mickey believes in the "Diffusion of Innovation" theory, a natural mechanism of diffusion to spread concepts of change. Rather than spend money on advertising, Mickey's projects spread by quality of work, as well as by targeting areas with a variety of people, letting them become the active agents of change. By approaching big problems at the root, using creativity and innovation Mickey empowers local Cambodians to actively change their future.
 PEPY
is excited about its partnership with RDI and future
joint projects. A rainwater collection unit will be
built at the PEPY Ride School during the May volunteer
trip, and plans are being made to incorporate RDI's
educational outreach programs at the PEPY Ride School.
Erin, a new intern plans to spend her weekends at
RDI learning about their human refuse composting system,
making goat cheese, and all about insects from Zach,
Mickey’s son.
If you'd like to read more about Resource Development International, Cambodia, and their awe inspiring work please visit their website and find out more about the growing number of projects and initiatives they are involved with!
 RDIC
homepage
To find out more about the 'Diffusion of Innovations' model followed by Mickey and the RDIC staff, check out the wikipedia entry: Read up on Diffusion of Innovations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
Mickey, Director of RDIC, standing near one of their rainwater-harvesting units during PEPY's visit to RDIC headquarters in Kendall Province.
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| Nuun, pronounced ‘noon’, wants to change the way cyclists think about hydration.
 The
Seattle company has a unique product that makes optimal
hydration simple and reliable for cyclists and anyone
on the go. Nuun is an easy-to-use, quick dissolving
tablet that, when added to 16 ounces of water, provides
sugar-free electrolytes to replace electrolytes lost
during exercise. Nuun’s solution also focuses on the
need to separate replacing lost electrolytes from obtaining
energy.
Unlike sports drinks, nuun contains no sugars and virtually no calories.
 Nuun
is conveniently packaged in a tube of 12 tablets that
will create 1.5 gallons of hydration, anywhere there
is water. PEPY is thrilled to have nuun on-board as
a sponsor. Anyone who has cycled in Cambodia can attest
to the need for frequent, proper hydration on the dusty
highways underneath the scorching sun.
If you’d like to find out more about nuun please check out their informative website at: nun active hydration
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This Month's Sponsored Raffle Prize!
Congratulations to this month's sponsored prize winners! Jeffery Bobroff and Gail Stish are the winners of the Pressure Pack from Pressure Product, LLC
If you'd like to get your hands on your own Pressure Pack, head over to the Pressure Product, LLC website at www.neversuckagain.com ! We're on a sponsored prize hiatus this month, please check the newsletter next month and see if we have any new prizes. If you have a prize you'd like to donate to the sponsored raffle prize, please let us know!
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| Curriculum Approved
The Cambodian national grade level standards and curriculum currently only requires students to complete a set number of hours in each discipline and follow the national textbook. In a new initiative, RTI (Research Triangle International) and CBE (Cambodia Basic Education), both funded by USAID, have developed the grade level standards teachers should teach towards to provide a balanced, equal education for students. The new curriculum was approved by the Ministry of Education in October, but will be piloted in only 8 provinces in Cambodia sometime next year.
PEPY has acquired a copy of the recently approved grade level standards from RTI and is already working on implementing these standards at The PEPY Ride School as soon as possible. First, however, this week the students will be tested to see what level their Khmer reading and writing and math levels are, so there is a baseline to measure growth from. The next step in implementing the new standards will be working with a Khmer educator in Phnom Penh to format the new standards for the teachers and students of The PEPY Ride School in a way that will make them easy to understand and easy to measure.
Are you an educator or curriculum specialist with exciting ideas swirling through your mind as you read this? Pleas contact Doug at dougb@pepyride.org
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| Digital Divide Data (www.digitaldividedata.com) here in Cambodia just celebrated their 5-year anniversary. DDD was what first brought Daniela to Cambodia as her college class mate, Tim Keller, was president of DDD and she visited during a school vacation while teaching in Japan. Daniela and PEPY were able to join DDD in celebrating their 5 successful years by coordinating DDD’s anniversary tour through Cambodia and Laos. DDD is a social enterprise, like PEPY, combining a for-profit model with non-profit work. In DDD’s case the business is data entry, and in PEPY’s case, tour operations. DDD took the basic data entry company model, most often associated with India, but gave it a new philanthropic spin. DDD employs landmine victims, people with polio, and ex-trafficked women, teaches them basic computer skills, and then moves them into more advanced data entry and programming projects. In addition, all employees work half day and must be enrolled in school the other half of the day inspiring them to follow their dreams and move on into the careers of their choice when they have acquired the knowledge and capital to do so. One of the many measures of DDD’s success is that the average wage of employees who “graduate” from DDD move into jobs where they are making $150+ per month, over 6 times the national average. Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat” commends DDD on their successful approach to making significant changes here in Cambodia and now in Laos as well. PEPY would like to congratulate DDD for raising the bar and proving to the world that social ventures can not on be successful at effecting social change but also be economically sustainable. To read more about Daniela’s thoughts on DDD’s work, or on our time here in Cambodia, visit www.delayingtherealworld.com/blog/
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| October Events Report:
As PEPY established its first office and built a presence in Phnom Penh, volunteers and friends of PEPY continued to fundraise and advocate the PEPY mission across the globe!
In Tokyo over 100 participants gathered for the 6th semi-annual Tokyo Scavenger Hunt. Swarms of superheroes and a murder of monsters raced to gather clues from hotspots all over Tokyo in an effort to solve the mysterious kidnapping of Bling-Bling the Baby Panda. Everyone got to enjoy VIP Friday and Saturday nightclub parties, a Sunday evening dinner and the hunt—while raising awareness for PEPY, Cambodian Education and raising funds. Over 290,000 yen (US $2,470) was raised in the fun and PEPY got coverage in radio broadcasts and Metropolis magazine. Excellent work from the Japan-based PEPY supporters and many thanks to Clare and Phuc for putting on such a successful event!
You can read more at: www.tokyoscavengerhunt.com
Another hellacious hunt had teams racing about downtown Calgary in an attempt to be the first team to correctly solve the messy murder of Oil tycoon Riggy Doil. To solve the riddles and clues teams had to be clever and ridiculous taking murderous scavenging to an entirely new level of insanity. If success is measured in terms of smiles and laughter, then this event set a new standard in which one can measure success as 7 teams dressed in daring duds managed to raise awareness for the PEPY Ride as well as almost $500! A huge thanks to all those that got involved and to Kristian Whillans for his hard work in Calgary!
Upcoming PEPY Trips:
December 24- January 1: The PEPYRideSchool Volunteer Trip , Siem Reap Deliver the Bike-to-School Program bikes and explore the temples of Angkor! Email volunteer@pepyride.org for more info. THERE ARE ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT! December 27- January 18: The 2007 PEPY Ride This 3-week ride follows in some of the tread marks of the original 2006 PEPY Ride. Riders will visit local schools and amazing NGOs as they learn, connect and cycle through Cambodia. This ride is full! So sorry! February 24 - March 3: PEPY Goes "High End" Want to travel to Cambodia, but want to do it in style? Looking to see the temples of Cambodia and experience rural villages but not ready to give up the King-size bed? Join PEPY's February - March tour! This trip will feature luxury hotels, high-class dining, and still offer you a chance to experience rural Cambodia and volunteer with PEPY projects. Email volunteer@pepyride.org to find out more.
Upcoming PEPY Events:
November 19th: PEPY Bike-to-School Benefit Concert-Sarasota, Florida Check out the line up, details and media at: www.myspace.com/pepycambodiaContact Nicola at nicolajones@hotmail.com for more information. PEPY Notre Dame Update
The Notre Dame branch of the PEPY Ride is up and running
for the semester! The group has been working hard
to plan “Cambodia Week” for the last week of November.
The event will feature a fundraiser at Jimmy Johns,
a student dinner with Cambodian food provided by a
local restaurant, various guest speakers, and presentations
of work done by PEPY and other NGOs in Cambodia. Also,
each night PEPY ND will be screening a different film
that highlights Cambodia’s past and present circumstances.
We hope that this event will spread awareness of issues
affecting modern Cambodia, as well as raise a significant
amount of funds for PEPY’s initiatives.
In addition to our fundraising and awareness projects, we have been researching a variety of social entrepreneurship ventures with the hope of bringing similar projects to Cambodia. Based on a very successful model established in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, PEPY Ride ND has been researching and learning about ventures which both alleviate poverty and address critical health issues. One successful project we have found identifies responsible and entrepreneurial individuals (particularly women), trains them in basic healthcare services (e.g. eye examination, dental care, sanitation), and provides a small inventory of these products to these individuals to sell in their respective villages. These types of projects offer an empowering and sustainable solution to healthcare development and we want to learn about how some of these ideas might be applied in Cambodia. PEPY Ride ND is also hoping to compile a database of Cambodian-owned businesses and businesses which support sustainable development, including restaurants, travel agencies, hostels, and other establishments related to the travel industry. Once compiled, this information will be presented on a website free of charge in the hopes of encouraging travelers to support businesses that support the development of Cambodia.
Finally, PEPY Ride ND is working with the business faculty at the Mendoza College of Business to fine-tune PEPY’s business plan for entrance in various social venture competitions. We are looking forward to continuing our work with the PEPY throughout the year!
If you would like to get involved or learn more about PEPY Ride ND, please visit the website at http://www.nd.edu/%7Etrann or contact trann@nd.edu.
Feel free to start your own PEPY events! We'd LOVE your support!
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| The PEPY Ride Sponsors |
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