Quiet Contributions

Photo credit: Kronk

Rith Sarakk is one of those behind the scenes people. Quietly working, you’d almost forget how many programs hinge on his efforts on a given day. Many of the programs the PEPY family has come to know and appreciate are coordinated and managed by a single, quiet, very hard-working man.
At the start of the school year, Sarakk was managing the Creative Learning Class, the Bike to School program, the Chanleas Dai primary school library, our Traveling Teacher Support program, and not only managing but also teaching our Junior High School English program. His programs provide educational opportunities to every student from 5th to 9th grade in Chanleas Dai commune, as well as all of the students studying in grades 5 or 6 in all of Chanleas Dai’s primary schools.
Recently, Sarakk has committed to focusing more of his time on management and has begun training other teachers to take his place in the English classroom. As his time in the classroom decreases, he will begin to take on more responsibilities, starting with PEPY’s Classroom Libraries program which he will begin managing in early March. Because of his experience with both the Traveling Teacher Support program and the Chanleas Dai library, he is poised to use his knowledge to improve and expand our Khmer literacy programs.
Not only is Sarakk an exceptional manager, he voluntarily donates large amounts of his time after work to the Chanleas Dai community. Each evening from 6:30 – 7:30, he teaches a free English class to anyone in the Chanleas Dai area who would like to join. This year, many of his students who have been involved in PEPY programs and regularly attended his class decided to start their own free community English classes. With inspiration from him, they began the VCD team and have been offering classes in the surrounding villages ever since. Sarakk supports them from the side, giving these outstanding young people the opportunity to become leaders in their own right with the guidance and help of an experienced manager and teacher. The VCD team currently offers 20 English classes per day in Chanleas Dai commune to over 700 students each night.
It’s an exciting time for PEPY, and for Sarakk. As our programs reorganize and grow under our new managing director, Layheng, we can be confident that our supplemental programs are in excellent hands.