Below, Managing Director Maryann Bylander tells the story of PEPY’s newest initiative- the construction of a junior high school building in Chanleas Dai.  Read below for the full story, and click here to see a video.  We are still in need of financial commitments and support for this structure.  Can you buy a brick for our junior high school building?

On December 22nd, local contractors will break ground on a PEPY-supported junior high classroom building next door to Chanleas Dai primary school.  This is the first school construction project we have undertaken since our construction of the PEPY Ride and PEPY Friends Schools two years ago.  For both of those government schools, the construction process was managed by a partner organization.  PEPY funded the construction, but was absent in the building process.

For this Junior High School building, we have learned from our past mistakes and taken a participatory approach, working directly with the community and District Office of Education in Kralanh.  This not only creates ownership of the school within the community, but also ensures that the school and building process reflect the values important to the community. 

The PEPY Wine and Fun(d)raising event in New York City was a huge success.  Not only did everyone in attendance have a great time, but we reached our high fundraising goals of $10,000!  Funds from the PEPY NYC event will be used towards PEPY's expanding Khmer Literacy Initiatives:  Reading Camp, daily supplimental Khmer reading and writing classes in Chanleas Dai, and Khmer book publishing. 

Thank you to all those who attended, sponsored, and donated in the name of PEPY's NYC event.  Special thanks to Pramod Thummala, Giuseppe Papi, and the Barison family for making the event such a success.

Click "read more" to view more event pictures!