Over a year has passed since I first thought “Hhmm…..this PEPY organization sounds interesting, I wonder what they do.” Nearly a year has passed since my first trip to Cambodia with PEPY. And there’s only a little over a month left until my next one, and I can’t wait! 

Although I had heard of PEPY before, and even sponsored a friend who was taking part in a PEPY trip, it took me about a year of living here in Japan, before I actually started to find out what PEPY was all about. Even just from the general feeling I got for the organization from what I read on the website, I knew PEPY was something I wanted to be involved in. As an English teaching assistant with aspirations to be a teacher in the future, the importance that PEPY places in education and the genuine consideration it gives to the welfare of its students was eye opening and encouraging. The organization seemed young, fun, self critical, ever improving, accessible, and above all, inspirational. And so I signed up for my first trip with PEPY in Golden Week 2008. 

After a great week spent in Northern Cambodia visiting schools and students, and learning about PEPY I’ve gone on to spend an awesome 8 months (so far) as president of the AJET PEPY Special Interest Group promoting PEPY amongst the foreign community here in Japan. This opportunity gave me the chance to continue working with PEPY’s tireless and passionately determined staff. And the more I have worked with, read about, heard, seen and experienced with PEPY, the more I feel certain that my initial assessment of the organisation was accurate. And so I decided to mark my one year anniversary as a PEPY enthusiast by returning to Cambodia this year in Golden Week too!

Aileen Cameron