Wednesday - Stung Treng

Wednesday evening - checking in from Stung Treng
Well, we made the long trip to the PEPY Ride II School in Ourussei Kandal, about 30km south of Stung Treng! The bikers met us here and will also be visiting the lower-secondary school (grades 7-9, but ages vary from 13 to 18). I think this is actually the first big experiential trip to the PEPY Friends School (PFS), or PEPY Ride School II, besides one visit from two interns and another small group (of bikers?) a year ago. It will be interesting to see how the kids react to us (and how our group reacts to the kids... we're pretty excited, but I am curious how our lessons and plans will go).

Wait, What are you doing in Cambodia again?
So to give a little background (before I get on with the school info and our awesome visit today), I'm here with PEPY Ride (http://www.pepyride.org/), which started as a bike ride across Cambodia to support schools several years ago and has since evolved into a non-profit organization that offers aid to two schools (The Pepy Ride School and the one we're visiting) and tours to people that want to have a more meaningful travel experience or "give back".

The first PEPY school, located in Siem Riep, has been a big success, so last year PEPY started supporting this second school in north-eastern Cambodia. PEPY is based in Pnom Penh and the schools are obviously a little spread out, but it provides a good opportunity to offer help in more rural areas (where there may be more need for bikes, etc) while giving PEPY a destination for bike tours.

So far, the organization's main focus has been to support education through programs like PEPY's Bike-To-School Program, which addresses the need to merely get to school (seriously) by providing bikes to students in rural areas (generally as a reward for excellent attendance). Many students live a considerable distance from the school (or any school), so something as simple as transportation can be the difference between getting to school and not going at all. I guess the program also serves as an incentive for parents to allow or encourage their kids to go to school and serves as motivation to pursue a higher education.

Part of our mission on this trip is to help fix some of the broken bikes, build a shelter for them, teach classes (some art, some games & some English - which they study already and is practically as it's a prereq. for any university and many jobs in Cambodia)


More on WHY we're here & Education in Cambodia
It's hard to imagine this situation coming from America, but statistics provided by the UNDP and Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey show that 78% of Cambodian school children who enter elementary school drop out before secondary school. So yes, the 9th graders we are working with are in the TOP 30% for education in their country. NINTH GRADE! However - and here is where PEPY comes in - these children are 60% more likely to attend secondary school if there is a bike in the family. Often in rural areas, secondary school is up to 10k away. By providing bikes to graduating 6th graders with high attendance rates, we're helping to address these problems in ways that have been proven to make a difference. At the school I visited in Stung Treng, the BTS program has donated or lent 190 bikes to 6th and 7th grade students, while students who graduate 9th grade are given ownership of the bike.

First Day at the School
We got up early and drove the 100k to PEPY school. When we arrived, the kids were inside the building, basically a one-story yellow concrete structure with about 6 doors to classrooms and windows looking out onto the balcony. A few small children ran around the yard and we met some of the other students, who were shy and timid at first but looked very disciplined (or at least resembled my Japanese kids) in their uniforms of blue bottoms and white shirts.

A lot of people are starting to get sick (from water dehydration, food or maybe side effects to the Malaria medication?) so there was a bee line to the bathrooms, a separate small building that looked like a concrete outhouse with two stalls (perpendicular to each other). As is normal in Cambodia, there were squatters (hole surrounded by white porcelain with marked placed for your feet) inside with a small vat of water next to it (with a water scoop with handle) to use instead of toilet paper and to flush the toilets. We set up camp (putting out toilet paper and bags to throw it in - there are no manual flushes in most places and the plumbing can't handle the paper) and then headed over to the school building, the students now coming out of the classrooms and waving shyly, to meet the staff and our two interpreters.

After doing a round of self-introductions (names and countries for us, names and subjects for the teachers) and hearing a little bit about the school, we broke into groups and headed out to start our projects. I was in the bike shelter group, so I went to meet the kids I was heading into the jungle with and we set off (with a trail of little kids following). It was incredible - we actually pulled down vines from the trees, beat them with a large stick to make the bark come off (kendo technique works - had the students doing "Samurai style" in about 10 min!), and then tied them into wreaths that we carried around our waists. Most plants had GIANT thorns and I recognized a lot of the large termite masses that we had seen in Nepal's Chitwan Park (actually, Cambodia and Nepal have a lot of similar natural features...erm, save for the Himalayas). After we had collected enough vines (and tasted a few berries the kids said were safe), we headed back to the main yard where we helped tear down the roof of the existing bike shelter (large palm leaves) and moved some branches that we would be tying together for walls. There were cattle roaming around the yard, so part of the reason for a better shelter was to protect the cows from knocking over and damaging the bikes.

The students taught us how to cut the top of the vines and then peel them, twisting them little by little to make twine (rope). At first, I showed them how to tie a square knot (thanks Girl Scouts) as we started putting the walls of the shelter up, but they showed me other local methods that we would use when adding beams to the roof. I was dirty, sweaty, hot... and had the time of my life! It was fun to talk to the kids while we worked on a project together. And while I know this was a school and they could have been in class, I am pretty sure the reality of the situation is that the kids have to do these kinds of projects anyways (if they do them) so being there to help shows we do want to help and improve their lives, that we want to hang out with them, get to know them, and believe in them. We are going to introduce our lessons tomorrow, but I think we might also do some garbage pick-up (the yard is strewn with wrappers). Another group of PEPY volunteers is showing the water filter videos to the kids, class by class, and showing them how to clean the filters while we are building the shelter and others are fixing the bikes (and teaching the kids how to make simple repairs). It's pretty cool.

When we decided to break for lunch, a lot of people wanted to keep working, but we were told we needed to leave. If we didn't, they couldn't lock the building, so the kids or staff wouldn't be able to leave. They normally all go home for lunch, so if they couldn't leave, no lunch. So, our group walked down the main dirt road to a nearby river (BEAUTIFUL stream in the jungle with butterflies everywhere and stepping stones to go across the water) and had a picnic. Some kids came down and went swimming, letting the current carry them over the rocks. One of the PEPY interns told us they are trying to make the area an eco-tourism destination to bring in some revenue. I think it could actually do well, but it makes me sad to think that areas like the one we are in could turn into tourist stomping grounds like many areas of Thailand.

We had some extra food (sandwiches), so we gave some of it to the kids, and as we were walking back to the school, we noticed one little girl throw the Styrofoam on the ground. I guess until sort of recently, they used to wrap food in banana leaves, which the kids COULD throw on the ground, and many people just haven't been taught that it doesn't work the same with with plastic. We picked uo the Styrofoam and showed the girl how to put it in a bin, but I think the garbage exercise tomorrow will be good. The school yard is lined with a sort of razor-edged barbed wiring, and there is even garbage in that. At home, we wouldn't call it an environment for children, but here, hopefully little by little, just learning little things can make a bigger difference in the long run, especially considering these kids are in the higher throngs of the education level in Cambodia and have the potential to be community leaders (give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but teach him to fish and he eats for life!).

In the afternoon, we continued to show the water videos and I played soccer with some kids (felt sooo good to move!), which quickly turned into a huge passing game and then a volleyball game. By mid-afternoon, we were friends with the kids and didn't want to leave. I'm looking forward to finish the bike shelter tomorrow, too... more to come!