Less than five years ago, Daniela Papi, age 30, was teaching English in Japan, the latest in a string of jobs ranging from management consultant to ski instructor in her ongoing search for a meaningful career after graduating college in 2000. Today, she is the founder and Executive Director of the PEPY Ride, one of the most highly regarded volunteer adventure tourism organizations in the world.The PEPY Ride is an annual bike ride across Cambodia to raise awareness and funds for improving rural education and supporting a wide range of educational projects throughout the country. The letters of the name stand for “Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself,” reflecting the organization’s basic ethos that “by making small changes in our lives and continually striving to educate ourselves and those around us, collectively we can truly make a difference.” PEPY’s mission is “to aid rural communities in improving their own standards of living, with a focus on increased access to quality education.”
Since the first PEPY Ride which raised enough money to fund the construction of a school in rural Chanleas Dai, Cambodia in 2005, the PEPY Ride has grown dramatically. This nonprofit organization, in conjunction with PEPY Tours, the for-profit adventure tourism company spun off in 2007 to help cover operating expenses for the non-profit, has generated over $1 million for education, health, and environmental programs in Cambodia in less than four years. Through the schools the organization has built and the education initiatives it has undertaken, PEPY is currently supporting education for over 1,700 families in 12 villages and 10 schools in rural Siem Reap, the nearest town to the world famous Khmer ruins at Angkor Wat. In addition, many clients have been inspired by their experience and gone on to pursue related activities of their own – e.g., several are graduate students doing research on Cambodia and others are working with non-profits and NGOs to support education in other developing countries.
How did Daniela get here, from an impromptu career path as management consultant/ski instructor/English teacher to mover and shaker in sustainable tourism and education in the developing world? It all started with that first cycle trip across Cambodia in 2005. Daniela and her five friends, most of whom were also English teachers in Japan, first viewed the trip as a fun adventure, a welcome respite from the hectic pace of urban life in Japan. Then they thought about using the trip as a one-off fundraiser and found an organization on-line that was raising money to build a school in the country side around Siem Reap. They created a website to solicit the required $16,000 in sponsorships from their family, friends and colleagues, and by the time they had left on the trip, they had over $100,000 in commitments. Many of those who pledged funds also wanted to go along on the ride, but Daniela and her friends had to turn them away. This, however, planted the seed of the idea that eventually grew into the PEPY Ride.
The six friends rode for five weeks along the red, dusty back roads of rural Cambodia from the Thai border to Vietnam staying local guest houses as they traveled from village to village. Their first stop was the school that was the focus for their fund raising efforts. They also visited other schools and orphanages along the way, often serving as guest instructors teaching lessons about the environment, sustainability, and the wide world that the students could only glimpse via their village’s TV.
It was not an easy trip. They pedaled up to 50 miles a day, the roads were rough and the accommodations were often rougher. They often ended up in places rarely, if ever, visited by foreigners. The strange environment, unfamiliar culture, and most of all, the heat, humidity and especially the bugs made for a physically and mentally challenging trip. Daniela often felt way out of her comfort zone. But the rewards were great. As they sat around in the evenings, making up games, sharing their thoughts about the day, and talking about their lives, their aspirations, what they were learning about themselves and how the trip was changing them, she grew closer to her friends, bonding in a way that she never thought possible.
The physical activity cleared their minds and the well-earned soreness and fatigue lowered their defenses and opened them up to connect with each other and with the people they met along the way. The intimacy of the conditions and the opportunity to experience the environment and the people on their own terms, not from the safe but distant remove of a tour bus, luxury accommodations and guided activities seemed to feed the intimacy of their relationships with each other.
Just as significant was the daily excitement of learning about another culture and most of all, seeing the impact of their fund raising and teaching on the Cambodian children in the school they helped build and in the other schools they visited. The tragic history of Cambodia had almost wiped out an entire generation, so most of the children they met were the first in their families to go to school. Many even took their lessons home to teach their parents. Everyone, kids and adults, recognized that education was essential for their future and the future of their country and were ready to embrace any promising educational opportunity that came along. “It is great time to be alive in Cambodia,” Daniela notes, a place when it wasn’t long ago that people could not take being alive for granted. “People are working hard to change their lives and their country so that it is a better place for their children.”
The problem is that educational opportunities are scarce in the rural areas, so Daniela saw an opportunity to make a difference by sharing the experience with others – the excitement of meeting new people, seeing a new place, experiencing a different culture, of learning more every day, and most of all, helping bring educational opportunities to the children of Cambodia. Daniela realized that there was so much more that she could do and that whatever she did could have a profound impact on the children and possibly even the country. She decided to do the trip again, then again and do it better each time. From that, PEPY was born.
This fateful trip in 2005 transformed Daniela’s life as well as the lives of the many children of Cambodia who are touched by PEPY’s programs and trips. She now has focus, motivation and a fulfilling career. In her words, “this is something I really care about.… It’s what makes my heart beat faster… “I never worked hard like this for anything, but now I am doing something that I believe in, and I want it to succeed so much that I am willing to put in the time to learn and improve to make sure that it does.” This is one of the best examples of the transformative power of adventure travel and demonstrates how it can change our lives, our work, and perhaps even the world.
For more information on PEPY, go to http://www.pepyride.org/ and http://www.pepytours.com/.