Daniela Papi founded PEPY, an international development organization supporting education in rural Cambodia. Her interview was conducted in one of the classrooms which her Cambodian students use.
Did you travel a lot as a child?
Daniela Papi
No. Well, not much. My Dad is from Italy and we went there sometimes as kids but probably only 3 or 4 times and in the US we would visit family in Vermont or go to Cape Cod but we didn't travel internationally outside of Italy.
Why Cambodia?
Daniela Papi
I lived in Japan for three years and was teaching English there and I visited Cambodia in my first year - Cambodia has one of the least well funded education programs compared with Japan with one of the most - and I felt that I wanted to come back here and work in education in Cambodia also I wanted to bike across Cambodia - for fun and so a friend, Greta Arnquist, and I decided to bike Cambodia but also raise funds for education while we did. We raised money to build a school - a public school but then we realized that there were other needs besides the building. There were 6 people on that first ride and I decided to stay. I didn't think I would be here 4 years after we started the idea for The PEPY Ride but I am!
Why did you want to teach abroad? And what attributes did you get from your family to encourage this?
Daniela Papi
My mother is a teacher. She has been a teacher for 35 years I think. She still teaches 1st grade. She is one of the best teachers I have ever seen (not biased at all) and she comes from a line of teachers who all believe that education is the key to change for the next generation but I don't think that is why I wanted to teach abroad. I went on semester at sea in college and we traveled around the world by boat. Then when I graduated I went on to work in consulting but after going around the world on a boat, who wants to work in consulting? I found a job teaching English in Japan (no, I didn't speak Japanese, though now I am conversational) and moved there "for a year" to teach English and travel. I stayed for three years and started PEPY in my final year there. My father is a traveler, I guess - moved to the US to marry my mother when he was..... late 20s? Not sure! He thinks it is great that I travel a lot and that I am making my own "career" I think my mother would rather see me I come home - but she is strong and independent and she sees that in me... I think - and she loves what PEPY does and stands for - so she understands. She also helps out with PEPY at least 10 hours per week as she is our US accountant as all of our paperwork goes to her house! Lucky me to have such a great mom!
How were you able to fund your projects?
Daniela Papi
We fund them in part through our tours. So with the first trip, we funded almost all of it through small donations ($50, $20). We spoke at churches, synagogues, Rotary, you name it. People held fund raising dinners, clothing auctions, book sales; we did fund raising scavenger hunts in Tokyo; we wrote to all of our friends. I think two people donated $1000 and everyone else was $20, $50, $100 etc and we raised $100,000 the first year. Now, we fund our work in part through our tours. People pay a fee to join the trip to cover their travel expenses but then they have a $500 per week fund raising minimum.
How did you deal with culture shock?
Daniela Papi
Hmmmmm.... I think sometimes the culture shock is worse going home. I think you know what you are getting into if you think about it correctly... going to a new place. If you are gone from your own country for some time and come back and see changes or have changes in yourself and can't relate to "home" - THAT is much harder as you are less prepared for that I think.
How did you open an "NGO" in a foreign country? What obstacles did you have to overcome?
Daniela Papi
Hmmmm - Well in some ways it is harder to register in the US. First, we registed as an NGO in the US because, in order to give people tax deductible receipts in the US we had to do so then here in Cambodia, there are actually less rules in some ways than in the US. It isn't hard "opening" an NGO anywhere I don't think. It is hard making your NGO a "good" NGO. We are still working on that. It takes a lot of self-reflection, tolerance and openness towards criticism and then a commitment of time. There were so many things wrong with our NGO which I could identify 2 years ago - but it takes time and knowing a place and working with a team and learning and making mistakes to get there. There are so many things I still see wrong with our NGO so it is hard to sit there and know that but then you just have to work day by day to make it better and make the impact better. Yes that is part of it. You need to know the place, and of course the language. I can never run a "great" NGO in Cambodia. You have to BE a part of the problem to really understand it and to work to solve it. PEPY will have a lot more success when it is fully Cambodian run which I hope it will be. If you had to give advice to someone whose dream was to open an organization like Pepyride, what advice would you give? I would say don't worry about having the skills and the money to do this. Don't think "Oh, I WANT to do this thing, but I need A, B, and C to do it and I don't have those so I'm not even going to try." That is giving up before you have even left the gate. The ONLY things you NEED is a passion and a belief in the work you want to do and a willingness to learn and adapt as you go. The rest will follow. If you are passionate about your work, you will FIND the people with the money and the skills to make your project happen. You just need to go out and start it. So many people are worried about "fundraising" etc. If your IMPACT is great and if your work is good - your mission is fabulous - then the money will come.
How did you present PEPY to donators?
Daniela Papi
We are an educational non-profit organization funded, in part, through volunteer and adventure tours. We have 3 generous families donors who, in addition to residual income from PEPY Tours, fund the administrative costs of our organization that way any other donors money will go directly to our programs. We support education, both formally and non-formally in rural Cambodia an area which suffers from increased inflation but not the positive impacts of tourism dollars. I have seen big changes in the cities but not in the rural areas.
Tell me about "voluntourism"?
Daniela Papi
It is the combination of volunteer work and travel. What we offer at PEPY is more travel with a chance to support, learn from and experience the work of full-time development programs. I think one of the dangers of "voluntourism" is if travel groups get involved with little to no background in development and who are just there for short term projects - dropping in for a few days with tourists who do not work to employ non-biased eyes on the ground to identify problems with longer-term impact of the work being done. Organizations dropping in anywhere and giving things away is something we did a lot of at the beginning and I have seen the results of this first hand. They are not really helping anyone in the long run.
What does "It's not personal; It's PEPY" mean?
Daniela Papi
Oh... that is from our office. People will critcise PEPY, little things from the way our newsletter article is written to our larger impact and we have to be willing to take that and really ASK for that so that we can learn and get better. It is sometimes hard, when you are volunteering or when you really believe in something to take the criticism but that was written on our wall to remind us that it's not personal it's about the organization; we need to be flexible and willing to change with what we learn.
What do you love most about helping Cambodians?
Daniela Papi
It isn't helping Cambodians as much as helping myself, the others on our team, the people who come on our trips. At first on our trips, we thought we were "helping people" but then we realize you are helping yourself. YOU are the one learning. I love that we are empowering people in rural communities with training and funding. I have loved watching our Librarian grow and change and learn. HER impact has increased with her confidence knowing the part she has played in the lives of the students she teaches to read. Most students drop- out in third grade or around then in rural Cambodia. We are working to inspire kids to go on through Junior High School. This is our short term goal. College would be nice for one or two in the future... We hope! We'll see!
You can reach PEPY at www.pepyride.org. Join us on an educational tour. Support our work or learn about the issues facing Cambodia on our site.
Angelia Miller is the founder of Diva Maverick Mavens www.divamaverickmavens.com a new bread of feisty, non-conformist adventure loving adrenaline-high entrepreneur. The tagline is: Empowering Women by Interviewing Empowered Women...Inspiring "You" to Take ACTION! Casting exceptional dynamic talent for fresh content is the mission of Diva Maverick Mavens. The interview is in original transcript form with minimal editing to preserve the integrity of content.
