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| Greta Arnquist and Daniela Papi team up with women cyclists for The PEPY Ride |
This past winter, 26 year-old New York-native, Daniela Papi and 23
year-old Minnesota-native, Greta Arnquist, both English teachers from
Hamamatsu, Japan, decided to ride their bikes across Cambodia.
“Initially, we were just talking about how cool it would be to ride our bikes across Cambodia,” said Daniela.
Both
felt strong connections to this country, having fallen in love with the
people and culture when they had individually traveled there before.
Having visited Cambodia only a few years removed from the devastating
and violent regime of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s thirst for education
and change became the topic of many conversations for Daniela and
Greta.
“An entire generation missed out on any
education at all and now their desire for change is obvious,” said
Daniela. “We’ve seen their desire in the hundreds of banners that
advertise (often un-certified) MBA, computer, language courses all over
Phnom Penh.”
Utilizing their bikes to help with
the development of sustainable education seemed like the perfect fit.
After extensive research, Daniela and Greta decided to fundraise for
American Assistance for Cambodia/ Japan Relief for Cambodia. This
organization has built more than 250 schools in rural Cambodia since
1999. “We found that our values and ideas went along so well with
American Assistance for Cambodia’s mission,” said Greta.
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| Cambodian children stop playing to pose for the camera. Photo courtesy of Nerys Rees |
Hence, PEPY [Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself] Ride was born.
The
PEPY Ride is well on it’s way to raising $35,000 US Dollars for
American Assistance for Cambodia in an effort to build a solar paneled
school in rural Cambodia equipped with a computer, satellite, and large
vegetable garden so that free school lunch will be provided to
students. The funding will also cover the salary for a school teacher
and chef.
To help reach their fundraising goal, Daniela and Greta set up
a Firstgiving online fundraising page [http://www.firstgiving.com/pepyride] at the end of January.
“Firstgiving was a huge relief!” said Greta. “Within our first week we had raised almost $500.”
Daniela
added, “It has been a great tool so far and we imagine that working
with Firstgiving will prove to be one of the best moves we have made!
We expect a lot more donations on our Firstgiving site in the next few
months as we give talks and spread more information about The PEPY
Ride.”
In addition to online fundraising, Daniela
and Greta have cooked up a plethora of fundraising initiatives and
events including: numerous speaking engagements, press coverage, a ski
trip, scavenger hunt, fun-run, yoga, pub quiz, and book sale.
Three
other women cyclists will join Daniela and Greta including Julia
Davies, Alice Beban, and Caroline Samponaro, in their effort to teach
Cambodians about protecting the environment and their health, as well
as fundraising for American Assistance for Cambodia. In addition to
these cyclists, The PEPY Ride is still searching for one or two more
female riders who speak Khmer.
The PEPY Ride will
take place in late December 2005 starting with a volunteer trip to The
PEPY Ride School near Siem Reap. As of June 16, 2005, spots are still
available for this trip with the potential for an additional trip in
February 2006. The expected 20-30 volunteers will spend four days
painting murals, teaching, playing games, working in the garden and
meeting the kids at The PEPY Ride School followed by a few days of
exploring Siem Reap, Ankgor Wat and surrounding temples.
Then,
the cyclists will say goodbye to their supporters and head to Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam, where they will traverse through Cambodia, ending
their voyage at the Thailand border. The PEPY Ride is being supported
by Bikes Not Bombs, Wintergreen Designs, Mt. Borah, Hanuman Travel and
KEEN Footwear. For more information, please visit: http://www.pepyride.org.
