The original post and comments about our end-of-year reflections where in the PEPY Newsletter last week. Read up to see what we would have done differently in 2009 and what we hope 2010 will look like. Happy New Year! — What do you think your biggest achievements have been this year? MA: Well, I think [...]
I recently tried to post a comment in response to this listing on Trip Advisor which encourages visits to orphanages while traveling in Siem Reap. As my comment was not a review of the area, it was not approved, so I am posting it here. — I am writing in response to a post stating [...]
My friend and colleague, Soe, passed this poem by Martin Niemoller around our office today, drawing the connection to the Khmer Rouge period. It is a powerful message which I wanted to share with those of you who don’t know the poem, and all of us who should read it again, and again, and again… First [...]
vol⋅un⋅teer [vol-uhn-teer] –noun 1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. 2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay. It would probably make a lot more sense if we stopped using the title “volunteer” for positions where people are getting paid. The result is that I have [...]
I wrote a guest blog post for Canada’s adventure couple, Dave and Deb about voluntourism, why I work, in part, in this field, and some ideas for how we can improve what we do. For those who don’t have time to read the whole post, here are the five key areas I would consider when [...]
I saw this as my friend Jordan’s status on his gmail account today: “Today, educational funding favors programs that teach kids how to read, rather than why to read.” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112312561 and i wanted to pass it on because it relates a lot to the work PEPY is doing. When we decided to partner with a [...]
Are there any “scalable” & profitable social ventures? There is talk of “social ventures” being our saviors from the likes of the non-profit world. Do they REALLY exist? Or are they mostly hybrid models which still rely heavily on their non-profit arms in order to succeed at scale? It is VERY hard to find examples [...]