Originally Posted by jiejie

I feel I must jump in here, as I have personally met Ponheary Ly and after some research, specifically signed her up for a mission to Ko Ker (school visit focus). I think she is the real deal, and I would not lump her efforts in with the "other NGO's." Her efforts are local, small-scale, pretty focused, I saw little to nothing spent on maintaining a classic (expensive) NGO systems apparatus. (I'm sure any questions on that could be put to the US woman who moved to Siem Reap, set up and presumably administers the Ponheary Ly Foundation.) I didn't see how what she is doing does much to maintain political status quos or enrich the elite. Although I do generally agree with your comments on NGO's and that they can be a mixed blessing (or a curse), I'm not sure that really applies here. She is a Cambodian local, focused on educational projects that have a future multiplier effect...I'm reminded of the old "teach a person to fish rather than give them a fish" saying. Of course, over time mission diversion or outright corruption can creep into even small organizations, and publicity can have negative effects, but until I get clear signs of this either personally or from people whose opinion I trust and who have also dealt with her, I'm inclined to give Ponheary a thumbs up and a recommendation.

To my knowledge, she isn't into self-promotion on forums like this, so most mentions you see of her here are likely to be from FT'ers who have used her either for Angkor guide services, or for non-tourism mission-specific visits.