KEAP began activity in 1988 as a non-sectarian educational initiative devoted to assisting the Buddhist monks, nuns and laypeople of Cambodia with culturally-relevant educational materials. Cambodian representatives in the Khmer refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border had requested video and audio learning tapes of Buddhist teachings from the few surviving learned Khmer monks who resettled in the West. With the help of volunteers, individual donations, and foundation grants, KEAP produced a pilot videotaped Dhamma talk by the Most Venerable Samdech Maha Ghosananda (Rhode Island), KEAP's honorary founding patron, followed by a series of Dhamma talks by Most Venerable Hok Savann (Montreal).

      The taped sermons, which dealt with themes of peace, reconciliation, and Buddhist leadership, were screened/field-tested in the refugee camps and have since the 1992-93 repatriation of the Khmer refugees been circulating in Cambodia itself. Audiocassete tapes of other (deceased) senior monks -- former Supreme Patriarch Ven. Chuon Nath, Ven. Oung Mean in Maryland -- were also re-produced and distributed along with books. In 1992, a series of "New Life: Community Development" videotapes were produced by Khmer staff and volunteers in the camps to prepare the Khmer refugees for repatriation.

Since 1989 in the camps and 1992 in Cambodia, KEAP has collected and distributed nearly 20,000 volumes of Khmer Buddhist, cultural, and other learning texts to Khmer temples and learning institutions. The texts were for the most part reprinted and donated to KEAP by organizations such as the Japan Sotoshu Relief Committee (JSRC), International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Centre of Documentation and Research on Khmer Culture (CEDORECK) in Paris. Other materials, such a learning supplies (pens, notebooks, chalk), basic provisions (soap, toothbrushes, etc.), monks' robes, English-language Buddhist materials, including audio-videotapes and booklets were donated by the Buddhist Vihara in Kuala Lumpur, the Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, both in Bangkok, among others. The learning materials have helped to establish or re-establish libraries and community learning centers in over two hundreds temples in Cambodia.
 

KEAP organized, facilitated, and assisted in training workshops in the refugee camps and Cambodia for monks, nuns, and laypeople mainly in the area of temple-connected community development. Based on Buddhist self-help principles, the training approach was socially, culturally, and environmentally sensitive to the needs of the people. With help from the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation, KEAP collaborated with the Prasat Siri Temple in the Site 2 refugee camp to conduct skills workshops in 1991-92 on "Buddhism and Community Development." Between 1992 and 1995, KEAP assisted the French NGO Partage in continuing the work in northwestern Cambodia as part of the European Union's "Cambodia Rehabilitation Programme." This assistance included preparing and working with six mobile library teams that regularly visited over 60 temples in two northwestern provinces. In 1994, KEAP organized and conducted a six-month "Buddhism and Environmental Awareness" training workshop for participants from six district temple communities in northwestern Battambang province (see below).
 
 

In 1992, KEAP assisted the Most Venerable Samdech Maha Ghosananda and the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation with preparations for the first Dhammayietra (pilgrimage for the truth), commonly known as peace walk, by monks, nuns, and lay persons from the refugee camps in Thailand to Phnom Penh. With a donation provided by the Rochester Zen Center (USA), KEAP took part in and produced a video of the historic walk. Dhammayietras led by Ven. Ghosananda have become an annual event to promote a culture of peace and provide hope and inspiration for meaningful renewal in all parts of the still-beleaguered country.
 
 

Buddhism's perception of nature and central ethical teachings of non-violence and compassion to all living beings give it a strong ecological orientation among the world's religions. Yet this connection has not always been evident in Buddhist Southeast Asia, where environmental (and cultural) degradation in the name of development has been particularly acute in the past few decades. In 1994, KEAP organized a six-month "Buddhism and Environmental Awareness" training program with support from the United Nations Development Programme's environmental program. Monks, achars (lay presidents of temples), and laypeople from six district temples in northwestern Cambodia participated in a month-long workshop followed by five months of practical activities. Temple community learning centers, tree plantings, and community theater with environmental themes were among the activities conducted. Since 1998, KEAP has been assisting the Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh with an Environmental Ethics in Southeast Asia Project (EESEAP). Among EESEAP's objectives is assisting with formal and non-formal environmental education programs for monks and nuns as a way to reach out to the local populations.
 
 

KEAP has collaborated with, supported, and facilitated a number of local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies, and governmental bodies in promoting temple-centered learning activities. The activities have included Buddhist-inspired community development; human rights; environmental preservation and cultural development, and peace and reconciliation. KEAP has also participated in and facilitated Cambodian participation in the work of International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), an organization founded in Bangkok in 1990 by the renowned Thai Buddhist social critic Achaan Sulak Sivaraksa, a founding member (in the late 1980s) of KEAP's advisory board.
 
  

Our present role...
 
With our re-organization in 1998-99, KEAP, as a non-sectarian humanitarian organization, has become a "friends of Buddhism in Cambodia" initiative that no longer directly implements educational projects or activities. Rather, it now serves as a bridge, or intermediary, between socially engaged Cambodian Buddhist educational groups and initiatives in need of support and donors/helpers in the worldwide Buddhist, inter-religious, and cultural communities. The bridge linking Buddhists in Cambodia and outside Buddhist and non-Buddhist donors is a Khmer-managed KEAP field office in Siemreap in northwestern Cambodia, and KEAP's home base in Crestone, Colorado. Crestone, located in the alpine San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, is an emerging eco-village that is home to 14 spiritual retreat centers representing all the world's faiths.