In a country where schooling is a luxury, playing and artistic activities are a rarity. Against all odds, in 2002, Phymean Noun founded the NGO People Improvement Organization (PIO) to bring education and training to the most impoverished communities in Cambodia, with a specific attention paid to girls, orphans and street kids. PIO specifically directs its efforts towards public garbage dump areas where the government has been relocating hundreds of families with no public structure. In the past eight years, PIO has built three schools and serves over 800 kids. The organization is working with the Cambodian Ministries of Education and Women Affairs and offers, in addition to general education, specific training in cooking, hairdressing, dressmaking and beauty care. PIO is committed to comply with United Nations’ goal to reduce poverty. Phymean Noun was a 2010 CNN heroes. Touched by her work, CORPUS initiated and produced “From Slums to Stage” to facilitate PIO’s students access to arts education.