The Vacation I Didn't Go On (some things are more important than a holiday)

Kimsray and I had a great holiday planned for this weekend. Her 21st birthday was on the 16th and she didn't even have a party! There were no presents or anything and she's so good that she doesn't drink or go out or anything! Typical American girl that I am, I thought this was tragic, and Kimsray wasn't thrilled about it either. So, I thought that we should go on a trip! We have both been dying to go to the Koh Kong Conservation Corridor so I figured this would be the perfect time to venture into the wild and stay at the Rainbow Lodge.

I called Janet, the owner of the lodge, who is absolutely the sweetest person in the world, and made reservations. We even managed to get the day off from work. It was all set.

Meanwhile, Kimsray and I have spent a lot of time discussing her future. Believe me, you'll hear a lot more about this very soon. Kimsray is dying to go to college in the States and I really think she has a good shot. As we've been looking at everything that is required, I found out that she doesn't even have a passport! My passport is the most valuable of all of my possessions. I've had it since birth and I would never go a day without it. I couldn't believe that Kimsray didn't have one. Plus, she has to have it for entrance into exams like the TOEFL, which she needs for college.

Then I found out why she doesn't have one: They cost $139!!!!!

Let me get on my soapbox for a minute. A Cambodian passport costs $139, and yet the average annual salary in Cambodia is $290. That's the equivalent of a US passport costing about $25,000!!! As it is, they only cost about $75 at home. Plus also (as Junie B. Jones would say), Cambodian passports have to be renewed every three years!!! So, even if you could spend the 15 years saving enough money to get a passport and another 20 years saving enough money for a flight, you would have to work for another 25 years to be able to afford to come back and get it renewed again!!! Are you f*ing kidding me??? And Kimsray is lucky because her mother works as a cook and makes $120 a month, positively middle class in Cambodia. So maybe they would only have to not have food and shelter for a month so that Kimsray could get a passport. And then starve for another 10 years to be able to afford the $2,000 plane ticket to the US.

Okay, I'm done. Back to the story.

Kimsray, of course, was totally bummed about the passport thing. So, I told her that she could choose her birthday present, either the trip to Koh Kong for the weekend, or a passport. Being the intelligent woman that she is, she chose a passport.

To tell the truth, I really can't afford either so I would much rather want the money to go to something permanent and useful than a quick holiday.

So, we were all set to hand in the paperwork and get Kimsray a passport when I happened to be discussing the ridiculous cost of passports in Cambodia with my boss. Amazing woman that she is (and this is the reason that I want to work for UNICEF for the rest of my life), without hesitating (and we didn't even think about asking) she gave us money for almost half of the passport!!!

So now, in a month Kimsray will have her passport! She'll be one step closer to college, and I'll be one weekend trip shorter for a good cause.

Life is good. And my boss is amazing.