I now have a seven-strong tuk-tuk crew even though I only ever intended to take Mey-Yii to school along with the @kidsisters.

Kindness Is Weakness In Cambodia 🤦‍♂️

     Most of my readers probably already know Mey-Yii, the girl next door abandoned by her mom who found a better husband and wanted to ditch the old blood to create her new family. She is barely watched over by her drunken chain-smoking Grandma gambler, and from sun-up to sun-down she is now our responsibility whether we like it or not, so we've been trying to guide her as much as possible.

     I am a spiritual person although I don't blog about it much as I feel this part of me is very personal. I will say though that as a Rastafari, guiding the youths and living an upright life are of the upmost importance. Additionally, I feel this human experience is something I am only passing through, and it is full of tests, trials, and tribulations. I don't believe in the NGO mentality, but I do believe we should always the do the right thing no matter how overwhelming it may seem.

The Village Gossip Mill 🎡

     With this in mind, know that our village has probably less than 60 or 70 residents, and the gossip mill is hot like fire because the soldiers and their families live on salaries which require very little commitment. It's come to our attention that Mey-Yii is viewed as a throwaway kid by 50% of the village, and many people have come to tell us bad stories about her. We have tried to explain that she is a product of her environment, and she is not to be blamed for never having a good rolemodel in her life.

     Well, now that I have three kids going to school every day, the Super Cub gas-saving plan no longer works because we are too high in numbers now. In addition to this, some other neighbors of ours have asked to take their 4 children to school. I agreed only because this family is a bit like ours, and a few of the children they are looking after are also throwaway kids. We understand they are poor like us, but also doing the right thing by taking in extra children to care for. They offered 100,000 riel ($25.00 USD) per month for fuel expenses, but we told them to wait til the end of the month and only give what they can afford to spare.

I Just Can't With These Humans 🚀

     Just last night my wife was at a neighbor's house just visiting and hanging out, when a random village lady strolled in and told us we need to also take her kid to school, and enroll him too. My wife let her know we are not an NGO, and the only reason we spent three hours enrolling Mey-Yii is because she has no proper guardian in her life. In slightly kinder wording, my wife basically said "My husband is the one doing this each day, not me, and if you want to enroll your kid you'll get off your lazy a** and do it yourself if you actually care.

     Bear in mind it's nearly impossible to register someone else's child in school here, and we had to lie and say Mey-Yii was without guardian which caused us to jump through many bureaucratic hoops. Can you believe what this woman's response was to my wife? She said "Tell em' I'm pregnant." She was basically implying for us to enroll her kid on the grounds that she's pregnant and can't be bothered to do it. That level of entitlement is mind-boggling, and a blatant misuse of our kindness. Monkey-B's teacher is 8+ months pregnant and still shows up for work every day 🤦‍♂️. I just can't with humans anymore, bye universe!