With a Little Help From Our Friends...

It has been a while since I have sent out any kind of Graham and Seda update, so here are some highlights...

- We are finally legal! It took nearly seven months to complete the paperwork due to red tape, corruption payments, and the like, but it is finally done. Seda and I got our marriage certificate a few days short of being married seven months. Unfortunately, they will not post-date our license to show that our ceremony was in February without some additional bribe, but right now, we will take what we can get.

- Last week, with a little help from our friends around the world, I submitted the first round of paperwork for Seda to be given an immigration visa to the United States. There are two more steps that could go very slowly or quickly depending on the unseen forces involved with the United States Embassy... we will see. After, God willing, she is approved, we would begin the process of moving to the US. Not sure what we will be doing after that, but we are just taking it one step at a time.

- Why are we applying to come back to the US? Well, there are basically two reasons. The first is that it is impossible for Seda to get a tourist visa to the US, and I want her to be able to know my family. The second is that I am finding that my plan for coming to Cambodia, while good in the short run, has some serious flaws in regard to the long run. We are praying and considering what will happen with us, Cambodia, the future, etc... but right now we do not know.

- A week and a half ago, I was privileged to accompany about 100+ of the Asia's Hope orphans to go to Sihanoukville ('The Beach') in Cambodia. Most of the children had never seen the ocean before, and they had a great time! I did some swimming when we first got there, but then backed off to take some pictures (and a nap!).

- It is hard to explain how this works, but Seda finished her course work in 2006 at the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), yet just received her degree this past August (see picture #1). Family and friends were not allowed to attend, so I did not get any pictures of the speaker, Prime Minister Hun Sen. She is the first person in her family to graduate from a university...

- Some of you may have seen us in the Columbus Dispatch... if not the picture is attached. It will eventually be in the Mansfield News Journal, but I had my information wrong about when that would happen.

-The other pictures are of me teaching some of my students at Panasastra University.

At the end of the school year, Seda and her staff took their best students to 'The Pizza Company'. It was a really big deal, since many of the children had never even stepped into a restaurant before... hard to believe I know, but true. In the posed picture, Seda is the one on the left.

I think that is about it for now... as always there are a few more pictures on my blog... have a great week... please keep us, our church, and our work in your prayers as we keep stitching our tents...

Love, Graham and Seda

Cast your burdens upon the Lord and He will sustain you.

At Seda's Father's grave...

We went to see Seda's father's grave when we were in Kompong Thom...

Lotus flowers...

Here are a few shots from Kompong Thom...

Here is some protein for you...

If you'd like I can pick some of these juicy insects for you...

Some strange but beautiful flowers...

Riatry sure is a cute kid...

This is Seda's nephew Riatry... cute kid when he wants to be...

If Cambodia had tabloids...

Well, there have been a few real and true news stories in Cambodia that have left me wondering what would happen if Cambodia had tabloid magazines... here are a few thoughts...and similar to Dave Berry, I am not making this up...

CAMBODIAN PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN NOW SENDING POLITICAL OPPONENTS TO HELL!
Last week several of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's political opponents were brought to the US to speak about how rights of free speech, basic human rights and other basic freedoms are regularly disregarded in 'the kingdom'. No one from the Prime Minister's ruling party were invited to the hearings, however, they were very quick to deny the accusations. Strangely enough, within a few days the Prime Minister himself made a statement at a universtiy graduation. He stated adamantly (he states everything that way) that anyone who lies about Cambodia (read: lies about what he says is true) should be sent to the lowest level of hell. His comments were made during the annual Pchum Ben (p-choom ben) holiday where Buddhists all over Cambodia return to their home provinces to appease the spirits of dead relatives that have been sent to hell by presenting gifts of food and money at any pagoda. Be assured that no one hearing the graduation speech missed the correlation. Unfortuntately, the Cambodians who spoke in the US have made it known that they are afraid for their lives. There is no government ordained death penalty, but rest assured that it does exist here off the books.

BUDDHIST MONK GETS DRUNK AND GOES ON BITING SPREE IN PAGODA!!
Kiet Chan Thouch, 76, an adviser to Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, has been accused of biting his fellow monks and nuns during a drunken rampage in Preah Sihanouk’s main pagoda during the weekend. Apparently the 'rampage' went on for 48 hours in some form or another, including threatening another monk with being locked in a room for the rest of his life. (That monk has subsequently run away from the pagoda, fearing for his life.) Monks are not allowed to drink alcohol, and many people have said that he should be 'defrocked' because of drinking alcohol. (What about because of biting other people???)

a little heads up...

Hello my friends...

Just a little heads up that the Seda and my marriage announcement is supposed to be in both the Columbus Dispatch and the Mansfield News Journal this coming weekend... in case you are interested.... if it isn't, maybe it will be the following weekend...
God bless you in every way,

Graham and Seda

No parking?

No parking in any language seems to attract people to park right next to the sign...

yep, a door...

This is a government office... no joke

This was our most recent bribery stop... this time we will be paying $80 to furnish plastic chairs for this 'office'...

Boy makes an offering to a monk

The Egg truck

It is a bit hard to see this, but these eggs are hanging out of the back of a van as it hurdles along a road that is not that smooth... common practice here... but I just never got a picture of it until now... still haven't gotten a good pic of it... maybe another day...

I found this in our bedroom, and Seda wouldn't let me kill it...

Seda graduates from the Royal University of Law and Economics

Well, it is hard to explain how this works, but Seda finished her course work in 2006, but was just given her degree this past Wednesday. These are some pictures from after the ceremony. Family and friends were not allowed to attend, so I did not get any pictures of the speaker, Prime Minister Hun Sen. She is the first person in her family to graduate from a university... Congratulations babe!

Making a tent is more complicated than it looks...

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about the concept of 'tent making'. I had not given it a lot of thought since I first came to Cambodia two years ago... (Which is a bit strange because that is what I have been doing the whole time I have been here.) If you are not familiar with the term, it simply references the apostle Paul's approach to taking care of his daily needs. He would work making tents for people, and then spend his time teaching people about Jesus. That was the idea that I embraced as I came here. Little did I know that making a tent is more complicated than it looks...

Since that time, I have been able to experience it in action... and as with many things in life, it has been a process of putting on new glasses through which I can view the experiences of life and where I learn that not everyone looks at the world like I (we?) do... Nevertheless, as I have thought about these things more, I see that there are valuable lessons to be learned (and maybe even passed on to others who consider doing the same)...

Tent stitch Number 1: A tent just doesn't make itself... you've got to get in there and stitch!
I think that when I started tent making as an English teacher I viewed the actual teaching as a breeze and a relatively insignificant part of what I was doing here. I mean, Paul never spends much time talking about his trade, why would I spend much time thinking about it? That has been a bit of a wake up call, but an okay one... honing the skill of being an English teacher has included learning new curriculums, grading tests, actually learning English grammar (as opposed to just catching it from my culture), trying to explain idioms and slang that we all take for granted, as well as trying to think through the thought patterns of people who are trying to impose their culture into an English thought system that doesn't jive with theirs... not so easy, but usually entertaining and interesting...

But there are bloody fingers as well, which I am sure Paul experienced as he was sewing that leather... (you have to build those callouses some how). I have had to learn to deal with students that cheat on exams, disgruntled teachers that chew on my ear (not literally, just another idiom for you) , employers that I am not always sure have my best interests in mind, as well as the nagging doubts and insecurities that weigh on one's mind when you wonder if what you are doing is worthwhile.

All that to say that Seda and I have been helping each other to build a few tents around Phnom Penh... maybe it is in my classrooms, with the Christian teachers from the Asia's Hope school, her work with the poor children of Beoung Salang, our home, our church, or just out and about... some tents (as some people) seem to have come together easily, while others seem like they may always be in pieces. Keep us in your prayers as we continue to endeavor to serve the Lord here in Cambodia in the ways that He provides.

On personal notes, Seda and I are still working through the maze that is called the Cambodian government, trying to get our marriage license finished... yes, we have been married 6 months now, and we are still trying to get them to finish it for us... we are closer than ever, but it is often a challenging endeavor. After we get that, we will be able to begin to apply for an immigrant visa to the US. Several people have already done many things to help us with this, which is a blessing.

Thank you for all of your prayers! May God bless you.

Graham and Seda

Chantou's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for our niece Chanthou... we actually got her a bicycle that she really needed... maybe pics of that another time...

Amy graduated from BBU today!

Our friend Amy officially graduated from Build Bright University here in Phnom Penh today. It doesn't matter that she finished the course work two years ago! Hard to explain how things get done here... here are some pictures....

A long way gone - Ishmael Beah

Earlier this month I finished reading "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah. It is a good book from the standpoint of a boy who was forced by the government to fight in the civil war that took place in Sierra Leone in the 1990's. Since I have been living in Cambodia, I have begun to see more and more that America is in someways a political utopia. I know that sounds ridiculous when it comes to the deep political divides that exist there, but people's rights are respected SO much more in the US than most places in the world.

In this book, a young boy is forced into the killing machine that was the government army of Sierra Leone. But when I say 'government', I mean something that we can not imagine in the US. It is was a life of violence, indiscriminate killing without justice or mercy, drug use and plain insanity.

It is well written. I have to admit that there were a few things (like the references to Shakespeare) that seemed a bit unbelievable to me, but many times life is a bit unbelievable, isn't it?

Thanks for the book, Sherrod.

In Vietnam - a water puppet show

This was pretty cool... hard to see in pictures...