Help Mia & Family stay in Cambodia & pay debt

NOTE: If you are making a donation  from Cambodia and the payment will not go through, please ABA your donation (with your name as a note) to account number: 003 026 171 (Chea Montrey) and let us know!

We can add your donation here as an 'offline' donation. (please see below for further explanation of how we are managing funds and withdrawals)

Also note that donations will be made IN EURO  through Go Fund Me


My Story:

My name is Mia. I am 19 years old and I live in Cambodia with my family. I graduated high school in Phnom Penh last year. If we cannot get our visas paid off, we risk being deported in the middle of a pandemic.



Just before the pandemic swept the world, my father started gaining less income from the restaurant he worked at until his income stopped completely when the restaurant's owner mishandled the money. I almost didn't graduate high school, and my family was already behind on two months' worth of rent. After this, we took on even more debt to pay for my last month of high school and cover the late two months' rent.


When the pandemic came for the world, many lost their loved ones, got laid off their jobs, were evicted from their homes, and fell to their all-time-lows. My mother never got to hug or talk to her father after 12 years away, with him having passed away last August 2020, separated an ocean apart during the lockdown.


Then my father lost his job of 10 years and was not able to get another job even after months of searching because the pandemic has devastated the economy. His work permit still registered him as the co-executive of a restaurant that no longer opened but had no funds to close itself down for good. The restaurant owner then left, with no consideration for his employees' salaries or to sort out the restaurant's official closure.


I took on a paid internship at my high school, initially thinking it was a valuable experience before going to university after my break. However, my part time internship job now serves as the family's main source of income as it pays for our groceries on a tight budget, barely making a dent in the rent bills on top of my family's late visa stays. The visa stays are much overdue, with a penalty fee accumulating each day to the tune of 10 dollars a day.



It was the first time that my family has been so behind on paying for our visa payments. By the beginning of July,  my family's visa stays in Cambodia will cost more than twice what we'd each pay for a regular 6 or 12 months long visa stay. On top of that, without our visas ( passports), we can't even have access to get the COVID-19 vaccines.



Maybe if the pandemic hadn't taken a turn for the worst, my father could have pulled through the hard times of his job at the time, as many others could have around the world. Perhaps we’d have been able to take care of ourselves without telling anybody about it, and no one would have known a thing. I am not used to asking for help from other people, a feeling almost like guilt. Instead, I feel much more fulfilled by being there for my friends when they go through tough times and by being of service to others.



If there were other ways to clear all our debts and bills of over $5000, maybe we'd have found the solution by now. But there hasn't been any path we could see forward without taking on even more debt. So now we are faced with our last resort, to ask the world for much-needed help. My first goal is to reach at least $1000 before the end of the first week of July to clear our overdue visa penalty fees as soon as possible.


If you are in a position to donate, any amount of money will help make a difference. You can also help spread the story so that this can reach out to more people who might be able to donate as well. Thank you for taking the time to listen.



Notes to donators

Manager:

This go fund me has been set up on behalf of Mia by a former teacher of hers who now lives in Ireland as Go Fund Me is not available in Cambodia. All words written above are by Mia. 


Just so you know:

Donations made via Go Fund Me will be withdrawn and transferred via bank (AIB to ABA). The transfer of funds will be posted here and on social media to maintain transparency


If you are donating from Cambodia and are finding the Go Fund Me won't accept your donation, you can make one offline. Donations made 'offline' through ABA will be made into the ABA account mentioned above. This is the most direct and quickest way to make a donation and will incur no transfer fees! All offline donations will be added here and accredited.


We are using Go Fund Me here both as a donations collection tool and a tool for transparency in collecting offline donations.


Thank you all for your support and coming together to help Mia who has been a constant light in our lives and who has made many of our jobs and lives easier with her achievements, character and her dedication.


-Christina