My name is Sreypov (ស្រីពៅ). I was born at Site Two Refugee Camp in Thailand, on the Cambodian border. I learned to read and write Thai a bit while growing up in the camp, but I am 💯% Cambodian. I now live in Suriname with my husband, Justin (@justinparke) and my two daughters. Our oldest child is Sakada (10 years old) and our youngest is Sakana (6 years old). They have their own Steem account @kidsisters.

     I know about Steemit because Justin created a profile for me and asked me to practice my English and typing on this platform. I would like to write about and share my life with you all. I also want to share my #Ital Cambodian, Thai, Indonesian and Burmese recipes on Steem.

     I married in 2008 and divorced in 2013. After the separation, I was able to adopt my daughters and become an independent mother. I later landed a job as Head Caregiver at AVEC Orphanage, a French NGO located outside Battambang City.

     Not only was I responsible for watching over the children of the entire orphanage, I was busy looking after my two daughter too. At that time Sakada was 4 years old and Sakana was only 8 months old. Life in the NGO was tiring, and simply too much work for so little pay. The good thing was I remained with my children, had food security and a safe place to sleep.

     Every day I woke up at 4am and prepared breakfast for 40+ children. After the children ate breakfast, I helped them get organized for the trip to public school. After the kids left I could manage a short nap before continuing the day's work.

     After this much-needed nap, I would organize a mat on the ground for Sakana to keep her entertained. I then cleaned the kitchen, let the chickens out of the coup and fed them, cleaned the childrens' dormitory, cleaned the toilets, shower stalls and watered the vegetables and flowers. After morning chores I always gave Sakana a bath and dressed her, then the two of us would eat breakfast together. After our breakfast I headed to the kitchen to prepare lunch for 50-60 people.

     After lunch the kids and I would take a half-hour nap. At 1:00pm I woke the kids up and they would get ready to return to school. After this all of the caregivers then hand-washed all kids' clothes, did garden work, then split wood for the stoves until 5:00pm. By then it's time to cook dinner for everyone, usually eating by 6:15pm. Then the kids were free to do homework and/or enjoy free-time til 9pm (bedtime).

     Only at night did I have time to cuddle my baby Sakana and look into her eyes. During the day, Sakana was only in my arms for breastfeeding. She was the sweetest girl in the organization, and everyone loved her and helped look after her.

     In June 2016, @JustinParke and I were introduced. He offered me an opportunity to move from Battambang to live in Kampot and help him run an #Ital cafe/grocery store. He told me he was not rich, but a good, honest, hard-working man. He also said not trust him, but to wait and see for myself, to watch his actions, and then I can know for myself rather than trust or believe him.

     I eventually decided to quit working at AVEC to go to Kampot for Justin's offer, where he then rented a separate adjoining room for the three of us. Every day we ate and hung out together, but we slept in our separate rooms. A cozy atmosphere was quickly created, and my daughters and I began to love him. In time our two rooms became a shared space and we were magically a family. Later on we also opened and ran an Ital cafe and Cambodian/English language school, just the two of us, no employees.

     In 2018, my husband was unable to renew his Cambodian work permit, and also the Cambodian government said we can't marry unless his salary is $2,000+ per month. $300 a month in Cambodia is a good life, but making $2,000 per month is nearly impossible for ordinary people. This hopelessness led to the closure of our cafe. My husband then began to research about other countries' visa policies for Cambodian citizens. He discovered that Ecuador gives all Cambodians visa-free access for 90 days on-arrival.

     We shot off to Ecuador, and I have to say it is a beautiful country with many mountains, a cool climate and many, many people. It is a much more expensive country than Cambodia, and we felt it to be very a western/European lifestyle.

     We lived there for nearly three months, had long-term visa problems and left for Suriname via a new e-Visa option, hoping to stay united and legal. We have now lived in Suriname 5 months, and we feel it is a culture and climate more similar to Cambodia.

     Also, there are many Chinese, Javanese and Indian people here, so I blend in very well. The culture here is a little more reserved than Ecuador, and I feel more comfortable under these conditions. I think also the people here are more welcoming to us than in Ecuador. Now I must try to forget Spanish and try to learn Dutch, but it is so hard.