We're Finally Married | A HIVE Wedding In Suriname 👰🤵 Financial Recovery On The Horizon 🔭

over 3 years ago

We did it!! These Hivers are officially married after a multi-year struggle, and now we are ready to begin our financial recovery, but not without a jumping a few more smaller hurdles first.

WE DID IT!! 😂

It seems like it's been much longer than two years, but yesterday Suriname finally granted us a legal and internationally recognized marriage. Even though it upsets us that government has this much control over personal and spiritual matters, we are glad to have conquered some of the bureaucracy which stifles our freedom of movement.

🐝 A HIVE WEDDING 💒

Most of you already know that our whole family is on Hive, consisting of me (@JustinParke), my wife (@Sreypov), and our daughters, Srey-Yuu and Sakana (@KidSisters). It was a very Hive wedding indeed, because our witnesses were fellow Hivers @FaustoFraser and @LeilaFrangie. In addition to our Hive witnesses, another Hiver friend, @RafaelChan, also showed up to bless the occasion. A few other friends showed up too, although not Hivers, but due to COVID-19 measures, only a limited number of people were even allowed in the room.

💵 A FINANCIAL BOOST FROM ABROAD 🚀

99% of my social media activity is done on Hive, but Facebook is still the place where I can most easily connect with friends and family. I share much of our family's struggle with you all on Hive, mostly because I don't fear judgement from the Blockchain nearly as much as I do the wrath of friends and family.

Sreypov & Justin's "Stranded in Suriname Wedding | Honeymoon Fund"

It's hard to hide being stranded in Suriname though, so I decided we would bite the bullet and start a PayPal Money Pool for our friends abroad to give us our first true vacation in Suriname. We've lived here a year and a half, so I figure Suriname's first Cambodians deserve to see more of this country than the streets of Paramaribo.

We've previously used GoFundMe and other similar services to both organize fundraisers and also donate to charitable causes. I must say these organizations take a hefty percentage of the donations, and that is one of my biggest complaints, but PayPal's new Money Pool feature is totally free as far as I can tell. We have raised $600+ so far, so that will surely get us a few nights somewhere special plus transportation.

OUR FUTURE FINANCIAL FREEDOM 🔮

With our marriage paperwork in hand, thanks to the officiator in the above photo, we are now ready to request criminal background checks, wait the 4-6 weeks it will take to receive, then translate everything to English for international use, and we will soon be looking for a host country we can seek economic refuge.

The most important thing for this day was to celebrate the step that is now behind us. COVID-19 makes everything weirder, and we struggled to find an open restaurant offering seating to large groups, but we managed to hang out a bit after the civil marriage service.

We miss the financial freedom Cambodia offered us, and we could live quite comfortably on $300 a month, roughly our whole combined family monthly Hive earnings at the moment. In Suriname, there are limited opportunities due to the economic crisis, and it is relatively expensive compared to many countries we could be living in.

At the moment, Ethiopia is looking a good choice for many reasons, namely the cost of living, open borders, visa-on-arrival for Cambodian citizens, and of course the delicious food. When we are in a new place with a more affordable cost of living, we can then try some entrepreneurship within the local economy.

For now we are plotting what kind of semi-affordable adventure we can take here in Suriname for a much deserved quasi-honeymoon.

STAY TUNED....