go.vote.share. [my asian americana & the white house tell-your-story competition]

Please GO, VOTE & SHARE.

Friends,

If you've been following our work here in Cambodia, you know that Daniel has been working with Cambodian-Americans who went to the US as refugees (usually as children, or even born outside of Cambodia in refugee camps along the Thai border) and were later deported back to Cambodia.

For these returnees who were raised American, the challenge of integrating into Cambodian life is enormous & their struggle is very dear to our hearts.

The Phnom-Penh based group, Studio Revolt, created this powerful video called "My Asian Americana" to highlight the injustice & invisibility surrounding this issue. The video is a compilation of Cambodian American returnees recalling their favorite memories of life in America, from the streets of Cambodia & I promise you can't watch it without being moved by their struggle.

The video has been selected by the White House for the top-ten submissions to the "Tell Your Story Contest" contest and if they win, the creators will have the chance to go to the White House to speak about the issue of deporting refugees & perhaps, real change can occur in our policies.

Please GO (to http://www.whitehouse.gov/aapi/whats-your-story)

& VOTE (for My Asian Americana - the first video at the top left)

& SHARE (with any friends & networks who would be interested)


the deadline is March 1, 2012 - only 9 days left! 

gratitude [pencils]

thanks christo & erica for my sophisticated & bright pencil shirt.  i feel smarter & a bit classier just wearing it.

snapshots [january]

porch party

[twelve months = one year]

[thanks jamie sue for the photo, amanda joan for the sweater, & kimmy for the bowtie]

hard to believe, but our little boy is one this month.  

in the early months of being pregnant with cedar, i spent a month studying in uganda.  while i was there i was feeling pretty sick, strangely exhausted, and overwhelmed as i looked ahead to see life in cambodia + grad school + full time work + a new baby in my future.  during our chapel one morning, the spirit of God reassured me, saying that this baby i was carrying was a gift to us & not a burden.  & those simple words were a huge encouragement to me at that time.

& as we look back on one year with this little guy, they still encourage us.  true, he's not perfect, he doesn't sleep well & we end most days exhausted since he arrived, but still, this year has not been a burden, our little son has already lived up to his name, & has been a gift.

& we could not be more grateful for our sweet cedar james.

[oh yes, & now he walks!]

this is what injustice looks like [borei keila]

 

[mok phaith, 65, cries as she searches through the remains of her home which was demolished by authorities in borei keila.  photo by:heng chivoan, phnom penh post]

 on january 3rd, policemen, guards, and employees of the development company phan imex destroyed the homes of over 300 people in the heart of phnom penh. 

[bricks & debris are all that remain. photo by: mai vireak-phnom penh post]

the company plans to use the area for commercial deveoplement.

[former residents. photo by: Samrang Pring/Reuters]

read more about the eviction and the response of civil society groups here & here.

cozy christmas memories [2011]

two weeks of winter wonder in ny + all hastings siblings + significant others + cedar's first christmas = a cozy christmas for the memory books!