@Sreypov, the @KidSisters and I have been struggling to stay together for over a year. We've faced visa denials, financial hurdles and many more setbacks. When COVID-19 came to Suriname, it really turned our lives upside down and halted all the immigration progress we'd struggled so long and hard for.

     This may be too obvious, but while richer countries' citizens scramble to buy toilet paper and hand sanitizer, poorer countries' citizens face devastating financial consequences.

     In India, for example, the lockdown caused the poorest of the poor working in urban areas to ultimately become homeless and jobless overnight. Many folks in India's urban areas sleep in quasi-legal dwellings that were tolerated pre-lockdown. But now many have been forced to walk hundreds of kilometers back to their villages due to the COVID-19 lockdown, restrictions and lack of public transport.

     We were midway through the residency visa process in Suriname when government services came to a screeching halt. Already our situation was quite precarious due to three Cambodian passports and the inability for @Sreypov and I to get legally married.

     Being as we are unable to marry under the current circumstances in Suriname, and we are of two different nationalities, neither the USA or Cambodia has extended us a helping hand. The US Embassy evacuated nearly all the Americans here in Suriname, only to let us know they wouldn't even provide us with any financial aid should we be unable to access our funds.

     We need freedom of movement as soon as possible so that we can help ourselves and provide for ourselves more effectively. As of now, we are trying to self-evacuate to Panama so we can be in a more stable economy while we suffer this global pandemic. Social distancing and freedom of movement can both share the same space.

     Even though we have been in South American for over a year, I decided to provide a picture of the "Cambodian squat." One of the things I miss most about our life in Cambodia is squatting and chatting with friends and neighbors. There is a total lack of privacy in Cambodia, but there is so much intimate social interaction that it makes up for it.

     @Sreypov feels that Latin American and Caribbean folk are distant and don't know how to relax. I have to admit I agree, especially when compared to Cambodians. The one thing we've missed since we left Cambodia is social living, and it is an underestimated but truly powerful.

     I never did anything alone in Cambodia, even handwashing laundry was a chore to be done alongside a next-door neighbor. I used to have so many meaningful 5 to 10 minute chats in Cambodia each day, and the wonders it worked for my spirit are hard to explain in words. People were already distant here in Suriname before the economic crisis and COVID-19 came to town.

     I do hope when this all blows over, that we humans learn how to look out for one another and show genuine care and concern.

     Food prices in many places around the world have been on the increase since COVID-19 hit. Here in Suriname there was an economic crisis going on many months before the pandemic reached our shores. For the last 4-5 months, food prices, and all prices in general have been on the increase in Suriname.

     We came to Suriname because of visa, marriage and legal problems in Cambodia. We initially arrived to a stable country, although much more expensive than Cambodia. We made some huge quality of life sacrifices to survive here. We almost never eat fruit, we walk everywhere, and we practically never eat out, especially during this pandemic.

     When COVID-19 came to town, it really put the nail in the coffin for us. There had already been an economic crisis going on for several months, and price increases spiked 30% to 200% on most food items we typically purchase. When corona came to town, prices are now pretty steadily 50% to 500% more expensive for us than they were only 6 months ago.

     We went from living on a knife-edge to living through perseverance alone. Surinamers enjoy a relatively high standard of international living, so they aren't hit as hard by this crisis as we are. But that is the story around the world it seems, this pandemic has become a chance for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. I hope it ends very soon to relieve the suffering of working class people.