Mey-Yii, our neighbor girl and once frequent visitor, was blessed this year by two selfless Hivers who went above and beyond.
🎅🎅 A Little Christmas Love From Two Hivers 🎄
If you are an avid reader of my blog, chances are you've heard of Mey-Yii, a young girl near our house that is being raised by a cruel and careless grandmother. Time is not something this girl's guardian ever gives her, but Mey-Yii has free access to all the YouTube she can watch and a key to the family motorbike that she can ride anytime despite not being taught basic moto safety or being made to wear a helmet.
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One particular Hiver,
Once the post rewards came in, I tallied up the total HBD and HP that I received, and this came out to roughly $11.10 to $11.20 USD depending on the ups and downs of HIVE at any given moment. Converted to local Cambodian currency, it is a total of 44,800៛. My wife recently joined my neighbor on a roadtrip, and used the opportunity to make a Binance withdrawal and do some shopping for Mey-Yii.
The Adventure Begins 🛻
I am not blessed with much freetime these days, so I never go on any road trips that aren't mandatory, so I put my wife in charge of the Mey-Yii mission. I had previously sat down with Mey-Yii and explained the situation, where the money came from, and why we wouldn't simply be giving her cash due to her grandmother's alcoholism and gambling addictions. I had Mey-Yii tell me some things she wanted, and I wrote them all down on a list to aid in efficient shopping.
In addition to this, we live in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing useful to buy here, and Mey-Yii would likely spend it on nutritionally bankrupt packaged mystery snacks from Vietnam that are sold here in the village, and whose wrappers dot the landscape. In Pramaoy, the town we used as a basecamp for many months, my wife was able to spend most of the money, but she felt rushed because our neighbor was doing this trip for business purposes and wanted to return quickly once he'd finished his objectives.
Most items were picked up at the local 2,500៛ Store, where everything costs roughly 62 cents if you're thinking in USD. 
School supplies that she will need in a few weeks were a major priority, studies resuming around December 20th if I remember correctly. One item she really wanted was a plastic toy kitchen set, and they happen to find this, although this wasn't the usual 2,500៛ like everything else in the store.
After paying the bill, it was already time to head back home on the 1-hour+ return trip back to Steung Kach. I was a little bummed there was no time for veggie shopping because there are no markets near us and we only get to a few chances a month to purchase rare-in-the-village items like cauliflower, tofu, and other things that are quite common in more populated areas.
There wasn't an opportunity to spend all of the money on this trip, but we had planned to do some shopping at a later date in a more distant town where bigger items like clothes and shoes are much more affordable.
Mey-Yii Foiled Our Plans 🤐
When I heard a knock at the door, I opened it and discovered Mey-Yii had already heard of the roadtrip via village gossip and was awaiting their return at her estranged stepfather's house, and whose son-in-law was the driver of this trip. We had planned to give her the items at a later date, but it was clear she wasn't leaving without her stuff, so we decided to quickly document the items for a transparency post.
There was a pack of dry-erase markers, a pack of colored pencils, two hair elastics, a pencil-ruler-eraser set, a coloring book and crayons, and most of all her much wanted kitchen play set.
My wife mad quick work of documenting the items, a little car-sick from the trip, but in good spirits. Mey-Yii hasn't been hanging out with us for several months because her mom and stepdad that previously abandoned her are now staying with at her grandma's. The mother has never spoken a word to us or showed any thanks for all the efforts we have put into teaching her daughter basic manners, ethics, and personal hygiene.
Now that she has the key to a $3,000 motorbike and a constant full tank of gas, and unlimited access to smartphone screens, she prefers to joyride up and down the highway without her helmet rather than hang out at our place like before. We also know her trio of guardians have said lots of bad things about us, and we can only guess how much of this crap Mey-Yii believes.
In total 30,000៛ was spent, leaving 14,800៛ left over for another trip, potentially enough to get some new flip-flops or crocs. I sense she'll be frequently visiting us until she gets the rest of her stuff, then will likely stop coming around again as is the norm now.
I arranged a quick photo of her with her things, realizing she wasn't gonna be leaving the house until she got the items. As soon as I had documented everything with photo evidence, Mey-Yii left with her gifts in hand, no "thank you" or "goodbye," but because she doesn't come around anymore, we no longer put efforts into teaching her basic manners like this. We received no phone calls or visits from any of her guardians for sacrificing our monthly veggie run in order to buy Mey-Yii gifts.
They are a truly frustrating family, and I wish at the very least they'd instruct Mey-Yii to wear a helmet as she joyrides her oversized moto up and down the edge of the dangerous highway full of speeding gamblers who are often road-raging because of unsuccessful gambling trips. It was nice to see Mey-Yii again because it had been a couple months, and I'll be sure to post the details of our second shopping trip when it happens.
Thanks to
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