No way home

On Tuesday, Jeff and I are waiting outside the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh while inside Peter Chhun wrestles with bureaucrats. Chhun, the executive director of Hearts Without Boundaries, the non-profit working to get Davik Teng to the U.S. for critical heart surgery, has spent the better part of two days trying to clear the way for Davik and her mother to travel.

As we stand there, we meet Daniel Rin. A 23-year-old from California, Rin is waiting for his brother-in-law, who is trying to get a visa to travel to the U.S. Rin isn't hopeful about the chances of his family member.

  “Out of 50 people who go (to the embassy) I'd say about two (get visas).”

Rin knows firsthand how difficult it can be. Rin traveled to Cambodia to get married. He is now embroiled with the embassy trying to get clearance for his wife to accompany him to the U.S. Rin got married two YEARS ago and has a 4-month-old son. He has no idea how long it will be before his family will be able to return to the U.S. Together. 

One of the reasons Rin says he can't get his wife to the U.S. is because she lacks a sponsor who can help assure financial stability. Normally, a husband is the sponsor. However, although Rin has a job awaiting him in the U.S. when he returns, he can't document earnings and thus, he says, won't be accepted as a sponsor. He also says he has to redo health and police certificates for his wife.

Rather than displaying anger or outrage, Rin just seemed to adopt a very Cambodian mien of resignation and vague hope that as some point everything will work out.

In the meantime, he and his family scrape by at their home in Battambang Province, surviving on money sent by relatives back home.

How much of the blame belongs with Rin for not aggressively pursuing his case and how much belongs to the often imperious and impregnable embassy is hard to know. However, combined with the struggles Chhun faced, despite having raft of correspondences and documentation, Rin's story  underscores the hurdles Cambodians and  even Cambodian-Americans face. No matter how legitimate or pressing their needs, Cambodians often hit a bureaucratic wall when trying to reach the U.S.

As Chhun successfully emerged with Davik and her mom, there was an impromptu celebration.

After awhile, I turned around to look for Rin. He, and I expect his brother-in-law, were gone. Judging quietness with which they slipped away, I can only guess they had been turned aside yet again.

-- Greg