Hello everybody.
We are an English Cambodian couple and have just got a new little daughter!
I am a disability pensioner (due to military and civilian injuries) and live from a moderate pension that was enough to live on before the russian war against Ukraine but that is now barely enough for everyday living. My wife can’t work. Any money I could earn would ultimately be subtracted from my pension meaning I would be working at a loss. So there is no way to earn extra money myself.
Our problem is this. The registry office has just informed me that to issue our newborn a birth certificate we first need to get my wifes original birth certificate legitimised. This has to be done at the german embassy in Phnom Penh (for language reasons). Just sending the certificate will not work. I have had to deal with this embassy and one particular german employee there several times before and know how difficult they can be. The only safe and halfway rapid way to get things done is to go there and deal with the officials in person. Previously I have had to get lawyers involved (from Germany) to get them to do something they by law had to do but they just went ahead and ignored the lawyers anyway (maybe deliberately) and slowed things down resulting in unneeded and irreversible difficulties for my elder daughter. As I speak fluent german it is easier to get things done there face to face. Any other way will take too long or eventually fail meaning having to fly there anyway at a later date delaying everything else much more.
Without a birth certificate for our newborn we are stuck in many ways. We can’t get child benefits or other government help we are entitled to nor can we get any kind of travel document/passport for the baby and a whole host of other things right down to her health insurance card. At the beginning almost everything remotely important needs a birth certificate.
As we don’t have the money for me to fly there I’m hoping somebody here can help. The very cheapest “cattle class” flight is quite expensive due to the russian war (again) at around 1500€ for a return ticket. Another 500€ would be a massive help to pay for food and the cheapest accommodation I can find while there (at least three weeks to be sure the embassy “has enough time” to process things). Any donations beyond that would be helpful but not essential. I have previously lived in Cambodia so I am in no way a tourist there or a wannabe tourist for that matter. I have urgent and otherwise difficult to solve problems and no time for sightseeing things that I have already seen many times anyway.
I have no idea what the embassy itself will charge for its services but that won’t be a huge amount anyway.
To summarise, I hope to get enough to cover the cheapest flights (1500€), the accommodation/food (500€) would be a great help too and anything beyond that would be useful for anything unexpected. I will do everything possible to keep costs low and in the event donations cover at least those two points anything left over at the end will be donated to Ukrainian victims of the russian war via St. Javelin.
I am grateful for any help solving this and thankyou in advance!
Paypal.me/HWayneHolmes