A NEW IDENTITY

Photos and words by Tucker Covey

About six miles from the Western Kentucky University campus in Bowling Green lies a small unassuming house that is covered in Khmer script and Buddhist prayer flags. This is Wat Ahram Meinjai, a Theravada Buddhist Temple that rests just outside of the city center. Here, the small, insular Cambodian immigrant community that practices in the city, is able to find a small piece of home, including Kheang Socheata and Sarith Nan, two monks who have spent much of the last three years involved in the community and becoming stronger friends.

Both Socheata and Nan recently took part in a naturalization ceremony in downtown Louisville. For one of the men, Socheata, the occasion was marked with not only a new identity as a US Citizen, but the decision to leave the religion. After 34 years as a monk, this decision was not one made lightly, and with it, the opportunity and risk of entering the job market. His friend, Nan, helped honor Socheata with a ceremony where he was given a great deal of money and other items to bring him luck in his pursuit of the American dream.

This leaves Nan as the only monk left in the monastery. He will, alone, be in charge of all the holiday gatherings by himself and traveling across the country by himself for various religious gatherings. This, however, exemplifies the Buddhist lifestyle –letting go of attachments and finding contentment in solitude and what is. Though Nan and Socheat were friends, all things must come to an end. Now it is Nan’s job to ensure that the others who depend upon him for guidance are able to seek the help from him.

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