WEBVTT

00:00:03.042 --> 00:00:07.931
♪ Cambodian music ♪

00:00:22.077 --> 00:00:27.905
[DONUT PEOPLE]

00:00:30.883 --> 00:00:32.672
[Samoeurn Phan]

00:00:32.672 --> 00:00:35.323
[Affectionately known as
Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)]

00:00:35.323 --> 00:00:37.792
[Sam has opened over 20 donut shops

00:00:37.792 --> 00:00:40.014
for Cambodian families across Houston.]

00:00:40.331 --> 00:00:41.969
(Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994

00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:47.056
to eat one donut you didn't realize
how much work goes into one donut

00:00:47.997 --> 00:00:51.374
until you actually go into
doing the donuts.

00:00:52.779 --> 00:00:57.446
You know, it takes quite a bit
just to make one donut.

00:00:58.150 --> 00:01:00.648
I start off by finding a location.

00:01:00.648 --> 00:01:02.454
If I find a location,

00:01:02.454 --> 00:01:07.597
I get a family that needs a donut shop 
to go to look at the location,

00:01:07.597 --> 00:01:10.728
and if they like it,
we negotiate the price,

00:01:11.191 --> 00:01:13.571
and if the price is right,
I build it for them and turn them the key.

00:01:14.597 --> 00:01:17.664
You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts.

00:01:17.664 --> 00:01:20.040
They work for a family member,

00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:23.652
you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years

00:01:23.942 --> 00:01:27.133
to save up the money
to start up the business.

00:01:27.903 --> 00:01:29.681
[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston]

00:01:29.681 --> 00:01:32.562
[Cambodian Immigrant]

00:01:34.974 --> 00:01:37.243
(Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying,
when I came to the States,

00:01:37.243 --> 00:01:40.904
I don't have no relatives with me,
I don't speak that much English,

00:01:40.904 --> 00:01:42.631
I gotta start to learn English

00:01:42.631 --> 00:01:44.671
and start to work to support myself...

00:01:45.451 --> 00:01:47.616
and I don't have chance
to go back to college,

00:01:47.616 --> 00:01:50.668
so I end up at a donut shop.

00:01:50.668 --> 00:01:54.359
Most Cambodians who take us,

00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:57.706
they own a donut shop, 
they run a donut business...

00:01:59.399 --> 00:02:02.193
yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,

00:02:02.672 --> 99:59:59.999
not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[Countless Cambodians were tortured]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[and more than a million were killed]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
From 1975 to 1979,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
At that time I was 10 years old...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I still remember the torture,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
lot of people died 
by starving and sickness...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
most of [the time] 
they were killing people.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That was a hard time

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and that was the worst thing 
that happened in the world.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Most Cambodians escaped from the war 
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and when they started to come here,
people don't speak that much English,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
so that's why they started
working at donut shops

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because most of them what they do 
are family business --

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This is my wife's nephew.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He just came to the USA last year.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He came in a special case
that they call "Lottery Visa".

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He's a lucky one 
that won a lottery green card.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Hopefully, we can stay for a long time
until we get some profit...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to take care of my family, my kids...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
go to school, go to college...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I have a beautiful kid.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It's like, if you work for a company,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you have a different schedule
than the donut people.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So the donut people,
we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and we'll be done by 12:00 or 1:00 pm,
and take a couple-of-hours-nap,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and, you know, get together
and then, go to sleep, and wake up,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and go to make some more donuts!

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
[Cambodian Karaoke Party]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
4:10

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
Hola Maria

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
Hola Juan

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
yo soy 111

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
22233

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 line:1
Jenny