1
00:00:01,535 --> 00:00:26,249
♪ Cambodian music ♪

2
00:00:27,504 --> 00:00:30,522
[DONUT PEOPLE]

3
00:00:30,883 --> 00:00:32,073
[Samoeurn Phan]

4
00:00:32,073 --> 00:00:34,261
[Affectionately known as
Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)]

5
00:00:35,323 --> 00:00:36,904
[Sam has opened over 20 donut shops

6
00:00:37,903 --> 00:00:40,014
for Cambodian families across Houston.]

7
00:00:40,331 --> 00:00:41,969
(Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994

8
00:00:41,969 --> 00:00:47,056
to eat one donut you didn't realize
how much work goes into one donut

9
00:00:47,997 --> 00:00:51,374
until you actually go into
doing the donuts.

10
00:00:52,779 --> 00:00:57,446
You know, it takes quite a bit
just to make one donut.

11
00:00:58,150 --> 00:01:00,648
I start off by finding a location.

12
00:01:00,648 --> 00:01:02,454
If I find a location,

13
00:01:02,454 --> 00:01:07,597
I get a family that needs a donut shop 
to go to look at the location,

14
00:01:07,597 --> 00:01:10,728
and if they like it,
we negotiate the price,

15
00:01:11,191 --> 00:01:13,571
and if the price is right,
I build it for them and turn them the key.

16
00:01:14,597 --> 00:01:17,664
You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts.

17
00:01:17,664 --> 00:01:20,040
They work for a family member,

18
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,652
you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years

19
00:01:23,942 --> 00:01:27,133
to save up the money
to start up the business.

20
00:01:27,903 --> 00:01:29,681
[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston]

21
00:01:29,681 --> 00:01:32,562
[Cambodian Immigrant]

22
00:01:34,974 --> 00:01:37,243
(Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying,
when I came to the States,

23
00:01:37,243 --> 00:01:40,904
I don't have no relatives with me,
I don't speak that much English,

24
00:01:40,904 --> 00:01:42,631
I gotta start to learn English

25
00:01:42,631 --> 00:01:44,671
and start to work to support myself...

26
00:01:45,451 --> 00:01:47,616
and I don't have chance
to go back to college,

27
00:01:47,616 --> 00:01:50,668
so I end up at a donut shop.

28
00:01:50,668 --> 00:01:54,359
Most Cambodians who take us,

29
00:01:54,359 --> 00:01:57,706
they own a donut shop, 
they run a donut business...

30
00:01:59,399 --> 00:02:02,193
yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,

31
00:02:02,672 --> 99:59:59,999
not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now.

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[Countless Cambodians were tortured]

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[and more than a million were killed]

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.]

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.]

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
From 1975 to 1979,

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
At that time I was 10 years old...

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I still remember the torture,

40
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
lot of people died 
by starving and sickness...

41
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
most of [the time] 
they were killing people.

42
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
That was a hard time

43
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and that was the worst thing 
that happened in the world.

44
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Most Cambodians escaped from the war 
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime,

45
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and when they started to come here,
people don't speak that much English,

46
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
so that's why they started
working at donut shops

47
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because most of them what they do 
are family business --

48
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is my wife's nephew.

49
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He just came to the USA last year.

50
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He came in a special case
that they call "Lottery Visa".

51
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He's a lucky one 
that won a lottery green card.

52
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new.

53
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Hopefully, we can stay for a long time
until we get some profit...

54
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to take care of my family, my kids...

55
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
go to school, go to college...

56
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I have a beautiful kid.

57
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's like, if you work for a company,

58
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
you have a different schedule
than the donut people.

59
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So the donut people,
we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am,

60
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,

61
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and, you know, get together
and then, go to sleep, and wake up,

62
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and go to make some more donuts!

63
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)

64
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston]

65
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[Cambodian Karaoke Party]

66
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
4:10

67
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Hola Maria

68
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Hola Juan

69
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
yo soy 111

70
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
22233

71
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Jenny