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♪ Cambodian music ♪

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[DONUT PEOPLE]

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[Samoeurn Phan]

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[Affectionately known as
Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)]

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[Sam has opened over 20 donut shops
for Cambodian families across Houston.]

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(Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994

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to eat one donut you didn't realize
how much work goes into one donut

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until you actually go into
doing the donuts.

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You know, it takes quite a bit
just to make one donut.

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I start off by finding a location.

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If I find a location,

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I get a family that needs a donut shop 
to go to look at the location,

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and if they like it,
we negotiate the price,

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and if the price is right,
I build it for them and turn them the key.

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You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts.

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They work for a family member,

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you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years

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to save up the money
to start up the business.

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[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston]

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[Cambodian Immigrant]

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(Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying,
when I came to the States,

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I don't have no relatives in here,
I don't speak that much English,

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I gotta start to learn English

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and start to work to support myself...

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and I don't have chance
to go back to college,

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so I end up at a donut shop.

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Most Cambodians who take us,

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they own a donut shop, 
they run a donut business...

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yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,

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not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now.

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[Countless Cambodians were tortured]

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[and more than a million were killed]

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[under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.]

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[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.]

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From 1975 to 1979,

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there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.

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At that time I was 10 years old...

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I still remember the torture,

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lot of people died 
by starving and sickness...

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most of [the time] 
they were killing people.

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That was a hard time

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and that was the worst thing 
that happened in the world.

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Most Cambodians escaped from the war 
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime,

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and when they started to come here,
people don't speak that much English,

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so that's why they started
working at donut shops

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because most of them what they do 
are family business --

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This is my wife's nephew.

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He just came to the USA last year.

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He came in a special case
that they call "Lottery Visa".

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He's a lucky one 
that won a lottery green card.

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The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new.

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Hopefully, we can stay for a long time
until we get some profit...

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to take care of my family, my kids...

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go to school, go to college...

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I have a beautiful kid.

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It's like, if you work for a company,

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you have a different schedule
than the donut people.

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So the donut people,
we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am,

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

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and, you know, get together
and then, go to sleep, and wake up,

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and go to make some more donuts!

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(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)

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[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston]

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[Cambodian Karaoke Party]