1 00:00:00,684 --> 00:00:05,374 ♪ Cambodian music ♪ 2 00:00:22,540 --> 00:00:29,771 [DONUT PEOPLE] 3 00:00:30,412 --> 00:00:32,426 [Samoeurn Phan] 4 00:00:32,426 --> 00:00:35,481 [Affectionately known as Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)] 5 00:00:35,481 --> 00:00:38,842 [Sam has opened over 20 donut shops for Cambondian families across Houston.] 6 00:00:38,842 --> 00:00:42,444 (Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994 7 00:00:42,444 --> 00:00:48,049 to eat one donut you didn't realize how much work goes into one donut 8 00:00:48,049 --> 00:00:51,911 until you actually go into doing the donuts. 9 00:00:52,790 --> 00:00:57,529 You know, it takes quite a bit just to make one donut. 10 00:00:58,140 --> 00:01:00,666 I start off by finding a location. 11 00:01:00,666 --> 00:01:02,457 If I find a location, 12 00:01:02,457 --> 00:01:07,555 I get a family that needs a donut shop to go to look at the location, 13 00:01:07,555 --> 00:01:10,799 and if they like it, we negotiate the price, 14 00:01:10,799 --> 00:01:14,955 and if the price is right, I build it for them and turn them the key. 15 00:01:14,955 --> 00:01:17,723 You know, most of them already know how to make donuts. 16 00:01:17,723 --> 00:01:19,727 They work for a family member, 17 00:01:19,727 --> 00:01:23,623 you know, they've already worked for like two, three or five years 18 00:01:23,623 --> 00:01:26,062 to save up the money to start up the business. 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Chandara Meas Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston] 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Cambodian Immigrant] 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying, when I came to the States, 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't have no relatives with me, I don't speak that much English, 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I gotta start to learn English 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and start to work to support myself... 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I don't have chance to go back to college, 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I end up at a donut shop. 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Most Cambodians who take us, 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they own a donut shop, they run a donut business... 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 yeah, you know, it's hard to do it, 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not many people want to do that job as I'm doing right now. 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Countless Cambodians were tortured] 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [and more than a million were killed] 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.] 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [More than a million Cambodians fled and became refugees.] 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 From 1975 to 1979, 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot. 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 At that time I was 10 years old... 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I still remember the torture, 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 lot of people died by starving and sickness... 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 most of [the time] they were killing people. 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That was a hard time 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that was the worst thing that happened in the world. 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Most Cambodians escaped from the war in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime, 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and when they started to come here, people don't speak that much English, 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so that's why they started working at donut shops 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because most of them what they do are family business -- 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is my wife's nephew. 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He just came to the USA last year. 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He came in a special case that they call "Lottery Visa". 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He's a lucky one that won a lottery green card. 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The business we just opened-- it is kind of slow, it's brand new. 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Hopefully, we can stay for a long time until we get some profit... 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to take care of my family, my kids... 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 go to school, go to college... 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have a beautiful kid. 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's like, if you work for a company, 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you have a different schedule than the donut people. 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the donut people, we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am, 59 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, 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and, you know, get together and then, go to sleep, and wake up, 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and go to make some more donuts! 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (man singing Karaoke in Cambodian) 63 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant North Houston] 64 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Cambodian Karaoke Party] 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 4:10