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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 Cambondian 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 with me,
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]
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4:10
Eating With My Five Senses
