khmer

What is your relationship to your heritage language? How does it impact your sense of self and your familial relationships? How do you work through intergenerational trauma? Avy and I discuss these questions and she shares how she moved from identifying as Asian American to Cambodian American or Khmer American.

Cash Cuties Podcast Episode 

DiploChatz welcomes you to our Second Season - Episode 1!
Guest Co-Host: We are joined on this first episode by Brandon Denney who is one of NNIC's Medical Coordinators as our DiploChatz Co-Host. Welcome, Brandon!!

Episode 1 Description:
We will begin every DiploChatz show with a warm welcome to you! We will take this opportunity to introduce you to our episode's co-host.
 
On Episode 1 of DiploChatz, we are joined by Ms. Jessica Ear, NNIC Board Member.
Ms. Jessica Ear has spent the last 30 years working and living in Asia. Her extensive experience ranges from the U.S. Diplomatic Corps where she negotiated with governments to advance political and humanitarian issues, to the Department of Defense where she advised, taught, and instructed U.S. and foreign military and civilian leaders on human security in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. With a legal background in international studies and human rights, Ms. Ear has not only worked with governments, but she has also assisted the United Nations, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations in various areas that aim to improve human lives and conditions. She is versed in international development, refugee policies and resettlement, humanitarian and crisis response and support. As a former refugee from Cambodia, Ms. Ear is dedicated to promoting global peace and security. 

Segment 1: During the first segment of Episode 1, Jessica chatz with DiploChatz about her life story as a former refugee from Cambodia. Jessica opens up about the challenges that she had to go through during her journey fleeing her country and the important role that her parents played while they kept her and her family safe.
Segment 2: During our second segment, Jessica chatz with us about the human spirit of the Northern Nevada International Center (NNIC) which ultimately was one of the reasons why she ended up joining the NNIC Board of Directors. 

DiploChatz featured an ongoing Segment:

Every month DiploChatz proudly features a segment called Mindfulness Moment with Dr. Yvonne Stedham. This segment provides practical advice on how mindfulness can support you in your daily life.  

Who is Dr. Yvonne?

In addition to a three-decade-long career in academia as a professor in the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Yvonne Stedham is a Center for Mindfulness-trained mindfulness instructor. She has taught Mindful Leadership courses to MBA students, judges, and business executives and has a variety provided mindfulness programs to many organizations, including Microsoft, Hometown Health, and the Nevada Department of Transportation. Dr. Yvonne has been continuously affiliated with the Northern Nevada International Center for decades.

Credits:  

Manuel Mederos, DiploChatz Host, Producer, Audio Editor, Content Director, Sound Engineer, FX/Music Coordinator, and Guest Coordinator   

Send any chatz ideas we should take into consideration on future shows:

Email us:  diplochatz@nnic.org  

Interested in starting your own podcast?  Use the link below and get started, good luck!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1819963

In this episode, I travel back to Phnom Penh, Cambodia – one of my favorite places in the world – and sit down with my friend Kay Kay.

Kay Kay is one of the “Deportees,” those Cambodian nationals who grew up in the U.S. but were later deported back to Cambodia, to a country and even language they didn’t know. Raised in California in a poor neighborhood amid crime, drugs, and gangs, Kay Kay was more about the breakdancing and graffiti tagging life.

However, he did fall victim to the streets and ended up spending multiple bids in prison and then immigration jail. After years of incarceration in the U.S. system, he was shackled on an airplane and deported to Cambodia.

It’s there that Kay Kay’s true journey starts, as he soon helping poor street kids who had no one else, and then taking them in. He first taught them his break dancing skills, and then offered life guidance and mentorship.

The movement grew and eventually became Tiny Toones, an international non-profit that’s still in existence today after nearly two decades, offering formal education, life skills, and even job placement.

According to their website, “Our mission is to provide a safe, positive environment for at‐risk youth to channel their energy and creativity into the arts and education, empowering them to build self‐confidence in their daily lives, aim for better employment possibilities, and feel supported pursuing their dreams.”

Kay Kay still runs Tiny Toones all of these years later, making it his life’s mission to save kids from the same gangs, streets, and temptations that almost claimed his life.

Enjoy this part 1 of my conversation with Kay Kay and feel free to check out Tiny Toones and make a humble donation at: www.tinytoones.org

-Norm  :-)

In this part two of my podcast with Wicced, or Kalvin Hang, we reunite in Phnom Penh, sitting down in a corner of a bar tucked away in an alley to talk about his story, live from the Kingdom of Cambodia.

In episode #26, Wicced and I covered how he was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, made his way across the world to settle in California, and then fell into the street life because of his surroundings. Never a naturalized citizen, he ended up in an immigration prison for years and, post 9/11, was deported back to Cambodia – a country he’d never lived, didn’t know the language, and never even visited.

 In this podcast, we pick up Wicced’s story when he first arrives to Phnom Penh on “Con Air,” handcuffed and still incarcerated. He eventually is released to family members in the countryside but the transition from modern California to the villages and province life in rural Cambodia is as radical as it gets. 

 Wicced finds his way to the big city, Phnom Penh, where he settles and immediately starts giving back, helping others, and making an impact. Fast forward almost two decades and Wicced is a community leader, advocate for deportation and immigration reform, social activist who has spoken and attended conferences all over thew world, business man, and family man all the same. 

 It's a great honor to have WIcced as a friend and little brother, and I thoroughly enjoyed our sit down and chat, including a surprise answer to a question I asked him eight years ago. 

 I might just have to move back to Cambodia – a place I’ve lived and really love – just to hang out with Wicced more!
 
 I hope you feel the same after listening to this podcast.

 -Norm 🎙️🌏

 PS Big-up to the Deportees and my Khmer fam!

I’m honored to introduce you to my great friend and brother, Kalvin Hang, or Wicced as he’s known. 

Wicced was born in a refugee camp in Thailand as his parents escaped war-torn Cambodia, then emigrated to California, where he grew up in San Diego.  

From dire poverty to gang violence to prison, to say Wicced had it tough is an understatement. He was even thrown in an immigration prison and deported to Cambodia, never allowed to return to the U.S. - even though he’d never actually lived in Cambodia. 

But instead of seeing himself as a victim or shying away from adversity, Wicced thrived on it, becoming a community leader and bridge between two worlds: Cambodia and the U.S., the streets and the bustling business world.

Now, Wicced is thriving in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. But never forgets where he’s from, always judging himself on the scales of karma. He’s equal parts fearless and compassionate, a man of furious action while at the same time deeply introspective. 

But one thing is for sure – if Wicced is your friend, he’s always got your back.

Thanks for listening to this part one of my interview with Wicced and look for part two coming very soon. 

And mad love to Cambodia and the Deportees! 

-Norm Schriever

As a storyteller, Hak Lonh looks to food as a way to share the rich history of Cambodia and its complex cuisine. Hak is Cambodian-Chinese-American. He was born in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. His family immigrated to the US when he was a toddler. They fled, fought and eventually escaped the horrors of “The Killing Fields”, landing in Pennsylvania.

His father, Kim, was able to secure a job due in part to his ability to speak French fluently. This skill and his natural talent eventually lead him to become a classically trained chef. Hak’s mom, Bun, a phenomenal home chef in her own right, was also working and preparing meals to feed the family. Because of the historical challenges to Cambodia, Cambodians have had to rely on recipes and culinary traditions as one of the few ways to preserve their heritage. Hak’s mother, in particular, faithfully goes to great lengths to prepare home cooked meals as a way to keep that heritage alive. In this way, food has always been an integral part of Hak’s life.

Gamboge is a Cambodian inspired deli, café, and marketplace. Offering Cambodian comfort classics, coffee, beer and natural wines. Founded by chef and filmmaker, Hak Lonh and his wife Jane Oh. Gamboge’s mission is to bring together the stories and memories that make up modern day Cambodian cuisine, while honoring it’s past.

LINKS:

• Episode transcript
• Gamboge
• Salaw Machu Kroeng
• Prahok
• Khemla
• Nyum Bai
• We have a website!
• Follow the show on Instagram
• Email us
• Follow Jordan on Instagram or Twitter

Shout out to Shawn Meyers for the music and Jason Cryer for the art!

Being Khmer is often treated as synonymous to being Cambodian. But many ethnicities are woven throughout the Kingdom's rich tapestry, as social commentator Din Darathtey and Cambodian Living Arts executive director Prim Phloeun join the podcast to discuss

Australian-South Sudanese artist Atong Atem brilliantly flips the Ethnographic gaze to create gorgeous studio portraits with a powerful statement.

Plus, how does the medium of video art exist in the era of binge watching?

And Namila chats to incoming guest host Daniel Browning, a familiar voice to RN listeners — but did you know he trained as an artist?

Who in the World podcast #5: Sitha Toeung 🇰🇭

From 1975 to early 1979, for a period of more than 3 ½ years, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia committed one of the most atrocious genocides in human history. Under their ruler Pol Pot, this Cambodian genocide killed up to 2.5 million men, women, and children due to starvation, being worked to death, torture, and murder.

On the heels of the Vietnam Conflict in the region that created a power vacuum and saw the Marxist-leaning Khmer Rouge come to power, their mission was to cleanse society from anyone who was an intellectual, subscribed to foreign ideology or influence, or affiliated with the previous government, military, police, or even schools.

The subject of this dark and still somewhat forgotten genocide was brought to light in the 1980s film, The Killing Fields, exposing that up to 25% of Cambodia’s entire population was wiped out in just these three+ years.

Sitha Toeung was only six years old when the Khmer Rouge entered the capital city of Phnom Penh in 1975, telling everyone that they needed to evacuate immediately because the Americans were ready to bomb the city (which was untrue). They mandated that every single person exit the city immediately, leaving their homes and cars and all of their belongings. The Khmer Rouge promised that it would only be a few days until everyone could come back, but that was not true, of course.

Once outside the city, people were forcibly separated – families broken up - and shipped off to work camps throughout the country. Those who resisted were murdered on the spot.

At these camps, people were starved and worked to death, tortured frequently and often killed arbitrarily. 

Sitha was in a camp, too, and saw his three brothers killed, his mother barely spared. But survive he did, until late 1978/early 1979 when the Vietnamese army stormed the country and forced the Khmer Rouge to flee to the jungles in the north.

Whoever was left may have been alive, but they did not much left, as a whole series of generations lost their family, property, history, culture, and faith in humanity.

In the midst of the 1980s when Cambodian society started to crawl out the darkness, Sitha picked up the pieces and managed to obtain a college education in Phnom Penh. He met his wife, Sreymom, while teaching English, and together they looked to the future.

 With a whole nation of impoverished orphans, there were plenty of children who needed help. They traveled to the city of Siem Reap in the north and volunteered for a charitable organization and realized it was their life’s work to take care of Cambodia’s unwanted children, helping their nation heal.

Soon, they took in more children. And more. And then officially formed The Childrens Improvement Organization (or Organisation, the British spelling) orphanage.

They moved the budding family to a plot of land and several rudimentary structures they rented from a Taiwanese company, and that’s where I connected with them back in 2015 when I was living in Cambodia. Through a total random happenstance, I was met Sitha and helped place two orphan sisters, Jenny and Jenna, at the Childrens Improvement Center, or CIO.

Over the years, I’ve visited Sitha, Sreymom, the kids, at the orphanage many times, and helped support them with my own humble donations while also raising awareness. Thanks to the benevolence of strangers, Sitha and Sreymom managed to buy property of their own, building a nice complex that is perfect for the 35 children they now care for.

From narrowly avoiding a certain death under the Cambodian genocide to a flourishing charity that’s changing so many young lives, Sitha gives us hope that one person can make a difference in this world.

In this podcast, Sitha tells his story.

 -Norm Schriever

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Genocide. An insane, Cambodian tragedy that was oh, so avoidable. Saloth Sar, aka Pol Pot, was a man with a dream. A horrible, delusional, misguided dream. He wanted to turn Cambodia away from being a constitutional monarchy and into being a Mao-influenced, agrarian, communist society where basically everyone was either a soldier, a rice farmer, or dead. He wasn't very smart, he was ruthless, and he was in charge. And a couple million people died. Find out how the term, "the killing fields," came to be, today, on Timesuck.

Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared to Death. Listen on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, Youtube, and more! Here's the iTunes link: https://apple.co/2MRMgai

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