Bob Burton was the real estate commercial agent who helped Robert find his first donut shop ever. Today we with with Bob and recall when he first met Robert and why he felt compelled to help this refugee from Cambodia.

Robert scrambles to find a way to get 30k through his family and friends to buy his first donut shop. After getting the money... in cash, he marches over to the real estate office and drops off a trash bag of money to purchase the store. Stunning the entire office, Bob Burton asks him if he has a check, while Robert responds he doesn't even have a bank account! Within the first week, Robert also encounters his first instance of being robbed. Tired from the long hours, and sleeping in the back of the shop, Robert relentlessly works to build up the business.

Robert immediately decided that it was time to change his lifestyle and dive headfirst into donut shops. He left his company and volunteered to watch over his uncles financials. After working there for about 6 months, he decides he wants to have his own. Robert gets really close with a regular customer named Bob Burton, who happens to be a commercial real esate broker. Together they find Robert's first donut shop. It was the most exciting time of Robert's life so far.

In this episode, Robert found work in LA and starts to make some friends in this new city. He would be out drinking, and living for the weekends as most 20's somethings do. One day he decides to visit his auntie about 30 minutes away from town. Since arriving to their front doorstep, he was treated with disrespect and looked down upon. Without even being offered dinner in their howe, he felt unwelcome and left early. He left that home with a new found passion to improve his life. He brushed off his dirty shirt, wiped his tears, and vowed to get his life together so he would never feel that way again.

In this epsiode we follow Robert and his push to master the English language. He noticed immediately that without the language, you would not be able to get a good job other than a farmer or a janitor. He also started to make American friends who showed him the culture in America. Robert enjoyed the independent way of life because he truly felt it was similar to his natural independent nature. After earning his AA degree, and not getting any job prospects that he wanted, he decided to make a drastic move to change his life and experience a big city. He packed his bags, took $20 for gas..and moved to LA.

Robert starts to assimilate into America and gets his first job picking berries in the fields. Later, he gets a job as a janitor in JefCo. Since there was no transportation to and from work, he got to work by walking miles. One day, Robert found a broken bike behind a trashcan. Excited, he takes it home, asks Bill Hoffman his sponsor to get him new wheels.. and BOOM, his first mode of transportation. In the meantime, Robert's family makes ends meet by saving money and eating chicken butt from the 7/11 down the street. The family starts to consider moving closer to a Cambodian community in Portland Oregon.

Robert arrives and lands in Portland Oregon in the middle of the night. He has absolutely no idea what his sponsor looks like, and gets lost in the airport. He ends up sleeping next to his gate until a janitor wakes him up. Bill Hoffman finally picks him up, and he drives him to his house. Robert spends his first night in America and experiences an American breakfast for the first time.

Welcome to Season 2! Here are my goals for this new chapter of the podcast.

Ken Swann was a Field Representative for the IRC, was on the field working directly with the refugees in the main refugee camps. His job consisted of helping transport doctors and nurses to the correct camps, run errands for medical staff, and towards the end helped compiled the "Unaccompanied Minor Handbook" which helped reconnect kids with their parents in the camps. His work was incredibly valuable in saving the lives of refugees, and in this episode he shares what he witnessed during those 2 years.

John was a stringer for the Time Magazine and Washington post from 1979-1980’s, covering on the ground exactly what was happening in these Cambodian refugee camps. He has had first hand experience and was on the grounds of the camps, witnessing everything going on from starving people marching out the forests, to being there the day of First Lady Carter Visit in November 1979. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick his brain and give all the listeners an inside scoop on what his experience was like.

This episode was captured as I secretly pressed the record button during a talk I had with my dad about how he felt the podcast has impacted him. Sometimes when my dad knows he's being recorded, he tenses up. But this talk was just us two chatting about how he truly felt. I am so glad I captured this piece, and wanted to share with you all.

Robert spends his last several days at Longpenny camp in Bangkok dreaming about his future in the new land. He learned that he was sponsored by a man in Portland Oregon, and he was going to be the first of the family to head to America. Everyone was handed a plastic bag with their refugee paperwork. Robert learned that toilets in America were meant to be sat on, and water inside was not meant for drinking. He left his home country, stepped on the plane, and never looked back.

Robert takes this beautiful greyhound bus to a camp called Longpenny in Bangkok Thailand. This camp is filled with a bunch of refugees who are specifically dedicated to fly to America. Everyone here is very excited for their new lives. Here is where Robert and the family register, take photos, and finalize paperwork being heading to America. Robert remembers feeling so much hope for this future, fully believing that his days of hell are finally behind him.

Robert finally reunited with the rest of the family and lives life in Nong Chan. People start gossiping about which country they are going to go to, and dreaming about life after this camp. Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations come to the camp to take pictures, news reporters from all over the world are documenting what is happening. One day, there were about 10 buses that came to pick up their first group of people to transfer to Bangkok, an American camp. Robert barely makes it on the bus, and later finds out what dreadful events happened after he left..

This episode we will travel back in time and see how Amanda and the rest of the family escaped after Robert had made it alive in Thailand. After the family learns about the axe coming back - proving there is an escape route out of Cambodia, Amanda runs back to grab Mama to get the whole family together and out.

Robert has arrived to Nong Chan camp and is one of the first 30 refugees in this Thai camp. Prior to the Red Cross and humanitarian organizations, children specifically girls were preyed on for human trafficking, rape, and prostitution. Without the regulation of other orgs, the refugees were taken advantage of. This was absolutely terrible as Robert witness girls taken away. Imagine, people just finally escaping the jungles and crossing to the Thai border, only to have their own children targeted for human trafficking?? Robert even had to hide one of the girls in his group to protect her from these horrific soldiers. These are the silent stories that aren't told. It was a sad sad time the first 3 weeks of these refugee camps.

Roberts group of escapees follow the roosters crow and creep towards what seem to be a village. They create the plan and Robert leads the pack in. What they found is a quaint Thai village and stumbled upon some locals who immediately assume this group are Khmer Rouge soldiers. Because of this lack of trust, Robert's group is thrown into jail and tortured to get information. Yes they are in Thailand, but as Thai prisoners.

Robert’s group of 5 walk towards the forest and follows their leader. They all agree to never let this guy out their sight, it fear that he would take the money and run. About 1/3 of their way into the forest, they encounter a massive storm. This rainstorm, ended up saving the groups lives. They end up getting lost and encounter dangerous animals and lack of food and direction.

The Vietnamese have officially taken over the country, and everyone is flooding the Thai border in hope to get out of the country. The street is not opening, and people are starting to consider walking through the dangerous forest to reach Thailand. There are lots of criminals who took advantage of this demand, leading people into the forest to be stranded. Robert finds a trustworthy guy, gets a group together and takes the risk of walking through the forest.

Robert reunites with the family but understands that there is just not enough food to stay on the side of the road forever. Robert gets a group together and they all decide to walk towards Nimitt to pick up scraps left after the massacre. At the time, the Vietnamese soldiers were still fighting the Khmer Rouge. Since there was no food left, Robert sees a warehouse storage in the middle of the battlegrounds, and decides to raid it. While doing so, he gets stuck in the middle of active fire.