Chan Thou was born in 1980 in Cambodia’s countryside. He lived there with his mom and his immediate and extended family. Unlike himself, Chan’s mom actually experienced the ghastliness of the Khmer Rouge regime. In some ways that is how he’s tied in to the "Pol Pot era." In 1982 Chan and his mom left Cambodia for the refugee camps along the Thai border. Chan was only two years old.

They stayed at four different refugee camps, off and on, for five years until Chan was seven years old. At these times the mother and son led a very unstable life, hopping from one camp to another but thankfully it seemed the camps got better with each one they stayed at. The first camp only consisted of tents for the refugees. The second camp provided shacks but you still had to provide your own food. The third camp was a little better. It consisted of bamboo houses and they provided water and food. The fourth and final camp they stayed at was similar to a rundown city building. The building was shared by at least 10-15 families. The families would put up blankets to separate themselves from other families. After the camps, Chan and his mother were "adopted" by a family. The family that adopted them had a daughter in the U.S. that was immigrating them all to the U.S. Chan’s mother took on the family's last name and the interview process began.

In 1987, Chan and his mother finally arrived in Seattle, Washington U.S.A. One of the things he remembers most about that day was the intense cold. "Getting out of the airplane, I was just shocked by the cold," he said. In Seattle, Chan and his mother took up residence in a three bedroom apartment located in the Northgate area. "Wow, that’s pretty big," I exclaimed to him. " …but there were about ten people living in that apartment," he replied. When I asked Chan "why only him and his mother moved to the U.S.?" He answered, "ummm..I think one of the main reasons why my mother wanted to move here was for me to have a good education because at that time Cambodia wasn’t stable enough to provide good education." His mother was also worried that Chan was going to be educated by the Khmer Rouge but her bigger fear was a repeat of the events that took place from 1975-1979. Chan was also thankful that he started school right away. At seven years old he began attending Latona Elementary School. Continued>>

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