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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Living the American dream
Quote:
Cambodian family living American dream
By Dennis McCarthy
Staff Writer
link
Thursday, July 29, 2004 -
In this political season of promises and more promises -- all aimed at getting your vote -- take a break from the hype, and come meet the American dream with me.
Her name is Hean Vu Angulo, and she doesn't have a political bone in her body.
Democrat Bill Clinton was in the White House five years ago, when she was crying her eyes out after leaving her four little girls behind in Cambodia -- a widow coming to America in the hope of finding a better life for them all.
Republican George W. Bush was in the White House last month, when the girls finally arrived -- running down a corridor at LAX to engulf their mother in hugs and kisses for the first time in five years.
It cost Hean $7,000 to bring each of the girls to America -- to this life she has carved out for them by working 12-hour days, seven days a week, and going to night school for three years to learn English.
She really doesn't care who wins the election in November because she knows what makes this country great has little to do with political conventions or what party owns the White House.
It has everything to do with people. With hard work and personal initiative -- with hope and opportunity.
"When I was a little girl growing up in Cambodia, I always heard America was a good place, a place of dreams," Hean said Thursday morning, sliding a glazed doughnut across the counter to a customer at J&N Donuts and Coffee Shop.
"They were right. It is."
She bought this little doughnut shop at 4364 Woodman Ave., in Sherman Oaks, last March, using a Small Business Administration loan, and every dime she saved working two and three jobs over the past five years.
Her late husband was an officer in the Cambodian army, who died eight years ago. She still doesn't know the circumstances, the why of his death.
But she knew she couldn't wait for answers or help that wasn't coming. A young widow with four girls -- ages 3 to 9 -- she had a big decision to make: Stay with them in Cambodia, where they would live in poverty, or leave them with her family, and follow the dream to America.
"I cried every night that first year because I missed my babies so much," Hean says. "But I knew if I worked hard and took this opportunity America was giving me, I would see them soon."
Hean met Daniel Angulo, a postal worker, at night school, and they fell in love. He asked her to marry him. She asked him how he felt about having four little girls come live with them. Daniel said he felt just fine, and they wed two years ago.
And at 1 p.m. Thursday, the American dream left her doughnut shop in the hands of her brother, Try Hong, and went to pick up her little girls from summer school.
They've only been here a month, but one of the first things Hean did after showing them their new home and introducing them to their new father was to enroll them in school.
Get them started on their own American dream.
"You think about what she has accomplished in so little time, starting with nothing, and it is amazing," says Paul Delaney, a steady customer at the doughnut shop.
"I think she and a lot of immigrants who succeed in this country see something we don't. Or something we take for granted.
"This woman is up making doughnuts at 4 a.m. every day, opening for business at 5 a.m. She's always smiling, always grateful to see you come through the door. She is what keeps you coming back."
Because what makes this country great has little to do with political conventions or what party owns the White House.
It has to do with people, like Hean -- chasing the American dream.
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My parents came here in 1968, they met here and married in 30 days of meeting. I was born 9 months later. They both came here with almost nothing in their pockets, just a suitcase and some dreams.
I think that it's amazing how far they have come from renting a cruddy apartment and driving a car with no windows and starting with a screwdriver to multiple homes around the US and had some nice luxury cars in their time.
While I think that the political process can be a sham and can cause issues for some, I think that all of us lose sight on the realities that it is harder in a number of other countries. I think the quote below really puts it into perspective.
Quote:
She really doesn't care who wins the election in November because she knows what makes this country great has little to do with political conventions or what party owns the White House.
It has everything to do with people. With hard work and personal initiative -- with hope and opportunity.
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Thirteen years ago I came to NYC with $40 and a suitcase. Worked making minimum wage $4.35/hr giving up my consultant company and lifestyle in LA to make something better here. I now own a condo in Las Vegas and an apartment in Manhattan, I have a menial car for the moment, but I travel around the world on a regular basis.
All this an I never graduated from college and I almost didn't graduate from High School.
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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
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