DEATH IN CAMBODIA, LIFE IN AMERICA PODCAST COLLECTION

In 2020, Dorothy Chow began recording interviews with her father, Robert Chau, about his experience fleeing from Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's. Those interviews became the Death in Cambodia, Life in America podcast. They also became the largest audio collection about the Cambodian genocide to date. Over the course of twenty seven episodes, Robert recounted in vivid detail his memories of the rise of the Khmer Rouge, living under their surveillance, working in forced labor camps, and finally his escape to the Thailand border. It was the first time Robert had revisited this part of his story and the first time Dorothy had heard about her father's experience and the history surrounding it. Dorothy questioned why she had never heard about this history before in school or popular culture. That is what compelled her to record and publish her conversations with her father- she wanted to be sure that the story is told and told by the survivors themselves.  

Dorothy has continued to interview others in the Cambodian refugee community as well as journalists, artists, and historians whose work has addressed the Cambodian Genocide. She feels passionate about connecting the Cambodian refugee community with resources to help them process their trauma, and helping the next generation understand what their parents went through. 

In 2023, Dorothy decided to donate materials to Pepperdine Libraries to preserve and provide access to this incredible collection into the future. The collection includes raw and edited podcast files, music and sheet music created for the podcast by Dorothy's brother, transcripts of podcast episodes, and related images and promotional materials. The collection also includes two folders of physical notes taken by Dorothy and her father during the recording of the podcast as well as the transcript of a speech Dorothy gave at Bryn Mawr.

The word "Khmer" means Cambodian and "Rouge" means red, the words together refer to the communist guerilla movement that came to power in Cambodia between 1975-1979. The movement was lead by Pol Pot, who wanted to radically "cleanse" Cambodia by eliminating signs of Western influence and by restructuring society with the removal of the upper class and a push towards national self-reliance and communal living. These ideas were brutally carried out through mass executions and forced labor camps where millions of Cambodians were expected to produce rice at an unrealistic, astronomical scale. Two million Cambodians, or 25% of the population, were brutally killed within this four-year period. In 1979, the Vietnamese army and rebel Cambodian forces finally overthrew the Khmer Rouge and allowed survivors to escape to the Thai border and find refuge in France, Australia, and The United States. 

Cambodian refugees who moved to the United States found a way to support themselves and become independent business owners through opening donut shops. Ted Ngoy is known as a pioneer of this movement, establishing some of the first shops in Southern California and offering training and business loans to other Cambodian refugees. Robert Chau went on to establish most of the donut shops in Northern California as well as several distribution companies that support the donut industry. Like many other second generation "donut kids", Dorothy Chow grew up working in her parents' donut shop.