This Is My Home: Stories of First Generation Immigrants
LONG SOPHAT was born in Phonm Penh, Cambodia in 1953 and only emigrated to the United States last year in 2016. His daughter emigrated to Renton sixteen years ago, and because she doesn’t have her own family, Sophat wanted to come be close to her and support her. The rest of Sophat’s family, including his wife, remain in Cambodia with no plans to emigrate, and he misses them every day. He hasn’t been in the US long enough to feel like her fully understands it, but he was not expecting it to be so cold. “The cold, it’s like pain all over,” he laughs. He loves that there are programs like Club Bamboo, where he can be among other seniors and speak his own language. “I drive here from Renton, and this is the only route I know,” he tells me. “I want to take in what I can and learn lots of new things.”