By Mark Patinkin
The Providence Journal (Providence, Rhodes Island, USA)
She has become one of my favorite American stories, despite being born in Cambodia — or maybe it’s because of that.
I found her almost randomly. Last spring there were rallies across the country demanding rights for illegal immigrants. It got me wondering about a key group overlooked in the debate. What about those who came here legally?
I called several agencies who work with immigrants, but they weren’t able to find me anyone. Those they contacted were shy about being interviewed.
So I picked out a business where I knew, through acquaintances, that newer Americans worked. It’s called Citi Nails, a small salon on Hope Street on the East Side of Providence that offers manicures and other services.
I introduced myself to the owner, a woman named Christina Chhay, 39, who also goes by her original Cambodian name of Phaly, pronounced “Polly.”
She was a bit shy, too, but agreed to talk.
I wrote the story of how she became a citizen here, how she works six days a week, 12 hours a day to support her family.
Here is why I’m revisiting it.
In that original column, I wrote the following sentence:
“In all her time here, she has not been able to afford a real vacation. She hopes some day to make it to Disney World, but she doesn’t know when that might be.”
Soon after, I got a call from a travel agent. The agent said an anonymous donor in Rhode Island wanted to send Phaly and her family to Disney World.
Toward the end of this past August, they went.
Last Friday, I drove back to Hope Street to ask what the trip was like.
I got there at 8:30 a.m. Phaly had already been at work for a half hour. She arrives at 8 each morning from her Cranston home. She closes at 7:30 p.m. and locks up at 8. It’s actually a 13-hour day when you add the commute.
Her older son, Lonald, is 22 and now working. Her younger sons are Austin, 9 and Anthony, 10. Both go to Wheeler School, a private school in Providence.
Phally had to leave school herself at age 8 when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975 and split up her family, forcing them to work in difficult conditions in the countryside. She lived like that for four years, and for the four years afterward lived in a refugee camp in Thailand waiting to be legally sponsored as an immigrant to America.
At 16, she began school again at Central High, but had to quit to help support her family as a bank teller. She worked at the Citizens Bank across the street and would often look through the window at Central High wishing she could have finished. Later, she tried to go back to school, this time at CCRI, but by then had a child of her own, and soon realized she needed to work full-time.
It’s why school for her children is so important to her. She told me she wants them to have what she missed. At Wheeler, she gets some scholarship help, but there are still bills there to pay, and of course, other bills, too. She says her husband is a good father, but is unable to work himself.
The last time we talked, she’d told me about never having taken a vacation, but this time, when we chatted about it again, I was surprised to hear exactly what that meant.
Since beginning work, she’s never taken more than a few days off in row. She opened Citi Nails four years ago. It’s closed on Tuesdays, and the only times she’s taken two straight days off are when major holidays have fallen on a Monday.
I asked about Christmas and Thanksgiving — doesn’t she take a week or two then? No, just the one day. She explained she needs each day’s income to pay her bills on time, and feels it would be wrong to fall behind.
She has six employees now, all younger women from Cambodia. Their parents, said, Phaly, went through ordeals similar to what she endured. She said that almost everyone of a certain age who came here from there has the same kind of story. She feels Cambodians also share a commitment to work as hard as they can here, not just to support themselves, but to be worthy of their new country.
She remembers the call last spring from the travel agent.
The agent told Phaly a man had read her story and wanted her family to have the vacation to Disney World. He wanted to send them for five days and four nights and pay for everything — plane tickets, hotels, park passes and meals. He even gave them $1,000 more for spending money.
It’s still hard for her to find words to express what the gesture meant to her.
I asked her to try.
“Oh my God,” she said, “I think this is a dream come true, you know. This is better than winning the lottery.”
Better?
“Because someone gave us a gift from his heart.”
They left Providence on a Sunday at 8 a.m., and upon arrival, went straight to the Magic Kingdom. One of the first rides they tried was Space Mountain, an indoor roller-coaster lit by flashing strobes as it goes through the near-dark. Phaly smiled and said it left her a bit woozy.
Her sons went on it three times.
She let them do other thrill rides, like Splash Mountain, without her. But she added that it wasn’t about the rides for her as much as simply being with family. Because of her work schedule, this was the longest uninterrupted time she’s been with them, ever.
They stayed at the Boardwalk Hotel, a short boat ride to EPCOT. She says she particularly enjoyed the country exhibits there. She was moved by seeing all the different cultures.
Every night, they stayed out until almost 11. She liked the fireworks most of all, and didn’t want to miss them.
Phaly is back now to her full schedule at the salon. But the trip has made her more open to trying another vacation. Perhaps, she said, next year, she may take three or four days just to be at home with her children, maybe doing local outings, like a meal at Chuck E. Cheese.
I asked if the Disney trip has made it hard to face her long work weeks again.
She said it’s the opposite. It has made her appreciate the chance to have her own business, and all that has come of it.
“I never think this is going to happen,” Phaly Chhay told me, “to have all this opportunity here.”
She said she loves this country.
She said she loves being an American.
mpatinkin@projo.com
I found her almost randomly. Last spring there were rallies across the country demanding rights for illegal immigrants. It got me wondering about a key group overlooked in the debate. What about those who came here legally?
I called several agencies who work with immigrants, but they weren’t able to find me anyone. Those they contacted were shy about being interviewed.
So I picked out a business where I knew, through acquaintances, that newer Americans worked. It’s called Citi Nails, a small salon on Hope Street on the East Side of Providence that offers manicures and other services.
I introduced myself to the owner, a woman named Christina Chhay, 39, who also goes by her original Cambodian name of Phaly, pronounced “Polly.”
She was a bit shy, too, but agreed to talk.
I wrote the story of how she became a citizen here, how she works six days a week, 12 hours a day to support her family.
Here is why I’m revisiting it.
In that original column, I wrote the following sentence:
“In all her time here, she has not been able to afford a real vacation. She hopes some day to make it to Disney World, but she doesn’t know when that might be.”
Soon after, I got a call from a travel agent. The agent said an anonymous donor in Rhode Island wanted to send Phaly and her family to Disney World.
Toward the end of this past August, they went.
Last Friday, I drove back to Hope Street to ask what the trip was like.
I got there at 8:30 a.m. Phaly had already been at work for a half hour. She arrives at 8 each morning from her Cranston home. She closes at 7:30 p.m. and locks up at 8. It’s actually a 13-hour day when you add the commute.
Her older son, Lonald, is 22 and now working. Her younger sons are Austin, 9 and Anthony, 10. Both go to Wheeler School, a private school in Providence.
Phally had to leave school herself at age 8 when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975 and split up her family, forcing them to work in difficult conditions in the countryside. She lived like that for four years, and for the four years afterward lived in a refugee camp in Thailand waiting to be legally sponsored as an immigrant to America.
At 16, she began school again at Central High, but had to quit to help support her family as a bank teller. She worked at the Citizens Bank across the street and would often look through the window at Central High wishing she could have finished. Later, she tried to go back to school, this time at CCRI, but by then had a child of her own, and soon realized she needed to work full-time.
It’s why school for her children is so important to her. She told me she wants them to have what she missed. At Wheeler, she gets some scholarship help, but there are still bills there to pay, and of course, other bills, too. She says her husband is a good father, but is unable to work himself.
The last time we talked, she’d told me about never having taken a vacation, but this time, when we chatted about it again, I was surprised to hear exactly what that meant.
Since beginning work, she’s never taken more than a few days off in row. She opened Citi Nails four years ago. It’s closed on Tuesdays, and the only times she’s taken two straight days off are when major holidays have fallen on a Monday.
I asked about Christmas and Thanksgiving — doesn’t she take a week or two then? No, just the one day. She explained she needs each day’s income to pay her bills on time, and feels it would be wrong to fall behind.
She has six employees now, all younger women from Cambodia. Their parents, said, Phaly, went through ordeals similar to what she endured. She said that almost everyone of a certain age who came here from there has the same kind of story. She feels Cambodians also share a commitment to work as hard as they can here, not just to support themselves, but to be worthy of their new country.
She remembers the call last spring from the travel agent.
The agent told Phaly a man had read her story and wanted her family to have the vacation to Disney World. He wanted to send them for five days and four nights and pay for everything — plane tickets, hotels, park passes and meals. He even gave them $1,000 more for spending money.
It’s still hard for her to find words to express what the gesture meant to her.
I asked her to try.
“Oh my God,” she said, “I think this is a dream come true, you know. This is better than winning the lottery.”
Better?
“Because someone gave us a gift from his heart.”
They left Providence on a Sunday at 8 a.m., and upon arrival, went straight to the Magic Kingdom. One of the first rides they tried was Space Mountain, an indoor roller-coaster lit by flashing strobes as it goes through the near-dark. Phaly smiled and said it left her a bit woozy.
Her sons went on it three times.
She let them do other thrill rides, like Splash Mountain, without her. But she added that it wasn’t about the rides for her as much as simply being with family. Because of her work schedule, this was the longest uninterrupted time she’s been with them, ever.
They stayed at the Boardwalk Hotel, a short boat ride to EPCOT. She says she particularly enjoyed the country exhibits there. She was moved by seeing all the different cultures.
Every night, they stayed out until almost 11. She liked the fireworks most of all, and didn’t want to miss them.
Phaly is back now to her full schedule at the salon. But the trip has made her more open to trying another vacation. Perhaps, she said, next year, she may take three or four days just to be at home with her children, maybe doing local outings, like a meal at Chuck E. Cheese.
I asked if the Disney trip has made it hard to face her long work weeks again.
She said it’s the opposite. It has made her appreciate the chance to have her own business, and all that has come of it.
“I never think this is going to happen,” Phaly Chhay told me, “to have all this opportunity here.”
She said she loves this country.
She said she loves being an American.
mpatinkin@projo.com
1 comment:
positive thinking Pally ,I wish you get other trip to Disney World.
Willie T. ca USA
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