Kham Intakeo
Away from home for better life
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Kham Intakeo was born October 14th, 1962 in Sayabouly Laos, to father Nam Intakeo and mother Saengko Intakeo. Kham has an older sister making him the youngest. He was born and lived in Lao for about twelve years of his life. Then moving to Thailand in 1975 and living there from 1975 to 1989. Kham did not have any schooling in Lao, instead he attended school for four years only in Thailand form 1977 to 1980. He was forced to quit school to help out his family work in a farm in Thailand from 1980 to 1989. After he was old enough he decided to get out of Thailand and move to the United States. In 1989 he arrived in Fresno California. There he was unemployed for six months, and was attending ESL classes to learn English and hope to get a job. Only job he got in Fresno California was in Landscaping planting trees on Mountain sides. In 1991 he decided to move to Garden City Kansas where he found a job and worked there as a meat cutter. He worked and lived there for nine years. After 1999 he moved to San Antonio Texas, and was self employed and bought off a contract cleaning San Antonio Airport. That lasted five years and soon were out bided and lost the contract. Then he went to work painting and assembling cabinets for 2 years here in San Antonio. After that Toyota Truck Manufacturing came to San Antonio in 2006, he applied and got a job on site with one of the suppliers for Toyota in a welding position. He worked in that position for three years, then a higher position opened up, and her moved up in 2008 and has held his position there since then. Kham got married back in 1985 to Thane Vongsouvanh, and they both had two children, a girl in 1987 named Saovany Vongsouvahn, and a boy in 1992 named Billy Vongsouvanh. After a marriage that lasted 23 years, Kham and Thene divorced in 2008. After divorcing Saovany, he went back to Lao and meet his now girlfriend and soon to be fiancé, Anulack Von. Anulack lives in Lao and Kham goes to visit his girlfriend half way around the world every year. He is working on immigration papers to bring her here to San Antonio to live with him.
From Lao you moved to Thailand, why?
I moved to Thailand because of my family, I was just a kid when mom and dad decided to move there. I had no say.
How old were you when you moved out of Lao into Thailand?
I was about nine or ten years old when we moved.
So did you go to school in Lao before moving to Thailand?
Nope, no.
So what did you do for ten years when you were in Lao?
I was nine years old, and didn't go to school, I didn't know nothing (laughs out loud about it) In Lao, I don't know, I didn't do nothing, I was just a kid, no school in Lao.
How did you like moving to Thailand?
Well it was bigger than Lao, more people in the city than back home. Very nice city. I liked it somewhat.
Did you go to school in Thailand?
Yeah, just one year, first grade. All I learned you could say was my abc's in Thailand, that was it. My family went through difficult times; I had to stop to help my family working and making little money for food. We had a small farm in Thailand, I helped my family with the farming.
What did you guys cultivate in the farm?
We plant a lot of like sticky rice, and corn. It wasn't a big farm, maybe like half an acre big was what we had in Thailand.
What made you come to the United States?
Coming to the United States because we want to, my family move up to make something different, easy, like get a good job and make good money for better life.
Did your parents come with you to the United States?
No my parents didn't come, they still live in Thailand, I go visit them when I can, and my wife too.
How did you learn English?
I learned English from my jobs, from friends that had already been here and new friends I made along the way, and then I went to an adult school, in the college, in Kansas. I went to school for adults in a college at night to learn English. Yeah, went to school for about six months.
Would you ever move back to Thailand, permanently?
NO, no I wouldn't want to.
Why not?
Because I have no property, no land no nothing back in Thailand. I cannot buy land or property in Thailand because I am US citizen, law don't allow it.
So you have no home back in Thailand?
No, but in Lao, we building a house for my wife and her family.
So would you move back to Lao?
Maybe when I retire, I don't know. I don't know my future yet.
So was it hard for you to adjust to a new culture?
At first it was hard, now it's gotten a lot easier. I have been in the United States for over twenty five years. But yeah, at first it was very hard, not knowing English. And not knowing the people. I could only communicate with Asian people, people that could speak my language.
Who came with you when you moved to the United States?
It was my wife, well my ex-wife, and my daughter. It was just us three when we came over here.
So how you guys get here?
We came here to the United States as refugees. We came from a Filipino camp. We moved to the Philippines, we lived there for six months then applied for interview to come to the United States as refugees. It wasn't a visa, it was a program for refugees moving from Lao out because we couldn't be in Thailand, we weren't Thailand citizens. So we went to Philippines and applied for benefits to move to United States as refugees, people with nothing, no homes. It was like ten families that came to the United States together and we ended up in California. It was a hard process. They asked questions like how many of family we had in Lao and Thailand and why we move to United States. I told them we move for better jobs in the United States, for a better life, learn something new. Thailand and Lao was very difficult to live in.
What places have you lived in here in the US?
First was Fresno California, lived there for one year. I didn't work, I was on welfare. I would apply for jobs, but never get called back because I didn't know English. Then I applied in a program for jobs for people that were refugees and came where I was from and got a gardening job planting trees. After that I moved toGarden City, Kansas, and got a job there as a meat cutter. I lived there for eight years. My English got better while I was there and the work was good to go by. But the weather was always cold and snowing. So one day we came on vacation to Texas visit some family here, and we liked the weather, weather reminded us of back home like in Lao, hot nice weather.
When did you become a US citizen?
I became a US citizen in Garden City, Kansas in 1995. We got a book, manual. And I read it and learned it over and over, tried to remember and practice the questions by myself. No one helped me. The book was in English; I practiced and read the book over and over for three or six months. Then I applied for an interview, and I passed the interview part for US citizenship. Then I got called back forty five days later and had my finger prints taken. I don't remember how long it took, fifteen or forty days later I passed everything and I went in person and got my certificate, and then I was a United States citizen.
What would you say your greatest accomplishment is since you moved to the United States?
My life, my new life here in the United States. Big difference from Lao and Thailand. It's much better here, in Thailand it was different, it was harder to live back there. It's easier to live here, all the technology here helps a lot. I wouldn't go back to live there, I would just go back to visit my family, that's it.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Are we done?
