Meet Maly—Former Refugee, Small Business Advocate (Story 10/40)

“I remember life in the refugee camp, after we finally made it to Thailand,” Maly recalled. “I was so young when we escaped. A lot of people died and it was all so horrible, but I do remember a few things from that time.”

This is Maly E’k-Doungpanya, longtime City Heights CDC team member and a former Cambodian refugee. Maly was a little girl when her family was forced to flee the violence of the Khmer Rouge, and she was kind enough to sit down and share some of her story with us.

“There was this billboard, poster-thing in the middle of the refugee camp, and every now and then the camp managers would post the names of people who were approved for resettlement. Every day, people came to that sign and ran their finger down the list of names to see if they’d been chosen for the USA, Australia, Britain, or wherever.”

At this point, Maly smiled a mischievous little smile and giggled. “So I was only a little girl, you have to remember, but I would run to people and say ‘Your name is on the list!!! You’re going to America!’ and they’d get so excited and go check the list. They got angry with me when they realized it was a prank, and eventually people stopped believing me. I was the girl who cried wolf, you know?”

“So one day, I was looking at the poster and I saw my dad’s name. I couldn’t believe it, like I was stunned. I went back to my family’s tent and told them and they wouldn’t believe me, I had lied too many times and they were tired of it. So I grabbed my dad’s hand and pulled him to the sign and pointed.”

Maly paused here, remembering the moment when her father saw his name.

“He ran his finger down the paper, and when he got to his own name he just collapsed on the ground and sobbed. He was so overwhelmed with too many emotions, I’m sure, and that’s when we learned we were moving to the United States. We couldn’t believe it, after all we’d been through and so many family and friends were dead or lost to us, we could finally see something good in our future. We had hope for the first time in so long.”

Maly and her family have been through so much, but she doesn’t waste any of those experiences. Today, she works alongside refugees, displaced people, and small business owners right here in City Heights to make sure they get the opportunities she got—and to make sure they know they’re not alone. She and the Economic Development team work tirelessly to elevate the most at-risk business owners in the community, and they do it because they know what it’s like to have nothing, nowhere, and nobody—and that empathy fuels them.

Thank you, Maly, for sharing! This is part of a 40 stories series to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Stay tuned for more!