Cambodian crusade turns hardship into hope, help [in Stockton]

Fundraiser to aid orphanage, poor children in homeland

By Kevin Parrish

Record Staff Writer

October 04, 2012 

STOCKTON - Inspired by his own tragic, impoverished childhood, 46-year-old Willie Uy has made the suffering of children in Cambodia his life's personal crusade.

In 2000, Uy founded the Emeryville-based Cambodian Educational Network, and Friday night that nonprofit organization will hold its first fundraising event in Stockton.

"We want to raise money for an orphanage in Kampot," said Lodi resident Neari Var, 45, one of the organizers. "There are a lot of poor kids with no parents out and about, floating from town to town, on the streets."

How you can help

• What: Cambodian Educational Network fund-raiser.

• Where: Stockton Palace, 8118 West Lane.

• When: 6 p.m.-midnight Friday.

• Who: Sek Meas band will perform.

• Cost: $10 admission.

• To learn more: (209) 915-8600 or at www.cambodian educationalnetwork.org.

Kampot is a river [coastal] town in southern Cambodia.

Var, a U.S. Postal Service clerk for the past 23 years, has worked with Stockton resident Savunn Kang, also 45, to put on the show at Stockton Palace, 8118 West Lane.

A Stockton-based Cambodian band, Sek Meas, will perform along with soloist Chariya.

"It's the first time we've done this," says Var, who was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. "It's my passion to help out. It's for the poor people, because my roots are there. It's been a lot of work but very rewarding."

Var, who attended Tokay High School before graduating from Fremont High in Oakland, has known Uy for years.

His personal story is compelling.

Also born in Cambodia, Uy was 3 when his mother died. He never learned exactly what took her life, but he remembers the end clearly. "I can still hear her screaming," he said. "She died in a terrible way."

He said there was no doctor available, no one to help her, during a difficult childbirth. Her baby survived.

By the time he was 5, Uy was living on the street and caring for two younger sisters. Desperate to survive, the young trio followed a march of thousands into the jungle. Eventually, he was reunited with his father and a brother in a refugee camp in Thailand. At 17, the family emigrated to the United States.

"I told myself that whenever I became better off, I would help out those less fortunate in my country," says Uy, a San Jose resident who eventually obtained a good-paying position with Lam Research in Fremont.

That job allowed him to create the Cambodian Educational Network, which uses videos to raise funds and communicate the needs of the Southeast Asian nation. For most of the past decade, he has made annual trips to Cambodia, videotaping what he sees and raising money for those in need.

Var, a 1989 accounting graduate of San Joaquin Delta College, also has gone home and been moved to act. "It's very sad, heartbreaking. Not a good feeling, but it feels good helping out."

Contact reporter Kevin Parrish at (209) 546-8264 or kparrish@recordnet.com.