Day 4

Today I interviewed my two friends, Mai and Tola. They are both 18 years old and adopted from Cambodia. I started out with basic questions such, what do you want to do for college, do you have any hobbies, where are you from? But then I asked some harder questions; I asked them questions like what their stories of adoption are and what struggles they face from being adopted. It was interesting to me that Mai and Tola both knew their entire birth story because I, myself do not know much about my birth family. All I know was my birth mother died and gave me to the neighbors to give to the neighbor. I don’t even know their names. I asked Mai if she would ever want to go back and meet them. And she spoke very passionately about going back and reconnecting with her family. Personally, I don’t know if I’d want that. I don’t feel the need to meet my birth father, but I would like to know his name and where he is. It was interesting that Mai and Tola seemed so intrigued in learning more about their roots and staying connected, but  when I asked them, “if someone asked you where you were from, would you say ‘America, but I was born in Cambodia’ or ‘Cambodia, but I have lived all my life in America.’ “, they quickly said they were American. They did not even think of the fact that they are also legally Cambodian citizens. It makes me wonder how dedicated and interested in cambodia as they say they are. Or they just have never thought about it and answered it in the moment. 

Hours: 3