It’s a hot day in Fresno and Danny Kim’s backyard feels like an oasis. A glistening pool looks inviting in the sun and two dragon statues made at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple guard the entrance to a peaceful pond garden. For Kim, this space is a piece of heaven that he’s built for himself and his family.
“I feel very proud because all my family is doing really well and I think part of it is because we didn’t forget where we came from,” he says.
The 47-year-old has lived through a painful part of history in his native Cambodia. In the 1970s, the communist Khmer Rouge takeover led to a brutal regime that killed millions.
