Volume 2, Number 4
FREE
September, 2025
Maui/Cambodia Link Opens Hearts And Minds E By Cindy Schumacher
mmy Award-winning Maui filmmaker and humanitarian Dr. Tom Vendetti, a retired clinical psychologist and former director at Mental Health Kokua in Wailuku, became involved with Cambodia many years ago while treating a patient for severe depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The patient was a native Cambodian, Sam Khong. While he was serving in the Cambodian military, the 17-year-old Khong had been sent to the United States for gunnery training. However, political upheavals in Cambodia had prevented his return for 29 years. By that time, he could not locate his family. At the age of 14, Khong joined the Cambodian Navy shortly after the establishment of the US-backed Lon Nol regime in 1970. As a naval gunner, he saw extensive combat against the Khmer Rouge and the Viet Cong. “Many battles,” he recalled. “I got five medals for fighting!” At the age of 17, Khong was selected to travel to the U.S. for one year to receive training from the U. S. Navy and return home to assist the U.S. effort against Vietnamese communists in Cambodia. However, this never came to pass. In April 1975, Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge and Khong was forced to remain in the United States. Eventually, he went to work for General Dynamics in San Diego. However, his new career ended abruptly after he was struck in the head by a metal beam while working. For years he suffered from PTSD and depression due to his years of combat and then, he finally decided to move to Maui. Vendetti explained, “When I met Khong, I realized that he needed to return to Cambodia to search for his family to alleviate his depression. That is how Maui became connected with that exotic but war-torn country. The Mental Health Kokua staff and board members raised the money to take him home, and yes, he was joyously reunited with his family.”
In fact, giving children of the rural poor areas of Cambodia opportunities for a better education has been a blessing for all those involved.
film festival too. Vendetti took the call to heart and brought it to fruition. Passionate about making and promoting documentaries that can lead to social change, he founded the Angkor Wat International Film Festival, which debuted in February 2012. It has become a highly anticipated event among Cambodians and among visitors from around the world. Vendetti recalled, “My experience with Khong inspired the film festival and its name. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest temple complex and the country’s national symbol. One of our goals was to increase the attendance of locals and children by a significant amount, which we accomplished. The film festival continues to this day. We present select Cambodian and international films free to local people, often including my PBS films. Plus, we often hold filmmaker panels on a variety of topics about digital cinema and other cutting-edge talks. In addition, to the delight of the Cambodians, Keola and Moanalani Beamer come with donated ukeleles and teach hula and a slack key workshop.”
Dr. Tom Vendetti shares a friendly moment with native Cambodian Sam Khong. Their connection has led to a school, playground, film festival and new PBS documentary . Returning Khong to his homeland led to other miraculous accomplishments. When Vendetti casually asked Khong’s mother, Van, if she wanted him to bring her something from Maui, he had been expecting a casual answer such as “macadamia nuts.” However, she promptly replied, “A school!” After a lot of fundraising—about $25,000—the Maui community, with the help of noted humanitarian Article Continues On Page 4. > and Newsweek journalist Bernie Krisher, the school was built. Today, it is still a great success. In fact, giving children of the rural poor areas of Cambodia opportunities for a better education has been a blessing for all those Input Sought on Lahaina Documentary.......3 involved. The sign for the school building reads Ethics Complaint to Be Heard in Oct...........5 “The Van and Sam Khong School, donated by Nuka Satisfies Sushi Cravings........................6 the Maui Hawai’i Community.” Afterward, Krishner suggested that the Events Calendar ..........................................8-9 impoverished, war-torn country needed its own
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