Kim Poam Logan and her family escaped war-torn Cambodia in the early 1980s and headed for the great unknown – Iowa – as part of the Southeast Asian resettlement. As a 10-year-old in Oskaloosa, she adjusted to a new language, new food and an entirely new way of life, which she and her family were able to do through the generosity of many local sponsors whom she came to consider her grandparents. Poam Logan became fascinated by books, mostly because of the pictures, but gained a greater appreciation for literature and went on to study English and French at Central College. After a year studying abroad at the University of Paris and another year and a half as a teacher-trainer in Sri Lanka through the Peace Corps, she put down her roots in Central Iowa. She spent three years working for Toys “R” Us Inc. and a year and a half as the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s director of government and international relations before co-founding the Iowa Asian Alliance. She continues to serve as executive director of that organization, which she says gives her pride in her Asian heritage.

What do you remember from your early childhood in Cambodia?

Everything you read about the Khmer Rouge era, that’s what it was. There were work camps, the killing fields, bombings, everything associated with the war. But as a young kid at the time, I though that was the way of life. That was all I knew.

What do you remember about leaving Cambodia?

I think I was a very naïve young child. I thought the refugee camp was a place we could escape to that was safe, where bombs weren’t falling on us, where we weren’t going into dugouts and where we at least had shelter. I didn’t know the broader scheme of life. We didn’t know where we were going. Whatever country would take us, that was where we would go.

Were you able to adjust to life in Iowa?

We came in December, and had never seen snow or trees without leaves. We were wearing plastic flip-flops from the refugee camp; we didn’t speak any English and didn’t understand anybody. My aunt had to take the bus with us to school because we didn’t know how to change buses, how to read or how to talk to anybody. My brother and I would be so hungry every day and couldn’t wait to go home because we didn’t know how to eat American food. I just remember being afraid of everybody because I didn’t know what was going on around me.

Had you ever had any formal education up to that point?

It was the war. We were just trying to stay alive. Anybody who had formal education was killed because the communist system was about making people common. Anyone with formal, elite education was killed. That’s why my real dad was killed. During the war, everybody was so poor. You couldn’t show you had anything. My parents changed our names so we had common names, like Kim. We couldn’t keep our real names because otherwise we’d be dead. Everything was about hiding anything that made you special or different; because that was the only way you could stay alive.

Did you feel the community reached out to you?

(Our sponsors) were like a part of our family, and I feel like that’s my roots now. I never had a history before, because I came here with practically nothing, not even language skills, nothing but the clothes we had on.

How did your year studying in Paris in college change you?

It was just amazing to be in a city where you can walk down the street and hear people talk in so many different languages. You weren’t different, you weren’t chastised, people didn’t look at you if you spoke another language. Nobody cared. I found the anonymity in that huge city to be a liberating experience because it allowed me to blossom. I always look back at that as one of those life-changing experiences.

Why did you enter the Peace Corps after graduating from college?

I felt really, really privileged that my family and I had survived the Cambodian holocaust. I was armed with a four-year degree and went to a small school that was very empowering, so I had this idealistic vision that I could go out and make a difference in the world. It was my way of giving back for those people who weren’t fortunate enough to escape the experience, and their reality is still grounded in those Third World countries.

How was the Iowa Asian Alliance created?

I got a lot of phone calls about Asian-American-related issues just because I was an Asian-American and in the chamber of commerce. It wasn’t something I knew anything about other than I’m Asian-American. But it helped me realize there wasn’t a professional organization where the public could find information [about Asian-Americans]. I think in order for us to really have a strong community, an organization needed to be in place.

Does the organization’s progress give you more pride in your own heritage?

It makes me proud to be an Asian-American living in the state of Iowa, because even though people’s perception of Iowa is that it is so homogeneous and we have so little diversity, if you take a closer look, we have more diversity than people realize. And I think as a new mom, I want to raise my family in a community and in a state where my cultural heritage is an important part of that society, and where my daughter can feel proud that she has a unique heritage.