Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Like your I like your background.
Very nice.
You.
I'm trying to be consistent.
Okay.
Let's get started.
Welcome to another episode of reading of wisdomon the front porch.
I have both podcasts.
And and Sarah is gonna be actually on bothpodcasts.
She'll have her book on reading between thewords.
(00:25):
We'll mention it just a little bit here.
But, Sarah, tell people a little bit about whoyou are.
Sure.
Yes.
My name is Sarah I'm.
I grew up in Cambodia.
When I was away from home in college in 1975,when the the communist regime took over our
(00:50):
country, I get trapped into the situation, andthey they push me out of the out of the city,
and they shut down the country.
And I was separated from my family.
I cannot reach them, cannot contact, don't knowwhat's going on.
(01:13):
So we did not hear from each other for fourlong years.
Oh, man.
That might be long.
Yeah.
During those four years, I was put in a workcamp and pushed to work extremely hard, long
hour in the intense sun, and was giving reallylittle food, really little time to sleep, and
(01:41):
no time for rest.
So as a result, I become very sick.
And they sent me to an infirmary, somethinglike a like a hospice.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But thank God.
I believe God was hearing my prayer, and thenext thing I know, I was able to sneak out from
(02:09):
that infirmary, and I went in went out and finda job.
This within the work camp, within the whole thewhole concentration camp.
And, working in the kitchen was able to help meto recover my health.
(02:30):
So that's how I survived the first time.
And The
first time, was there a second time?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
Oh my goodness.
Now is all of this in your book?
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
What's the title of your book?
(02:50):
The title of my book is called How I Survivethe Killing Fields.
So Okay.
Here how my book look right.
There it goes.
Oh, wow.
And that's you on the front of the cover?
Yes.
Wow.
That's beautiful photo of you.
You.
Survived the killing fields.
Well, I know that you have your book, butyou're also a speaker.
(03:16):
You've got an amazing story to tell.
What else do you do?
I promote wellness.
I help people to take care of themselves to,well, take care of themselves, especially eat
(03:36):
right, exercise, and take the supplement andall that to prevent disease.
And now I focus on helping other wellnessbusiness to gain exposure, to reach out to
their prospective client through eventplanning.
(03:58):
So I I plan event for the wellnessprofessionals.
Wow.
That's amazing.
So here you went from going to college, endedup in a concentration camp, and now you're a
speaker.
You're a coach.
You help a lot of other people.
(04:19):
You're an author.
That is just incredible.
So my question for you, and I ask this a lot ofour entrepreneurs, why do you do it?
What really drives you to do all of this?
I I think what drive me to do this is to tohelp other people to now getting getting sucked
(04:54):
into the system and help them to build up theirresiliency, build up their confidence and
courage so they can do whatever they need to doto reach their goal.
Yeah.
That's wonderful.
I love that.
(05:15):
I tell you, I have to our audience, I haverecently mess met Sarah through Gary Rogers,
who has a phenomenal workshop every every week,several workshops.
I don't know how he does it.
But I'm I just found you so fascinating, Sarah.
(05:37):
You've got, excuse me, such a heart for others,and you wanna see other people succeed.
It's not, this is my business, and I'm makingmoney at it, and you need to be my client.
It's like, what can I do to help you be asuccess?
Whatever that means to you.
And I love your heart for this.
(05:57):
Do you find there's some challenges along theway?
Yeah.
There are a lot of challenge along the way.
We know we when we live in this world, therewill be challenge, But we don't let the
challenge stop us.
(06:19):
We don't give in.
We don't give up because we can build ourselfup, be stronger to handle those challenge.
So so that's the reason that keep me moving,keep me going, keep help people have the
mindset.
I'm about mindset, about about determination,about the attitude toward toward life.
(06:48):
So if we don't give in to the obstacle, we canbe a winner.
We can win our life.
Mhmm.
Absolutely.
I agree so much.
You know, three years ago when I started out,it's three and a half years ago now, I didn't
even know about mindset.
(07:09):
I didn't know how to run a business.
I didn't even know about podcasts.
Isn't that weird?
I knew people listened to channels, but Ididn't understand what what a podcast really
meant.
And so, obviously, having your book opened upnew opportunities for you, gave you
(07:29):
credibility, authority, and you've taken it astep further.
When you first wrote your book, did you everthink you would be doing all these other
things?
No.
No.
I I saw that the book will do the job.
You know?
When people read the book, they know all aboutit.
(07:49):
But, no, people sometimes a lot of a lot of mygood friend, they bought the book because they
want to support me, but they don't read it.
They want to hear me talking.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's that's so true.
I've heard that from other authors.
And it's like, you got my book.
(08:09):
Why didn't you read it?
It's in there.
But I think as people, we want that personalconnection.
It's great.
You know, I have audiobooks.
I have I have paperback books, hardback books.
I I enjoy it, but I I love this one on one.
Part of why I like the podcast because we getto talk.
(08:32):
We get to find out about the journey.
If I have questions along the way, I can askand get answers.
You know?
So, yeah, it's that interaction.
And and I do love to read.
I love to listen to books while I'm, you know,cleaning house, working outside, whatever it is
that I'm doing, working on projects, apainting, whatever.
(08:53):
It's nice to have that that audio behind there.
So so I wanna ask you, where can we find yourbook right now?
Right now, my book is available on my website.
It's sarahim.com.
It's spelled saraim.com/book.
(09:17):
You Awesome.
Yeah.
If you click
on the tab, say book, you will find the booktoo.
I love that.
Wow.
So so here you've you've gone through this, andand I wanna get back to your story too.
But you how did you get into becoming anentrepreneur, a coach, and then an event
(09:41):
planner?
I know it's all steps, but but what was youknow, you wrote your book, and then what
happened?
Well, I wrote my book ten years ago, and peopleinvite me to speak at dinner group here and
there all over.
And yeah.
Yeah.
(10:01):
And that's become part of my business because,you know, it take me away from my other
business.
I have, my health and wellness business at thetime.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So when people want to hear my story in person,I enjoy doing that because
(10:28):
Yeah.
I hear, you know, people told me that I hadchanged their life.
And
Oh, that's just amazing.
Yeah.
One one woman
told me a few months later after she listenedto my talk, I didn't know that she she came in
(10:50):
my to be in my audience.
And when I saw her at a different occasion, sheconfronted me.
She said, Sarah, good to see you.
I said, oh, yeah.
Where did we we met before?
And she told me that she was listening to mytalk, and she said, I had changed her life.
(11:15):
I said, how?
She said she had been suicidal all her life,and she she is in her 20 at the time.
She said, since I heard your story, I changedmy mind.
I changed I changed my direction.
(11:36):
I stopped I stopped thinking about killingmyself.
Now I hold on to this job, and I have my ownapartment and rather rather rather than that.
So Wow.
So that just gave me so much satisfaction thateven though even if I don't sell a book, or
(12:00):
make any money, it worth doing this Yeah.
Because I can save people's life.
Wow.
That is absolutely incredible.
And there there is nothing better than hearingthat you really impacted somebody's life.
And we never know if we're gonna do that,whether we write a book, have a podcast, you
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know, have a speaking event.
You just never know.
And some people think, oh, I don't haveanything to say.
My life, you know, wasn't exciting orimpactful.
No.
But you had a life.
There were things that happened in your life.
You can talk about that.
And and it's amazing.
(12:43):
You had somebody come up to me at lunch onetime when I was working in the factory.
This person had never come up to me to havelunch with me before.
And and she just started conversation, andshe's like, you know, I was just told by my
husband that I need to keep my mouth shutbecause she was talking about her faith.
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And he goes, you don't live your faith, so youdon't have anything to say.
And I thought, oh my goodness.
She was one, she was heartbroken.
You know?
She felt so deflated.
And I said, it's your faith.
It's not his.
If you have something to say, you need to sayit.
And I say this for our audience to know thatdon't let other people tell you you have
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nothing to say or that what you're sayingdoesn't matter because you didn't live live out
what you're saying.
You know, our value comes from inside of us,and that value comes from all the choices we've
made through our whole lives no matter what itwas.
And that value is what makes you worthy.
(13:56):
That value is why you are enough, and that'sthat value inside of you is what people wanna
hear.
That's why they they talk to you.
That's why they ask you questions, or maybe onetime they come and sit at lunch with you just
to be encouraged.
And, you know, the strange thing is is I'd I'dseen that person at work, but we never had
(14:19):
lunch again after that.
It was like sometimes you're just there for onemoment in time in someone's life.
And for you to do that, for that young woman tochange her whole outlook like that, that is
just amazing.
And I thank you for your courage to speak onthis, to open up, to let your voice be heard
(14:43):
about what happened.
That's that's just incredible.
You know, we just never know how our words aregonna say anything.
I remember hearing a story about a gentlemanwho just smiled at somebody on their way home
from work.
And the person that he smiled at had determinedthat day, if nobody smiles at me, if nobody
(15:08):
looks at me, I'm gonna go home and kill myself.
But one person smiled at him, and so he didn'tdo it.
And he goes on to tell that story.
It's it's just incredible how each one of uscan connect with somebody else.
I mean, I love being able to connect with you,Sarah.
(15:30):
And if I hadn't have known Carrie and attendedhis webinar, I wouldn't have ever met you.
So, you know, sometimes we need to get out ofthe house, so to speak, and just go do
something different to you.
You never know where your life is gonna leadyou.
Now I wanna get back to your story about beingin the concentration camp.
(15:54):
I know this is wisdom on the front porch whenwe talk about entrepreneur's journey, and and
we've done that.
But you said there was two times.
So tell us a little bit about that.
You you're in this concentration camp.
You got out?
I I got out from the infirmary, and someone waspoint for directing me to go and work in the in
(16:23):
the kitchen.
So while working in the kitchen, the job ismuch easier than working in the rice field.
Yeah.
And I have I got access to more food, work lesshour, work in the shade, and all of that that
(16:45):
helped me recover my health.
If I did not get that opportunity, I probablydid not make it through.
Right.
And then when
But you created that opportunity because yousaid you snuck out of the infirmary.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's I don't know
(17:05):
what's gonna happen.
Yeah.
That's that that's that faith over fear.
You knew there was a fear there, but you alsoknew you had to do something.
And you
did something.
Wow.
So that the the first time I realized thatsituation saved me from from going under.
(17:27):
And then they pulled me out from the kitchen,put me back into the rice field again.
A world is hot as as it could be fifteen,sixteen hours a day and under the intention all
day long, seven days a week.
Plus, it's very humid.
(17:49):
I mean, if you know humidity because the ricefields, it's all water.
And with that kind of sun, that just takes itout of you even more.
You've not only got the heat.
You don't you've got the hard work where you'rebent over all the time, and then you've got
that humidity constantly, plus the sunreflecting off the water beating in on you.
(18:09):
I just wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So for four years, I worked like that for fouryears.
And then well, I I got sick on and off duringthose four years.
And then at the end of four years, they movedthe cam.
(18:30):
The the cam get moved into the jungle.
When I know the direction that they are goingto move us into the jungle, I realized that I
need to get out.
I need to get out from from this group becausemy goal is to to be able to find my family.
(18:56):
Remember I told you that, when I went tocollege, I was separated from my family.
Right.
And when they shut down the country, I have noway to con contact my family.
So that had been in my mind all this year.
It's my goal that I want to go back to myfamily.
(19:19):
So when they moved the camp to the jungle, Idecided I'm going to find my way to escape.
It's very dangerous.
Very dangerous.
You you can get killed on the spot when theywhen they see you sneak out.
So I get three good friend to to move with me,to to escape with me because Oh, wow.
(19:44):
I was I was frail at that time.
I I become sick again and all that.
I need support, and my friend decided to comewith me to support me.
So that that was a praise, a big praise that Idon't have to struggle by myself.
(20:05):
And so this is a very dangerous action.
Yeah.
And we made it out.
We made it out.
God protected us.
God guided us because the jungle is dark, andwe sneak out at nighttime, and we don't have
(20:28):
the GPS.
Yeah.
You don't have flashlights.
No flashlights.
There's eggs.
There's other things out there besides, youknow, the military that wants to
injure life.
We never been to that jungle before, so it'sall strange to us.
(20:48):
But thank god we were safe, and and we we wereout.
From there from there, I was able to keep keepwalking, and finally, we saw some people, and
we asked for direction to my hometown.
So from there, I keep moving, and finally, Ifound my family.
(21:14):
Wow.
That's so Yeah.
So your family was still in your hometown?
No.
They was they was evacuated as well, but theywas able to come by to a place where they can
get settled.
(21:34):
Well, it's it's a long story, but in a Goexplain it.
Yeah.
But, but they have been liberated.
The the whole country had been liberated fourmonths before I
got out.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Wow.
And and and I came, we we were still incaptivity.
(22:00):
And even though the country's liberated,they're not releasing you.
You're still there.
Yeah.
Well, I know that is one book I would get, andnobody's gonna bother me when I'm reading I'll
go get a hotel room or something and just stayby myself to read that book.
Wow.
That had to be terrifying.
(22:21):
Gosh.
No wonder you're strong to go through all ofthat and keep going.
And and so you have your business.
You have your health business.
You're helping people get healthy, and youdecided to write a book.
Why why did you decide to write a book afterall this time?
And you have your own successful business.
(22:42):
So
Well, there's a a few thing.
But maybe I'll talk about one one thing.
Alright.
When I I used to attend the networking meetingbecause when I have when we have a business, we
go to network.
We maybe Yeah.
(23:03):
So the word start to get out that I have a badstory that people want to hear.
So the lady that lead that group, she asked meto tell my story.
This is before I wrote the book.
Okay.
So while I'm telling a story, one lady in thegroup was crying.
(23:26):
Oh.
I didn't know what happened, but later on, Ifound out that she had a teenager that killed
himself.
So put two and two together, I realized that,wow.
If this young person heard about how life canbe so hard, he may not take his own life
(23:53):
because life is hard.
It's not easy.
It is.
And you've got proof that that's true becausehere you had a young lady who heard your story
who was going to take her life, and you changedthat.
So, yes, you possibly could have changed thatyoung man's life.
And who knows how how how many other livesyou've helped by telling your story?
(24:21):
That's just oh, man.
I've got goosebumps, I tell you.
That's just yeah.
We Yeah.
So that's one
one reason that I decided to write my book.
That was the thirty five years after I got out.
So Wow.
It had been a long time.
(24:42):
I didn't want to write a book.
I didn't have any intention to write a book.
Right.
But the circumstance come up, and I just maybethat's how God is leading me to do it.
Right.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Oh, I love that.
(25:03):
Really love that.
So how did you get into the health and wellnessindustry?
I understand in my mind, I understand you didit because of your own health, and you wanna
help other people get there.
But how did you you know, you're in Cambodia.
Here you are.
You're in The US now.
Is am I correct in assuming that?
(25:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
How did you how did you do all that?
How did you get to where you're in The US?
You've got this successful business.
Yeah.
When when I got to The US, I barely I don'tspeak any English, so I learned the language.
And I registered for college, And I eventually,I got my degree.
(25:51):
And and after I got out from college, I got ajob, a good job, and so on.
And I get married.
And after I get married, I have to move acouple times.
So I had to quit my job a couple time.
And then the third move no.
(26:12):
This this after the second move, I have a hardtime getting the job because I did not show
stability in my So I have a hard time landingthe next job.
So I I got recruited into into into a, like, aindependent consultant Okay.
(26:41):
To to promote a product promote a product line.
It's
And you can do that
anywhere.
Yeah.
So so that's give me an idea.
I said, I don't need to worry about the nextmove, about the next relocation.
I have my own business.
(27:01):
So that's how I got started.
Awesome.
Awesome. Jimenez, that's wonderful about beingan entrepreneur because your business goes with
you wherever you go.
I know a couple of people who young familieswho have sold their home, sold just about
everything they had, put everything in a traveltrailer, and they're moving all over the
(27:25):
country with their kids, showing their kidswhat The US really is, giving them that
firsthand experience in history and culture andpeople and in life.
And they're doing great because their businesstravels with them.
That's that's just amazing.
That was good thinking.
I'm glad you discovered that.
(27:48):
So so you've got this product, and then you'vemoved on to to doing a health and wellness
whole course and stuff.
How do you happen
to get into that?
My my first my first business that I promote,it was not health and wellness.
(28:09):
But later on later on, I I met somebody thatintroduced me to a health and wellness
business.
So I I love that.
I love that more because I I did not forget mybackground.
You know?
I I was so sick.
I almost did not make it, and I don't want tosee anybody going through the sickness, through
(28:36):
the illness, anymore.
So if they do the proper thing, they do theytake care of themselves and, you know, take
care of this take the supplement, eat the rightthing, and all that, they should be healthy and
not worry about being sick.
So that's that's my thinking at that time,
(28:59):
and
I still think that way too.
Yeah.
That's so true.
You know, my husband and I just had an incidentwith our bull, our longhorn bull.
And I know that drinking water has helped alot.
I had you know, it's only been a couple ofweeks.
(29:20):
And and one day this week, my brain was just sofoggy, and I realized I hadn't been drinking
any water and or or any kind of liquid.
No coffee, no tea, nothing like that.
And it's like, I need to do more.
And the next day, I felt so much better.
Mhmm.
And I know part of that is is still the healingprocess, but our bodies need to rest.
(29:44):
That's when we really heal.
That's why we sleep a lot when we're sickbecause it needs to do that.
But we need to be feeding it the right things.
You're not gonna heal if you're eating donutsand cookies and all of this.
You know?
And and desserts are good, but everything inmoderation, you need to have the other great
(30:04):
nutrients.
And that's different for every person.
Yeah.
And it's different for every age now that I'mI'm white haired, a little older in my years.
My body is changing for how it absorbsnutrients and and how foods react with it.
(30:26):
And as you get older, sometimes you get partstaken out.
And then there's another change there too.
So and then if you have allergies and you takeallergy medicine or get the shots and all of
that, that's changing everything in your bodyas well.
So you have to look at the whole picture, and Ilove that's what you do.
(30:46):
You look at the whole picture, what works foreach individual person, and that's so
important.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
The drinking water is very important.
That's the first thing that we we shouldconsider.
Did I drink enough water?
(31:07):
So we had to be conscious about that.
I have a good friend who live not too not toofar from me.
She had to fly to Boston Mhmm.
Right away.
One emergency.
She have a daughter.
All of sudden, her daughter is just, like,clamping and could not move, could not talk,
(31:30):
and they took her to the hospital andeverything.
She was so afraid that her daughter might havea heart attack or stroke.
So she found out that her daughter is only inher 30, was dehydrated.
Oh, wow.
Dehydrated.
That's that's all it took.
(31:52):
Isn't that something when we take that?
When we deny our body the the water that itneeds.
I mean, our bodies are made up of a lot ofwater.
Mhmm.
And, yeah, it is really strange.
So here's something I learned being in goingthrough EMT and all of this.
When you take your hand and you pinch it, yousee I still have a little bit of skin there
(32:17):
that's there.
And if it's still kind of pinched, if itdoesn't go back down flat, that means you're
getting dehydrated and you need to drink morefluids.
Yes, I do need to drink more fluids than what Ihave.
I haven't had that much this morning, but,that's one way to check because, yeah, you
know, in the medical field, I've seen peopleget dehydrated, and it's just amazing how one
(32:42):
thing, like water, will change your whole body.
It changes how your brain functions andeverything else.
And and for some, it's it's I don't like thetaste of water.
Water is boring.
So put some flavorings in there.
You know, just really can't lemon.
(33:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember hearing one, oh, one exercise coach.
Gosh.
This was when when my babies were babies a lotof years ago, and we were just learning about
nutrition and being hydrated and things likethat.
Boy, that just makes me sound so old.
(33:25):
But, they were talking about how now there wasthis new product out that you could just add
something to your water to give it a little bitof flavor.
And they were wondering, you know, is this goodfor you?
Is it healthy?
You know?
And and the woman that's, you know, the theprofessional, she says, I don't care what they
(33:46):
put in it.
Even if it's got a little bit of sugar in it orsomething, they're drinking the water.
That's what's important.
And, you know, we do have to be careful.
We don't put too much sugars and other thingsin our bodies that aren't healthy for But she
brought out a good thing.
Just put something in your water to make ittaste better.
I know people who put fruit in their waterbesides the lemon, and it's like, oh, that's
(34:10):
interesting.
But but, yeah, just just drinking something.
And I know some waters, like, where we live, wehave boil notices and all this stuff.
So we've got this filtration system set up onours, and the water was really gross.
I did not want to drink her water.
(34:31):
Now I remember at my grandma's, they had a lotof sulfur in their water because they lived
around volcanic activity, and that water tastedlike 10 cups when you drank it.
And it took a while to get used to it.
Here, I don't know what it is, but we've gotthe water filtration set in, and the water's
really good.
You put some ice in it.
(34:52):
Ice makes everything taste better.
Somebody says kinda because it kinda freezesyour taste buds, so you can't taste it.
Who cares what it does?
As long as you're drinking the water and you'restaying hydrated, that's so important.
So do the pinch test and see if you've got alittle bit skin stain up there.
And if you are, drink drink a little morewater.
(35:13):
Yeah.
Yours is going back so nicely.
Mine kinda stays up there, and it's like,lizard skin.
But, Sarah, I am so glad that I met you, andI'm so glad we get to be on this podcast.
Then you're gonna be on my other podcastreading between the words talking more about
(35:34):
your book, and we'll go more in-depth on that.
But I loved your story of how you've shown ushow going from one thing that you enjoy to find
something that works for you it opens up moredoors for you, more opportunities.
So we need to not be afraid to take that firststep.
Yeah.
(35:54):
How do people get ahold of you?
How do we connect with you to learn aboutnutrition?
Or we have events that we need to plan and getout there to get our voice heard.
How do how do we
get ahold of you?
The the best place to find me is the one mywebsite.
Okay.
Sarahsarahm.com.
(36:16):
Just like my first name and last name.
Yes.
Saraim.com.
Yes.
And, also, I'm on LinkedIn a lot.
Okay.
Me too.
My link my LinkedIn name spelled just likethat.
Sarah.
So that's that's two best two best place toreach me.
(36:39):
Alright.
Alright.
Thank you so much for being on my show today.
And and audience, I really hope you connectwith Sarah.
She's just she's wonderful to talk with.
She talks from her heart.
She treats you like like you're a real person,not just you're not a customer type thing.
She just really wants to get to know you andhelp you achieve your goals, help you have a
(37:05):
better, healthy life so you can enjoy thatlife.
And, Sarah, thanks again so much for beinghere.
Sarahim.com.
And we'll see you next time on Wisdom on theFront Porch.
Do you
have do
you have any closing thoughts for us before wego?
I should ask you that.
(37:27):
Oh, my closing thought.
Well, I like to go with this.
Whatever you like to do in life, start withyour mindset.
Set your mind to it.
Have an intention.
Have a purpose.
The purpose had to be better than yourself,bigger than yourself.
(37:50):
It's not just the purpose for you.
It will benefit others.
Like, when when I was in captivity, my purposewas my family.
I will do anything to survive just to go backto my family.
So for you, the same.
(38:11):
I I I hope that you have a purpose in mind sothat it can direct your life to be successful.
And with the right mindset, with positivity,with gratitude, you will be there.
Thank you.
Oh, that's beautiful.
I'm so glad I asked that question.
(38:32):
Thank you so much for being here, and thankyou, our audience, for taking the time out of
your day to either watch this on YouTube or tolisten to it on the different podcast channels.
And we'll see you next time on wisdom on thefront porch.
Thank you for joining us today on wisdom on thefront porch with your host, Ellis Kirkpatrick.
(38:53):
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(39:14):
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