Family Footsteps

Thursday, 18 September 2008
8.30pm

Kevin Taing grew up in Sydney helping out at his father's bakery, eating meat pies, sausage rolls, going to the beach and watching football. His Cambodian heritage was something he took little interest in. Haunted by stories of his parents' flight from the atrocities of Pol Pot and the superstitions of traditional Cambodian life, Kevin turned his back on Khmer culture and became an Australian.

Now 28, Kevin has his life planned out. A comfortable job in a leading bank, a young wife, and a big house in Sydney's outer suburbs with plenty of space for his music room where he spends his free time playing guitar - when he is not involved in church activities.

But Kevin's world is thrown upside down when he takes up the challenge to visit Cambodia, the land of his fears. His mother tries to dissuade him with dire warnings about what might be in store for him. Filled with trepidation Kevin arrives in Phnom Penh.

Thursday, 11 September 2008
8.30pm

When Laetitia Lemke was growing up, she always held onto the fact that she was half Tongan in times of isolation or rejection in Darwin. But now aged 30, juggling a career in journalism with raising two children, Laetitia returns to her parents' homeland to test her Tongan connectedness for real.

Thursday, 04 September 2008
8.30pm

Andrew Paul is an IT executive living in Perth. His family left Uganda fleeing a hostile regime in 1971. Andrew sees himself as 100 per cent Aussie and enjoys the trappings of a single life, a good job, a house, a car and lots of friends. But Andrew also likes to trade on his African heritage even though his mother is Anglo-Indian and his father is from the island of Mauritius.

Andrew has not spoken to his parents for 20 years after a teenage falling out tore them apart. His parents yearn to reconnect with their son and Andrew sees his journey to Uganda as a possible route to contact his parents again.

Travelling to Uganda is a long ordeal and a culture shock. Andrew will live in the old city and work in a busy restaurant similar to the one his grandparents once owned in a neighbouring city. His mentor, Salim, is also a 40-year-old bachelor.

Thursday, 28 August
8.30pm

Family Footsteps, series two, takes us once again on an intimate journey into the lives of four young Australians as they travel back to the homeland of their parents in search of answers, a sense of belonging and for some, the chance to lay ghosts to rest. The four-part series takes us to Armenia, Uganda, Tonga and Cambodia.

In the first episode we follow the adventures of graphic artist Joanna Kambourian from NSW who has grown up knowing very little about her Armenian culture. Overshadowing her family is a sense of shame, hiding a secret that has kept them from returning to their homeland.

It weighs heavily on Joanna as she travels to Armenia in the quest to remove the stain that has haunted her family for several generations.