I am Moe Thi, a final-year student at Mae Fah Luang University. I was born in Tachileik, Shan State. My parents moved to Tachileik from Taunggyi for better income after their marriage, and ran a small business selling fashionable bags at Tarlot market, located beside the Thai-Myanmar border friendship bridge. My brother, two years older than me, and I had to depend on ourselves to get to school and cook. For primary school, I was sent to Taunggyi to live with my grandparents and aunts, where the education was better. During school breaks, I visited my parents in Tachileik and helped them sell bags in the market.
After my grandfather, the main financial supporter of our family in Taunggyi, passed away, my parents began to struggle financially. They managed to keep us in school through high school, though they could not afford extra classes. My brother and I did our best and passed the matriculation exam with distinctions, becoming the first in our family to do so and to attend university.
As my parents’ business improved, they decided to send me to Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University in Meikhtila, Mandalay, and my brother to Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai. After one semester, my parents suggested I join my brother. I researched the programs at MFU and chose Tourism Business Management, convinced that the knowledge and skills from the program would be directly useful for the border city I had grown up in.
The COVID-19 pandemic closed the Thai-Myanmar border and devastated my family’s business. I had to pay tuition in installments and found part-time work as a waiter at an Italian restaurant about 16 kilometers from campus, carefully managing my time between classes and shifts. My parents eventually closed their Tarlot market business and returned to Taunggyi, where my mother opened a small bag shop and my father drove a van between Taunggyi and Tachileik.
Even after the pandemic, my family’s finances continued to worsen due to the coup in Myanmar. With tuition fees rising and two of us still in school, my parents eventually asked us to drop out. It was painful news, but I believed I would find a way to finish.
About Moe Thi
- Age: 26
- Ethnicity: Burmese, Intha, Shan
- Country: Myanmar
School & Program
- Mae Fah Luang University
- Bachelor’s, Tourism Management
- Graduated
Goals & Dreams
- Become a professional tour planner
- Bring positive change to my hometown
- Earn my university degree
Loan Details
- Loan Amount: $2,525
- Amount Left To Fund: $2,525
- Contract Duration: 11 years
- Status: In Repayment
Tachileik is a border city in the Golden Triangle, long associated with drug trafficking. Among young people there, the drug trade is seen as an easy path to income, and education is often dismissed. Yet the city has natural resources, tourist destinations, and rich cultural traditions that remain largely untapped.
Living in Thailand, I have seen how tourism can develop a country and build its people’s pride. I believe that by developing tourism in Tachileik, there will be less reliance on drugs, better roads and infrastructure, and greater awareness of the benefits sustainable tourism can bring. Education is the most powerful tool I have to make that happen, and I am grateful that Zomia can help me finish my degree and put it to use.
Written by Moe Thi with editing assistance from Holland, one of Zomia’s volunteer editors.
Moe Thi
“I believe that by developing tourism in Tachileik, there will be less reliance on drugs, better roads and infrastructure, and greater awareness of the benefits sustainable tourism can bring.”
