My name is Sai Khung. I was born in 1990 in Hi Sheng Village in Lai Kha Township (Shan State, Myanmar). I have one older brother and two sisters. Currently I am studying at Chiang Mai Vocational College.
Before I came to Thailand my life was not good. I was born the child of a farmer and I lost my mother when I was a year old. Later on, my father left with a new wife and never returned home. I never saw him again. Luckily, I grew up with great support from my grandmother.
I faced many challenges when I was young, and I thought that I wouldn’t have the chance to go to school. One day while working on a farm, a friend’s aunt who lived in Thailand visited our village. I was lucky because she took me with her to Loi Tai Leng, a Shan camp for internally displaced people on the Thai-Myanmar Border.
In 2001, she let me attend school at Loi Tai Leng. The school provided education and a place to stay for orphans and poor children. I studied there for nine years before continuing my ninth grade at Pang Kharm school, a Thai government school about 45 minutes walking from Loi Tai Leng. In 2010, I completed ninth grade at Pang Kharm school, Pang Ma Pha district, Mae Hong Son province.
After that I moved to Chiang Mai and studied at Chiang Mai Polytechnic College, a learning center located in Wat Don Chan that offers free education, food, and shelter. I studied business and computers there for three years.
Currently, I am studying business administration at Chiang Mai Vocational College. I feel so happy to be who I am and where I am today. I have a dream to work in the Ministry of Education in Myanmar so that I will have a chance to reform the education system to be able to achieve international standards.
Written by Sai Khung with editing assistance from Zomia’s volunteer editors.
About Sai Khung
- Age: 34
- Ethnicity: Shan
- Country: Myanmar
School & Program
- Chiang Mai Vocational College
- Voc/Tech, Business Administration
- Graduated
Goals & Dreams
- Work in the Ministry of Education in Myanmar
- Become the Education Minister of Shan State
- Reform Myanmar’s education system
Loan Details
- Loan Amount: $5,775
- Amount Left To Fund: $4,800
- Contract Duration: 12 years
- Status: In Deferment
