My name is Zu Zan. I come from the Lahu minority group, which resides in the Eastern Shan State of Myanmar. Growing up, my sister and I were raised by our single mother who is a teacher at a public school. Despite completing high school in 2018, I was unable to pursue further education in my home country due to financial limitations. My mother’s monthly earnings are less than $100, which made it difficult for our family.
Back in 2019, after my high school I had the privilege of being admitted to the Social Justice Education Program (SJEP) offered by the School for Shan State Nationalities Youth in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Information technology (IT) is one of the subjects we studied in this program, along with the environment, human rights, and politics. My interest in computer software has grown since then, prompting me to pursue further study in this field.
In May 2019, I completed the SJEP program and decided to further my education by enrolling in the BEAM Education Foundation‘s GED courses. To prepare myself for future studies, I devoted several months to studying and learning.
In June 2020, I was forced to return to Myanmar due to the COVID-19 pandemic after spending several months away. It was an unfortunate circumstance that required me to make the difficult decision to head back to my home country. From then on, I was stuck in Myanmar and could not re-enter Thailand. However, I tried to continue my GED courses online. At the same time, I worked as an office staff to support myself and my family in my hometown. Due to political changes in Myanmar, I was unable to take the GED exam. As a result, I decided to travel to Thailand in June 2022, utilizing my limited savings to take the exam. Fortunately, I was successful in passing the GED exam in December 2022 and began to work towards enrolling in the Software Engineering Program at Chiang Mai University (CMU).
About Zu Zan
- Age: 22
- Ethnicity: Lahu
- Country: Myanmar
School & Program
- Chiang Mai University
- Bachelor’s, Software Engineering
- 2nd Year in Program
Goals & Dreams
- Become a software programmer
- Create a language translation app
- Travel to Israel
Loan Details
- Loan Amount: $2,000
- Amount Left To Fund: $2,000
- Contract Duration: 10 years
- Status: In School
To save money for my studies, I took on a job as a waitress at a Turkish restaurant in Thailand, which allowed me to accumulate some savings. However, despite my efforts to save, I found I was still in need of additional financial assistance to be able to continue my university studies. Therefore, I applied for the Zomia Loan to be able to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Thailand.
Through my experiences working at MRCS, Paragu Clinic, and LYDO, I have gained a deeper understanding of the deficiencies in my nation’s progress concerning communication and the development of knowledge. My goal is to create software applications that will aid in the development of Myanmar. I plan to address communication challenges by designing an emergency app that allows people to communicate and share location, pictures, and videos. This will facilitate faster communication among disaster victims and emergency groups. I also plan to create a multi-ethnic language translation app that will improving communication between doctors and ethnic patients. It will also store video clips for citizens to learn health-related guidelines. Lastly, to improve ethnic young people’s computer skills and English, I aim to develop a knowledge and skills capacity building app that provides free computer skills and basic English classes. It will enable young people in Myanmar, especially those who have financial difficulty, to access and learn these skills. Developing these apps requires software engineering skills and knowledge, which I am committed to pursuing.
My interests, skills, and experiences encouraged me to apply for software engineering at CMU. My chosen software engineering degree at CMU will surely help me implement my future plans. I fully anticipate that studying at this university will equip and provide me with different insightful skills and knowledge, which are essential cultural capital for accomplishing my future plans. With my accumulated education and Zomia’s support, I believe that I can surely fulfill my future plans and bring positive changes and developments to Myanmar.
Written by Zu Zan with editing assistance from Zomia’s volunteer editors.
Zu Zan
“I fully anticipate that studying at [Chiang Mai University] will equip and provide me with different insightful skills and knowledge, which are essential cultural capital for accomplishing my future plans.”