“I want people to not be narrow minded when they don’t understand.”

How did you end up in Thailand?

My family and I moved to Thailand in 2008 when I was 14 years old. My father had retired from his job working for the government. Though he got a pension, we had to return our housing to the government. That same year my mom fell very sick with diabetes, Her insulin was very expensive and my mom passed away when I was 14. My parents were about 20 years apart in age, so when she passed at 40 and my dad was 60, we didn’t know what to do. He was too old to work. Me and my three siblings were in school, but it was very expensive to go to school in Myanmar. It was then that someone told us about life on the border. If we could make it to Thailand, we could go to school. We really struggled for six months until I got information that I could come study at a refugee camp. So we moved to the refugee camp in Thailand where I studied at a Karen school.

What was life like in the refugee camp?

It was really difficult. In Myanmar, we only go to grade 10, but in Thailand they go to grade 12. I couldn’t continue on from my same grade because I was unable to speak the Karen language, so I had to start again at grade 8. I was in Karen school for four years.

It was also difficult socially. We are from different ethnic groups and all we knew was what we read in books. People in the camp didn’t speak our language, Burmese. A lot of people hated Burmese people because of military abuse. Burmese military inflicted abuse, inequality, and killing in people villages. Karen people were fighting for their freedom for seven decades. So when we came, people really didn’t like us because we were Burmese. I would get punished in school by teachers.

But I was passionate. I wanted to learn their language, learn about them, and teach them that Burmese people are not the same people they have in their mind. Some Burmese people are also subjected to abuse of the military government. I studied hard to be in the top three of my class. Little by little they came to understand and we became friends.

Did you continue your education after the camp?

After high school, we must work one year in the community before going on to higher education. I worked in the camp with the American Refugee Committee as a health education trainer. The camp education is not recognized by either the Myanmar government, nor the Thailand government. So, to get a recognized education and improve my English, I applied for an English immersion program. I was chosen to study at a school located in a post-conflict area in Karen state along the border. It is a two year program. The first year I lived away from my family in a Karen community for community development and learning English. The following year I returned to the camp for my internship at a sex & gender-based-violence committee. I worked with women who suffered from domestic violence. I worked closely with their case managers who dealt with the legal cases. This work helped me to see that I wanted to become a women and children protection specialist.

I began to seek out accredited university programs for this job.  This led me to the Minmahaw Higher Education Program in Mae Sot, Thailand. There, I got the equivalent to an American high school certificate. Once I had that, I had the documents to apply for university admission and scholarship. I was granted a full scholarship to Hong Kong University if I could meet the academic requirements. I passed the writing, interview, and was chosen for a scholarship, but my TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) test score wasn’t high enough. I tried and tried but the admission and scholarship team told me I would have to try again next semester. But even if I did that, I would not be guaranteed the scholarship again. My dream was totally dropped.

By then I was 24 and feeling really lost. I found the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh because I wanted to study politics, philosophy, and economics. They had a decent university ranking and a program I was interested. I applied there and got a full scholarship again. My relatives didn’t really want me to go because Bangladesh is a majority Muslim country and the political situation between Myanmar and Bangladesh was not good. But getting a scholarship is especially hard for migrant and refugee people and if I were to wait another year, I had a slim chance of getting it again. You must take a chance quickly. You cannot wait.

When did you finish your studies?

I graduated in May of 2022. After finishing my studies, I knew Alexa (founder) was looking for someone to help with Daughter’s Rising so she could shift her focuses to Chai Lai Orchid. I especially work for the students. I interview people for scholarship considerations, answer their questions, organize their tuition payments. I also research and collaborate with other organizations in Thailand. Daughters Rising there are three parts: Kid House, Scholarship Program, and Women and Youth Empowerment. That last part is where we do a lot of collaborations.

One we recently did was with PlayOnside. They break gender inequality through sport while trying to prevent drug addiction among the youth. In this area, one can easily find drugs. This organization came from Mae Sok (about 6 hours away) and did a 2-day intensive sport training. They also donated a lot of sports equipment. Now, in the evenings and weekends, men and women in the village will get together and play volleyball or football.

Some other things we’ve done are organizing a vision screening and people will be able to get glasses for free. We collaborated with Shero to conduct a workshop on domestic violence and how to seek legal advisors too. Things like that.

Are you married, Win?

I’m not married. I’m single because I feel like I just want to rely on myself and be supportive to my family and friends. Once I finished my studies I didn’t want to just give my education to a husband. I don’t want to rely on other people. I don’t want the extra stress of a relationship. I have enough stress as it is when it comes to personal, family, social… I don’t want to worry about giving an explanation when I can’t be with them. If I could find a man who can understand this, then sure, I would love it.

What’s something you’d like people to know?

I want people to not be narrow minded when they don’t understand. For example, on ethnic group might not like another ethnic group because of the stories they’ve heard or pictures they’ve seen on the media, but not everyone is the same. I’m Burmese and we cannot generalize people. Some are good, some are bad. But if you generalize and treat everyone like they are bad, it’s only negative things we bring to those people. You have to understand research by yourself and understand not everyone is like this. I talk about this because belonging to a specific ethnic group, you may lose opportunity or chances because of the place you grew up. When I moved to Thailand, because I am not Karen or Christian, I could not get a job. We cannot generalize.

This has been so wonderful and I you’ve said so many great things. You’re really an inspiration and you’ve worked through some really difficult things. You just have a heart of gold, Win. You want to give back and I’m so happy to provide this platform that can Spotlight you because more people need to know about you and your story and will love to hear it. So, thank you so much for sitting down with me today and taking that time.