Student Portrait

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: 33
  • 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: $2,125
  • Amount Left To Fund: $1,775
  • Contract Duration: 11 years
  • Status: In Limbo
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Quotable

What Others Are Saying About Sai Khung

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Q&A With Sai Khung

Survey Fun

What skill or ability do you most wish you had (but lack today)?
Speak English fluently
Where would you most like to travel?
Somewhere I could go hiking
What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Crocodile meat
What is the most important quality in a friend?
Honesty and helping each other
Which website do you spend the most time on?
Google, YouTube, Snook
If you could go back in time, what year or period would you travel to? Why?
I want to be with my parents again when I was eight years old
What has been the most challenging aspect of university life?
Being the vice president of students from Myanmar in a Thai college is very challenging
What was your favorite class last semester? Why was it great?
Computer class because I could try to write programs

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