Charee or “Not” at that time was living with her mother, stepdad, and granny. Her parents migrated from Shan State of Myanmar to seek better work opportunities in Pai. Her parents split up when she was about 12 years old. She has one older brother, who only completed Grade 3 of primary education and lived with his wife and child. The whole family members of Not were nationality-less. After her parents split up, Not lived together with her mother who worked very hard to support Not through high school. She said that her father hardly gave them any money, and after a few years father remarried and had two more children, at which point he was unable to help at all and had very little time for her. Her mother also remarried, however, did not get on well with her step-father and barely spoke to him. Her stepfather was very tight with money and didn’t treat her mother well. Not wished her family could be together again but it didn’t happen.

graduated from high school in 2015. She always wanted to continue her studies after high school, but didn’t think that she would be able to apply for a scholarship. Her plan was to try to work to save enough before going to university. After she graduated from high school, Not went to work at the same place as her brother, with her plan to save money to study in the future. She worked 12 hours a day for 8000 Baht/month (lower than the minimum wage), with two days off per month. Her family only had one motorbike, and her mother would take her to work and pick her up every day, so she bought a motorbike on credit. Then the owner of the land they lived on wanted to use the land, so they had to build a new house on another part of the land. Not had to give all the money she saved to her mom for building a new house. She realized that she would never be able to save up the money she needed for further education with the limited opportunities she had, as the amount she earned was just enough to survive. After two years of work, she realized that this would not be possible.

Her mother was unhealthy at that time and her stepdad worked just sometimes. She often cried at night thinking about her life and how, despite working so hard, she couldn’t see a way to make anything better. She couldn’t apply for a scholarship because it was hard to find scholarships for stateless or nationality-less students. Even with the student loan, only the students with Thai citizenship are eligible to apply. Kwah Dao found that Not was a good fit and in need of support so she was awarded a scholarship to continue her higher education. Not studied a major in Tourism at Rajabhat University in Mae Hong Son, a branch of Chiang Mai Rajabhat University. She chose Tourism because she believed that it would give her the best opportunity to find a job after graduation. The local economy in Pai, and Thailand in general, relies heavily on tourism and there is a proliferation of formal and informal work in the sector. She hoped to return to Pai to find work and to be able to take care of her mother after graduation.

In 2021, Not graduated B.A. in Tourism with first-class honors from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University and became a tower of strength for her family.