Jarudech Pechpoom (Ek) graduated B.A. in Law from Ramkhamhaeng University in 2021 and completed his lawyer exams and training in late June 2023. He is now a licensed lawyer and currently working as an executive director and legal advisor at Kwah Dao and is one of the lawyer team members at Atip Law Firm.

Ek was a single child of an immigrant family from the northern Thai-Myanmar border. Before his parents migrated to Thailand, he is father was a former soldier in one of the ethnic rebel armed groups and his mom was a hawker. His parents felt insecure living under the internal conflict between the ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar army which evolved after The Union of Myanmar gained independence from the British Empire. They realized that the situation gradually got worse and the economy was on the way down so they decided to flee from their motherland to seek a safer and better life in Thailand. His parents safely arrived at their relative’s house in Mae Hong Son province and Ek was born a year after that.

Ek was luckier to be born in Thailand, a more peaceful country, but not for the warmth and love of his parents. His parents broke up when he was very little and he was brought to live with his mother’s relatives in Bangkok since then. Ek grew up with the help of relatives and in some periods of his life, he was looked after by others. He started working on the construction site with his aunts in Bangkok when he was around 15. Carrying 50 kg cement bags, 18 L paints, and helping his aunts with everything he could with his small body (160 height and 43 kg weight) was extremely hard for him but it was the best way he could make a living at that time.

In 2007 Ek moved to live with his mother’s friend in Chiang Mai and went to MLC, Migrant Learning Center to study Thai, English, and computer classes. He had to quit several times when the working schedule overlapped with his study time but he kept going back to study whenever he could. He continued working and studying for years and went to Beam Education Foundation to attend the GED course for 2 years. Meanwhile, he attended Non-Formal Education till he graduated from middle school as well as obtained his GED certificate after passing the exams in 2014.

After several failures in applying for a scholarship and other forms of educational financial aid in order to continue his higher education for a year, he realized that he needed to make his own fortune so he decided to enroll at Ramkhamhaeng University majoring in law. He chose Ramkhamhaeng because the distance learning option was available and the tuition fees and textbooks were affordable. Why law? As Ek was born after his parents illegally entered Thailand so he didn’t acquire Thai citizenship. This happens to ten of thousands of immigrant children which lead to statelessness or nationality-less problems. Without Thai nationality, these children have limited rights and freedom in living their lives such as the limited rights to travel, limited rights to healthcare, limited rights to occupation, limited rights to educational opportunities, and so on. Ek was one of them at that time. Ek believed that solving his nationality-less problem required some amount of legal knowledge that was one of the reasons he chose law and he was right. He applied for Thai citizenship and fought with the corrupt officials for two years then he achieved his goal. Not only he could solve his legal matter, but he also helped several others end their nationality-less problems by providing them with legal knowledge and procedures. He has a dream that in the future he will find the same type of lawyers who have the same thoughts, beliefs, and ideology and form a legal association that can provide legal protection for those in need.

During his path to becoming a law graduate, he needed to take a temporary suspension for one academic year due to his career change which made him unable to request days off for his exams. He decided to find a new job with lower wages where requesting the days off option for his exams was available when needed. He had been through several types of work hoping to reach the highest education he could such as being a laborer on the construction site, in a food factory, in restaurants, in a cleaning company, and in a car wash. As he had competent English communication skills, he also used to work as a bellboy and receptionist in a 3-star hotel and 5-star resort, and as a staff in a real estate agent company.

Ek was very dedicated to his studies and he strongly believed that a good education can bring changes to life. His story about facing difficulties and obstacles came to the interest of Kwah Dao and luckily we could find him a personal donor. He was awarded a full scholarship during his 3rd and final year as well as additional funds for his lawyer exams and training. He then could continue his studies smoothly and reach his destination by completing his B.A. in Law in 2021 followed by his lawyer exams and training in late June 2023. Today, Ek’s life has been completely changed from a laborer to a lawyer.