Senghom (Hom) was a quiet, attentive, very polite, thoughtful, and kind nationality-less student. Her parents were Shan migrant workers from Shan State of Myanmar who fled from their home country to northern Thailand for the same reasons as most other migrants, civil war, political chaos, human rights violations, and poverty were what forced them to flee. She lived with her parents and a little sister who was about 6 months old at that time. Her dad was a day laborer and the only one working in the family so their income was very low. Her family lived in a migrant community called Pang Hin meaning “Rock Village” in Thai. There were about 20 families living together at Pang Hin located less than 100 meters from Pai River. As a consequence of illegal entry into Thailand so most of them were stateless or nationality-less meaning that they have very less choices of jobs in making a living. Hom’s parents faced similar working conditions. Back in the 2000s, most of the laborers in this community worked as rock collectors. They were hired to collect rocks from the Pai River to the riverside. These rocks were mainly used for building guesthouses and hotels so there was a high demand for rocks back then.

She attended our After-School Program for 5 years and was one of our standout students. She put a lot of thought into what she wanted to study and talked to Kwah Dao staff about it for months. She then received a scholarship from Kwah Dao to continue her higher education. She was about 16 when she moved to a vocational college in Chiang Mai to study Tourism and Hotel Management. It is fairly common in Thailand to move into vocational study after Grade 9 and Hom felt that the skills and training she would gain from this course would greatly increase her chances of finding decent employment in the future. There are no vocational colleges in Pai so she didn’t have that option here. She paid close attention to her studies because she was aware of her social status as a nationality-less individual where there are limited fundamental rights entitled by the laws. She believed her life might be better when she completed her higher education. The possibility of getting a good career, higher wages, and welfare compared to those stateless or notionality-less people who are uneducated. In 2022, she completed her B.A. in Business Administration from Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna. Becoming a new pillar of the family and the society.