Q: What is your background?
A: I was born in Loikaw. I studied in Loikaw but I didn’t graduate high school. In 2003, I arrived in Karenni Refugee Camp 1 and studied in high school again.
After successfully graduating from high school, I joined SDC and studied in their second group of basic course students. After graduating SDC, I worked with camp security for seven months.
Later, I was lucky to have the chance to further improve my English on a course by Karenni Student Development Program for 4 months. After this course, I started working with an environmental organisation, Karenni Evergreen. However, after only one month, I had the opportunity to go to EarthRights School Burma.
I studied at EarthRights School between 2006-2007. At EarthRights, I learnt more about the connection between human rights and the environment. After completing EarthRights School, I came back to be an office staff member with Karenni Evergreen. I became the director of Evergreen in 2009.
Q: What does Karenni Evergreen do?
A: Karenni Evergreen mainly works on community forests and raising awareness of environmental issues. We are working on environmental management within Karenni Refugee Camps 1 and 2. Additionally, we are running the community forests project inside Karenni State. We meet with the local villagers and provide information on how they can protect their forests and together we create community centers.
Q: How did studying at KSDC help you?
A: Studying at the Karenni Social Development Center was my first opportunity to get knowledge and skills about Human Rights and the Environment. At first, I was more interested in Human Rights. However when I started working at Karenni Evergreen, I noticed that there were more organisations working on human rights in our community and not so many working on environmental issues. Therefore, I put my mind and my time to promoting the environment amongst my people, community and state.
Q: What are your aspirations for Karenni State?
A: In our state, I would like to see peace and no more fighting. I would like everybody to be aware of politics. Especially, I would like people to live harmoniously with their environment.