KHT’s Scholarship Programme is a vital form of support for Karen youth to access higher education and improve their job opportunities. It is also an important tool of empowerment and is making a positive difference in the lives of the students, their families and Karen society.
The generosity of the Lloyd George Asia Foundation has allowed us to help students like Uthumporn, Benjapha and Chiwa. They were all encouraged to apply to the scholarship by a former KHT scholar that became their teacher! This shows the long term impact and trust in KHT across our beneficiaries.
Uthumporn’s Story:
Uthumporn is studying Chinese and hopes that learning the language will help her work better in a trading company owned by a family member. She hopes it will make her a better employee in the future and also help her learn more about business. She will be graduating in 2025 and is settling into life as a student. She is the first person in her family to go to university, and is also a care-taker for her injured Step-father and her younger brother. She works part time to help them and she said that although she enjoyed Chinese in high school, she told us it is much more difficult and it means studying can be stressful.
KHT’s scholarship takes a burden off her shoulders and has allowed her to continue in her degree. It has meant she has not had to take out a hefty loan that she would have struggled to pay, further delaying or stopping her education.
Thank you to KHT. The scholarship has helped my independence and I am grateful to have you helping me and looking out for me!
Benjapha’s Story:
Benjapha is 21 and is studying elementary education. She hopes to take the Government Teaching exam after the graduates in 2025 and wants to be a teacher because she enjoys working with children and she feels it will be a good career for her to succeed in. Like other Karen students, she has faced some discrimination and stereotypes whilst at university, but she is grateful to have other Karen students studying in Chiang Mai for her to spend time with.
Benjapha is grateful to KHT for supporting her as it has helped to pay for her course and the supplies she needs. She feels pressure to do well as the first in her family to go onto higher education, but her siblings are following in her footsteps and she wants to make her parents and family proud.
“KHT’s support has helped me and my family. It has taken the burden off my parents and now my siblings can also studying more.”
Chiwa’s Story:
Chiwa’s (21) and his brother have both taken the route of vocational studies after high school. He is studying to become an electrician and hopes this will help him earn for his family and have a long and stable career. He will graduate next year and hopes to find a job, but is also planning on helping his family on their farm.
He has found worrying about finances the most stressful part of studying and is grateful for KHT’s scholarship, which as taken the burden off his parents. He said he would have found a way to study without the scholarship but it would have taken him longer and been more difficult and expensive.
Thank you for your support. It has helped me and my family. I am so happy to have found KHT.”
These young people are are not only educating and empowering themselves, but they are also empowering Karen people. They face difficulties and discrimination in the wider society, but continue to achieve and are prepared to build better lives for themselves and represent their people.
We are very proud of their hard work and desire to learn and we look forward to supporting them and other students through their degrees!
There are many other young people in need of support and you can help us reach more of them. Please donate today!