Mine’s Graduation: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

This is Mine in the center.  To the left is Ar, ADRA project coordinator, who has been very supportive of Mine and my sister, Surapee Silapachan, to her right.  We are all very proud of Mine who left the village since she was 14/15. Came to Chiang Rai to study and had to work really hard to obtain an education.  We have been sponsoring her since 2004 and now she finally graduated with a Bachelor degree in home economics from Rachamongkol University.  The first person in her village (Hmong village) to graduate with a bachelor degree.  About 10 family members rented a pick up truck and came to Bangkok to attend her graduation (you could read more of her story in my earlier post).  When I met her in Bangkok last September she made one very meaningful statement, “If not because of your support, there will not be today for me.”  Mine send half her pay check to her family in Chiang Rai and she told me that she would do anything to make sure that all her younger siblings obtain bachelor degrees.