SON NAKHIM

My mother died from a disease when I was 10 years old. My father is still alive and he is a farmer. I have 7 siblings and my old grandmother who lived with us. When my mother got sick, my dad sold part of his farmland to pay for my mother’s medical expense. Unfortunately, my mother still died, and we were left desperately poor. Worst of all, we no longer felt our mother’s warmth. My older brothers were forced to leave school in eighth or ninth grade to work and earn some income to help the family. My older sister, my younger sister and myself were still in school, because we were not really suited for work yet. I relied on several organizations in order to finish my elementary school education. I went to stay at the Buddhist Temple when I started my middle school. Then My grandmother asked a local organization providing middle school education to accept me and my sister. Later we were accepted into the organization. Despite these efforts, I dropped out high school.
I found a job as a construction worker. I earned very little and most of the time I suffered from hunger. Then, I had a traffic accident that left my femur broken and I could no longer work. I was distraught, but this accident made me realize the power of education. From then, only education could help me find a better job and bring me out of poverty.