Min sits cross-legged on a patterned carpet with large Thai script.
Min’s son Phum, a rambunctious toddler, is zooming around the living room and runs over to her; she patiently takes him and sits him down in her lap.
“He falls down a lot,” Min says.
Phum is an outspoken two-year-old, Min says. His favorite activities are singing, playing soccer, and eating Pocky, a chocolate snack that is smeared all over his face.
Min, who is 22 years old, dropped out of high school after she became pregnant with Phum. Recently, however, she has returned to complete her studies at a local non-formal and informal school.
A buzzing sound can be heard from the cluttered workshop outside, where her older brother Boh is carving birdhouses out of wood. Inside, Min’s mother Nukul shows us the living room, which is sparse but boasts three pieces of wooden furniture that she made by hand: a bench, a sturdy cabinet, and a towering eight-foot tall armoire that dwarfs all of the home’s occupants.
While Min shares her family’s talents for craft, she spends most of her time working at her job in a warehouse, where she unloads trucks and checks their inventory. She earns 600 baht per day and works from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., six days a week.
On Sundays, she goes to class.
“I like to challenge myself,” says Min. “It’s fun to pass exams.”
A Family’s Resilience
Min wakes up at 6 a.m. every day. She sleeps on the bumpy bus ride to work, which takes one hour and a half each way.
Like the rest of her family members, Min has worked in many different jobs.
Min’s mother Nukul sold meat and chicken at a large market in central Bangkok, where she had several employees. In 2012, her business was destroyed by floods. ’
After the flood, the family moved north to a small village famous for raising King Cobras in Khon Kaen province. Nukul worked as a rice farmer while Min, who was only in eighth grade at the time, handled cobras in performances for tourists.
“It was risky,” Min says about the cobra shows. “They left their teeth in.”
In recent years, the village has struggled to find food for the snakes, so the family returned to Bangkok a few years ago.
When the family moved back, Min worked at restaurants and bars near Khaosan Road, Bangkok’s famed backpacker district. She enjoyed the international work environment and improved her English by speaking with foreign diners.
Later, she worked as a golf caddy and moved in with her boyfriend. When she told her boyfriend about her pregnancy, he walked out. They haven’t spoken since.
A Brighter Future
Min has always been an introverted person. In primary school, she remembers walking out as a class to the rice fields every morning to sing, but she was often too shy to join in the fun.
A few months ago, Min joined Kenan Foundation Asia’s Youth to Work program, which helps young, single mothers develop employability skills. The program is part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, a global initiative to tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people around the world.
Participating in the project proved to be a life-changing decision, both personally and professionally, for Min. Shortly after the project wrapped up, she landed a job offer, which she is currently considering, for an administrative position at a company in Silom, Bangkok’s central business district.
She now feels more confident speaking in social settings. Throughout the workshop duration, she always volunteered to represent the group and present their work. She has a LINE group with eight friends she made at the training. The group likes to meet up at the mall to let their children play together.
“I used to be socially awkward,” says Min. “This workshop helped me learn to get along with others.”
Under the Futuremakers program, Kenan led a series of workshops on the 21st-century skills necessary for employment in the modern workplace. In addition to role-playing activities, experts from various industries conducted interactive learning exercises on topics like resume-writing, professional communication, financial education, creative problem solving, anti-sexual harassment awareness, and other skills essential for navigating the modern labor market.
Min says she gained self-confidence from Kenan’s training program.
“I have changed a lot. I used to be shy and rarely spoke to others,” Min says. “I’ve become more courageous to think and speak.”
Min’s budding confidence has not only improved her personal relationships but also led to new job opportunities and a path to a better future, for herself and her son.
To read more inspiring stories about individuals empower by our work, visit https://empower.kenan-asia.org/.
