About Us

Pattaranan is the head teacher at the Forgotten School. She is 22 yrs old and is Thai/Karen, meaning that she is a legal citizen of Thailand but is still part of the Karen ethnic group.

She graduated from high school under the Thai government school system only later to return to high school in the Mae Lah Refugee Camp, where she graduated yet again under a different curriculum.

The reason that she decided to graduate under two different educational systems is because in the Thai government schools lessons are taught in the Thai and English, while in the Mae Lah Refugee Camp, lessons are taught in Karen and English. In doing so she was able to develop a strong understanding of both the Thai and Karen languages while at the same time picking up a lot of English as well.

She is currently attending a university on the weekends in the nearby town of Mae Tan where she recently received her Associates Degree in English and Computer Science. She plans to attend the university for an additional 2 yrs in order to obtain her Bachelors Degree in Education.

Aside from all of her academic achievements Pattaranan has also acquired a great deal of teaching experience as well. While living and studying in the Mae Lah Camp she worked part-time as a volunteer teacher, teaching the subjects of Math and Thai. She volunteered these duties for 5 yrs working primarily with pre-kindergarten aged children.

It is no secret that Pattaranan is an outstanding person and a great teacher. You can see in the way that she teaches that her heart is 100% driven by helping provide education to children, especially to Karen children.

Being Karen herself, she relates to the struggle that is taking place in Burma and feels that it is her duty to help educate her displaced people. At the same time, she knows that by being Thai she is free to travel and pursue a career in education that would pay her a much higher salary than any school could possibly afford in the small towns along the Thai / Burma border.

But for now, her aspirations for financial success will have to be put on hold. She said that first she must think of things bigger than herself and her own desires and wants. She must first think of the lives and futures of her people.