“Hello, my name is Pairat; my nickname is Kent. On behalf of students aided by Sustainable Hope International, I would like to thank our supporters, especially Ken and Jean for making this happen.

“I lost my father when I was very young. My mother had to raise 8 children on her own. She was a farmer with only 4 years of school. She knew only how to write her name and read some basic words.

“We lived without electricity in a remote area. To get drinking water, we had to dig our own well.

“When I got sick, traveling to a doctor was very difficult. My parent had to carry me while walking several hours to catch a bus from another village.

“When I was old enough, my family let me go to school. I was the only one who liked school, and I wanted to learn much more. I believed education would be a gate to explore the world. I never gave up. Sometimes I did schoolwork by candlelight. This was the only option when we ran out of lamp oil.

“Only two of us in my village attended high school. One was the son of the primary school principal. I had to ride a bike through the jungle for many miles to get to school. If it was raining, it could take me two hours each way. On normal days it was still 1.5 hours.

“During the rainy season, the riverbed was too full to ride my bike. A man nearby told me to leave my bike with him. He told me to take off most of my clothes and climb onto his shoulders.

“He walked me through the water to the other side. Because I could not come back through the river, I stayed at a Buddhist Temple so I could keep going to school.

“After high school, I needed to learn more to become a chef. I had a dream that meant very hard work. To go to college, it took me three hours to get there and 3 more to return home. I had to go by bike, then by train, and then by bus to reach the university. If the bus was not there, I had to walk.

“Yes, it was very hard, but I desperately wanted to make my dream come true! It was worth the effort!

“It took me many years to make it to the United States. My hard work paid off. I now own and run restaurants here and have an advice and resource website for those in the restaurant business and started a family here. I am living the American dream.

“I wonder how much better my life might have been if Sustainable Hope was around then.”