BEAUTIFUL DREAMER

A Shan migrant makes her way as a model

By NYEIN NYEIN / CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

As a young girl, Nang Nauk hoped that one day she might become a famous model.

Instead, after moving to this northern Thai city with her mother, the 25-year-old ethnic Shan woman found construction, agriculture and domestic worker jobs until landing a waitressing gig five years ago at a local Thai restaurant, where she worked every day from 11 am until 9 pm.

She had to earn a living, but that didn’t discourage her from pursuing her dream. Three years ago she started posing for magazines and advertisements for online shops in her spare time, until eventually customers in the restaurant began recognizing her and asking to take photographs with her.

Today, the Lap Tom Yum Restaurant, located on the outskirts of Chiang Mai in the city’s San Pi Seua Sub-district, attracts many customers who come just for a chance to see its locally famous waitress. “I did not expect to be this kind of model, although I had a dream in my childhood,” she told The Irrawaddy recently. “If possible, I want to be a model in my country.”

Born in a village near Taunggyi, Shan State, Nang Nauk is the youngest daughter in a family of three children. After completing high school, she moved to Thailand at the age of 17 to meet her mother, who was already living and working in the country.

“My family used to have farmland [in Shan State], but the income from the farm was not enough to support me and my sister, so my mother went to work in Thailand and she sent money back to us. After I finished Grade 10, I joined my mother to help her,” shesaid.

“I faced many difficulties, such as the language barrier and the different kinds of food,” she said of her early days in Thailand. She now speaks fluent Thai.

As a young, attractive woman living the precarious life of a migrant worker in Thailand, Nang Nauk could easily have fallen into the sex industry—either voluntarily, as a means of earning more money, or as a victim of trafficking. But by remaining clear-sighted about the dangers of that path, she has managed to avoid a fate that has claimed many women from Myanmar forced to earn a living outside their own country.

“I knew I had to avoid falling into that kind of life, no matter what,” she said. “I can use my physical strength to earn a living. I believe that if you do your best, one day you will be recognized for your work.”

At Lap Tom Yum, her efforts certainly seemed to have been appreciated. Although she had only one day off a month and earned just the minimum wage of 300 baht (US$9.30) a day, she said she was happy there because it was like working with her family.

That’s why she only reluctantly decided to start a new job in midSeptember, taking a position as a receptionist for a car company in Lampang, a smaller city not far from Chiang Mai. She said she discussed the move with the owners of Lap Tom

Yum for four months before leaving.

“The restaurant hired a new employee, so I was free to leave,” she told The Irrawaddy after her first day at her new job.

So far, she said, she likes being a receptionist. “It’s a lot less tiring than being a waitress,” she said, although she still has to work very long hours— from 9 am to 8 pm.

When she isn’t working, Nang Nauk plans to spend more of her free time participating in cultural events in order to remain connected with the local Shan community.

“I will be singing at the Shan New Year’s festival for the first time this year. Until now, I couldn’t do this, because most of my time in Chiang Mai was spent working.” 