Zin Mar So
Zin Mar So on her way home from school.
Zin Mar So lives with her grandmother Daw Thin Hla (52) in a small bamboo hut hidden by a stream at the end of a worn path, near Mae Sot. They have been living here for almost two years, after they left Mon State inside Burma. Zin Mar So's father was training to be an officer in the SPDC, which would have ensured at least a modicum of security, but he died of malaria before she was born. Her mother left her with Daw Thin Hla, who used to be a shopkeeper, until she fled to Thailand to escape mounting debt. She supports her granddaughter by growing and selling onions, and tending to a friend's pigs. At their slaughter she will get half the proceeds.