I grew up on a boat as my family went up and down the Chao Phraya River selling sand. I was sent to live in the Klong Toey slum with my grandmother when I was six so I could attend school.

I just wanted to keep studying. Even though I got a scholarship, my parents didn’t have enough money for my daily expenses so I had to leave school in the ninth grade at age 14.

I started working at a garment factory because my sister had worked there. I really hated it but I didn’t know how to find other work. I ended up staying there for seven years before I quit to help my husband’s relative at her cooked-to-order shop.

I knew so many Thai recipes because I was made to cook by my mom and grandma since I was a little girl. At the time, I complained and kept asking them why we had to cook while others bought instant food.

It’s cheaper to cook. I stopped complaining when I realized how poor we were. We only had enough money to buy raw ingredients to cook and feed eight family members. If we had bought prepared food, it would only have fed half of us.

Cooking is my blessing. I am thankful to my mom and grandma for teaching me everything. I didn’t have to take an expensive course at a culinary school.

Launching a business is hard. When I started my own cooked-to-order shop, people would always come to eat then not pay because they had no money. They saw me as a young woman who didn’t dare ask them to pay their bill.

The food price hike in 2008 was my turning point. I was struggling to support my family as food prices skyrocketed. Anji Barker, a friend I’d known for a long time from her charity work with Helping Hands, offered to help me to open a charity cooking school in the slum.

There is nothing more foolish than believing yourself to be a fool. I was afraid to teach foreigners at the cooking school because I felt that my English wasn’t good enough.

Having someone believe in you is important. Though I rejected their offers of help many times, I still got huge support from my friends, especially Anji. They believed in me so I finally overcame my fear.

Everything is hard at the beginning. We went to a lot of churches to give away free meals and raise awareness of our school, but we were victims of the political turmoil when protesters seized Suvarnabhumi Airport. Students canceled all their classes and I had no income for three months.

The fear of running out of money kept me fighting. Seeing my family struggling and in debt pushed me to not give up. We slowly got more customers as Cooking with Poo gained international recognition.

My nickname is actually Chompoo (rose apple), not Poo as everyone remembers. I used to hate being called Poo, because it has a funny meaning in English and even Chinese. But now I really love it. It’s my brand.

Drugs and gambling are big problems for poor people. When people start gambling, they accumulate debts and then they have to sell drugs to pay back those debts. It’s a vicious circle.

Poverty clouds our expectations of a better life. The money is too limited to learn new things. Many are afraid of being rejected because they are from the slum.

It’s with resentment that people judge us for living here. They assume we must be junkies or thieves. They know nothing about us, still they look down upon us simply for where we live.

Our community is changing rapidly. Lots of parents are working hard to send their kids to university and more and more people are getting good jobs.

I have no wish to live anywhere else. I love living here. But everyone is afraid that the government will force the slum people to move elsewhere as [Thai Port’s] 20-year rental contract is already over.

Sharing is happiness. I’m so proud that our charity can create jobs for the community through handmade jewelry, food delivery, catering and now Munjai Café [Confident Café], which is all about giving our children the chance to advance their skills in the service industry. We hope it will give them the confidence and abilities to work in hotels and restaurants in the future.

Confidence is everything. I always tell the children who work with me that they are beautiful and assure them that they can be whatever they want to be. They just need to fight for it.

Teach your kids through hard work. I bring my kids to work at the school every weekend. I tell them to do everything from taking care of customers to cleaning the toilets so that they learn the value of money.

To continue giving is my dream. I was given a chance by Anji and it changed my life. Now I dream of making others’ lives better. It’s about endless giving.