When Maw la Myine, 45, was a child growing up in poverty-stricken Mon state in Myanmar, he dreamed of becoming a lawyer to help his people understand the law and seek justice.
A bright student, he enrolled at university to study law but by his third year his family could no longer afford to keep him there. "I had to drop out because of poverty.
I had to support my mum and four younger siblings," he said. Mr Maw soon found himself propelled from the library at law school to the shrimp-shelling factories of Samut Sakhon, where labourers from Myanmar and Cambodia clean shellfish for long hours each day.
Mr Maw has a gift for languages, having been a volunteer Mon language teacher to children at home. His ability to speak Thai led to him