Mr. Niwat is a karen sagaw who was born in a village named Ban Ramad in Ta Song Yang district, high up in the mountains of Tak province. He never thought that he would one day become a teacher. After he graduated with his bachelor degree in agriculture and plant science from Rajamangala University of Technology in Nan province, he got a job in a water project with Bhumibol Dam in Tak province. In 2001, he returned to his home town in Ta Song Yang district in Tak province to take care of his father.

After coming back home, he applied for a position at Mae Fah Luang Community Learning Center in Baan Huay Pra Chao (บ้านห้วยพระเจ้า) in Tak province. He fell in love with his role in the community when he learned that he had helped change two men’s lives. These two men were opium addicts. They quit opium and had a decent job because of the project that Mr. Niwat engaged and worked with them.

At first, Mr. Niwat did not have any background working with the community. At Mae Fah Luang Community Learning Center in Baan Huay Pra Chao (บ้านห้วยพระเจ้า), Mr. Niwat started learning how to organize community participation, how to communicate with the villagers, working with them to identify community problems and finding solutions together with them.

He later moved to Mae Fah Luang Community Learning Center in Ban Mokokhi (บ้านมอโก้คี) in the same province. Once he moved to Ban Mokokhi, he applied his experiences and created partnerships with the community network, such as provincial health services, universities, and social welfare workers, to provide knowledge to the community and give them resources. He makes use of the network and strengthens the connection. As a result, with the support of the partnership, he was able to build over 10 community learning centers. He had to walk for more than a day from one community learning center to another to help and monitor these centers. He genuinely wants to improve the quality of life for the villagers by providing them knowledge and education.

Mr. Niwat helps and leads the community to find solutions to health issues such as dengue fever, opium drug addiction, and literacy. He helps the community through the learning process. He builds trust in them with his honesty and strategizes through relevant issues/community problems. With young children, Mr. Niwat helps them learn how to read and write Thai so that they can function in Thai society and gain knowledge for higher-level education and for their own living. With the community, Mr. Niwat uses strategies such as town hall meetings, community radio broadcasts, capacity building, and constantly monitoring progress.

He sets himself up as a role model of honesty and a hard-working person. He also uses social media to promote his community. He encourages them to grow coffee instead of opium. After over 20 years of convincing, no opium is grown in that area.

He strongly believes that a person must pay back their motherland, Thailand. When he was young, he saw Keren from Myanmar escape domestic war from Myanmar to Thailand, so he feels very lucky and fortunate to have been born in Thailand, a peaceful country with a lot of resources. He said with conviction that he owes it to his motherland, Thailand. Thus, he will continue to contribute wholeheartedly to pay it back by helping others.