- PROFILE
The refugee daughter who became Phuket’s migrant defender
From jewellery factory worker to crusader of migrant rights, this woman is determined to make sure Myanmar workers in Phuket are not exploited or endangered in their quest for a better life.
Sumana Noi sits near docked Thai fishing trawlers in Phuket Port, where the boats moor until heading out again to the ocean in the morning. Photo: Luke Duggleby/HaRDstories
It doesn’t matter that it’s 9am on a Saturday morning; Sumana Noi is sitting at a desk in the small, one-roomed office that makes up the Andaman Friendship Association (AFA), a non-profit tucked away at the end of Phuket’s fishing port. It’s here that Noi spends most of her time. The work, she said, never stops because neither do the challenges the local Myanmar community faces and it’s her mission, and that of AFA, to offer assistance. As if to prove a point, Noi’s phone rings twice during our interview; two of what will likely be 20 calls today, she said.
Noi, 44, is the executive director and a founder of AFA, which was formed in 2018 in an effort to tackle the human trafficking and exploitation of Myanmar migrants in Thailand. The country currently hosts over 2.3 million documented Myanmar nationals who left their homeland in search of better pay. In Thailand, the minimum wage far exceeds that of Myanmar where a civil war has only made decent work harder to find.
“Our country right now is fragile, it’s collapsed so there’s no place to stay and it is difficult to get a job,” said Min Oo, a project coordinator at FED Foundation for Education and Development, an NGO also supporting Myanmar migrants in Thailand.
Over 60,000 – likely more considering those who are undocumented – have chosen the southern island of Phuket as their base. The vibrant tourism scene, centred around the white beaches and neon-emblazoned nightlife, creates many employment opportunities, be it in the restaurants or in construction of new hotels. Others find work on the fishing vessels, many of which base themselves in Phuket when not roaming the Andaman Sea.
But the promise of these opportunities comes with a risk: Many migrants arrive without proper paperwork, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by those who take advantage of their precarious status. A 2018 survey by International Organization for Migration found half of returning migrants had been underpaid while others had had wages withheld, been forced to work long hours, or endured psychological stress. As such, Phuket is not only an employment hub but also a hotspot for labour rights issues.
It is Noi – soft-spoken and beautifully dressed – and her team that offer a lifeline with free legal advice. There are eight staff and over 50 volunteers, responding to requests 24 hours a day, but Noi is seen by most people as the heart of the organisation and the mother of fixing migrant problems.
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She is kind, patient, and like “an older sister,” said Than Lwin, a migrant coordinator who has been with AFA since its inception and known Noi for even longer. He continues to learn from her leadership as well as her Thai language skills which, he said, far surpass his.
The woman behind the mission
Born in Thailand to political refugees from Dawei in southern Myanmar, Noi understands the unique challenges those brave enough to take the treacherous journey – usually through the jungle amid a civil war with risk of execution on the Myanmar side and detainment on the Thai side – face once they arrive. She uses her ability to speak both languages to navigate their problems. “I know what it’s like to be discriminated against so I feel that I must stand up and fight for the rights [of migrants],” she said, in between stealing glances at a phone that never stops flashing with incoming messages.
Most days that means communicating with the various government authorities she almost sees as friends because of the frequency of contact – an unlikely twist given her refugee background. There’s the Department of Employment, Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, and the Ministry of Health that she’ll work with to secure visas, health coverage, and work permits. Then she might be on the phone with employers – a ship’s captain who is refusing to relinquish employees’ documents should they wish to work elsewhere, or a construction company underpaying their workers and exposing them to poor working conditions – and later with migrants, educating them on their rights here in Thailand.
She is able to intervene in any situation, said Min Oo, who has known Noi since the 2004 tsunami hit Phuket and neighbouring islands, “and make it a win-win situation for both sides.”
“I have built trust between employers, authorities, and the migrant community, changing their attitudes and the situation is getting better in this country,” Noi said proudly, adding that it is also difficult for migrants to stay updated on evolving migration policy and so it is AFA’s job to educate them.
Although Noi, whose peach-tinted top perfectly matches the soft blush of her lacquered nails and eye shadow, has gained Thai citizenship, that fog of uncertainty and fear of what’s to come resonates with her. Perhaps it’s because her parents were in the same position when they arrived in Thailand over 50 years ago, but more resolutely she attributes her chosen vocation to one specific incident.
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She was 21 and working amid the buzz of Bangkok, where she was raised, in her grandfather’s jewellery factory. Her colleagues were mostly Myanmar nationals who, like many today, were in search of a stealthier pay packet. One day a male employee was taken away by authorities. His pregnant and undocumented wife was left behind. “We tried to find a way to help her because she had no documents and her husband was not there,” recalled Noi, adding that she was eventually able to find a local charity to help.
It was that incident that awoke an instinct in Noi, whose twinkly watch indicates a lingering love of jewellery. “I started to realise that in this world there is a society that helps people without any expectation of benefits. That motivated me to help people,” she said.
Much to her grandfather’s disapproval, she left her job in the factory, swapping it for a daily stipend of just 200 Thai baht as a volunteer with the National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM), an NGO that worked to address the humanitarian needs of migrants in Thailand. Two years later, the NCCM officially hired her, paving the way for a number of other roles she would pursue over the next decade or so, all focussed on the rights of migrants.
After several years though, Noi recognised the need to support migrants outside of Thailand’s capital and especially in what many overseas recognise simply as a resort island of Phuket. Behind the five star hotels, seafood restaurants, and pulsing nightlife, is a workforce often overlooked, overworked, and underpaid.
In 2007, Noi left her family and ventured south, eventually founding an unofficial migrant worker network that, in 2018, was formally registered as AFA. Six years on and under Noi’s leadership, the organisation is supported by the United States Agency for International Development and has contributed to reducing human trafficking, specifically in the fisheries business with its port-side location.
Kway Zin Tun is one such fisherman who has benefitted from AFA’s support. Although he wasn’t a victim of trafficking, he did arrive in Phuket without proper papers, which left him exposed. The first ship’s captain he worked for took advantage by vastly underpaying Kway and others and ensuring they couldn’t find work elsewhere by refusing to hand over the paperwork Kway did have.
Noi’s team stepped in, using their language skills to inform the captain of the migrants’ rights and convince him of the need to relinquish the papers. Kway has since been able to find a better ship where the working schedule and wages are fair. “If there was no support by AFA and I could not change employers, I might go back home,” Kway said. That would have meant losing out on money, he said, is vital to his family back home in southern Myanmar. There, his three children are cared for by relatives while his wife, also in Phuket, works in a restaurant.
Tackling problems few can
More common these days, however, are problems with those working in construction, Noi said. Throughout the day, women and men of all ages enter the green-flecked office looking for advice. Many, said Noi, have no idea that even if they are undocumented, they still have rights but through word-of-mouth they learn that AFA can advise them on how to navigate issues of pay, permits, and workplace injury.
“Without these local NGOs it is challenging for them to stand up themselves,” said Min Oo, explaining that the southern part of Thailand has historically been neglected by local NGOs for Burmese migrants, that was until AFA.
For Noi, who could only ever see a future of factory work when she was in her teens, her days now are split between dealing with the day-to-day running of the NGO, but also with the most delicate of cases. “I’m not someone who likes ordering people around all the time, but I divide the cases for each of them,” she said.
Those pertaining to the abuse of teenage girls tend to fall to her while she might delegate employment issues to other members of staff. Oftentimes it’s adolescents, says Noi, left in the makeshift camps constructed out of iron sheets with no ventilation or light while the parents work, who are attacked by men within their community. The AFA team then springs into action, finding the girl a safe place to stay, coordinating with caregivers, and filing a report with the police. Even if undocumented, they can still report a crime, Noi said.
Such is the workload that Noi often doesn’t retire to her own small flat in Phuket town until long after the office closes after 5pm. She’ll then drive by the sea, listening to classical music, or take a walk, in order to unwind; something she began doing during the pandemic. She’ll regularly visit her father and four siblings who have since followed her from Bangkok.
The work is relentless but worth it, said Noi, who believes this is her calling. She can’t imagine doing anything else and simply wishes more money would go into setting up similar initiatives elsewhere in Thailand. After all, migration from neighbouring Myanmar, especially amid the conflict, is unlikely to stop any time soon.
Rebecca. L. Root is a multimedia journalist based in Bangkok but reporting globally. She covers humanitarian aid, human rights, global health, development and climate, among other things.
Luke Duggleby is a long-time Thailand based photojournalist. He regularly works on stories related to human rights, the environment and the impact of pollution and development on local communities.
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