Matcha Phorn-in
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Matcha grew up in Isan,[2][3] and was raised by a poor single mother.[4][5] These factors led her to be bullied in school.[4] Starting at age 9, she began to work on the weekends to support herself and her mother.[4]
Matcha was able to attend university after receiving a scholarship.[4] After graduating, she participated in a one-year graduate program at Thammasat University.[4]
Activism
Matcha is the executive director of Sangsan Anakot Yaowachon, an organization which supports youth from marginalized communities, primarily in the villages on Thailand's border with Myanmar.[2][3] She founded the organization in 2007.[3] In the organization's first decade, it was able to provide scholarship to 1,000 children, but the program was discontinued in the late 2010s due to lack of financial support.[3]
Matcha is a board member of International Family Equality Day (IFED),[6] and a former board member of ILGA Asia.[4] She is a regional council member of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD).[4]
Matcha has also spoken in favor of legal abortion up to 20 weeks, compared to Thailand's stricter legal standard of 12 weeks.[7][8]
In 2020 and 2021, Matcha criticized the Thai government for not providing financial aid to ethnic minorities, who consequently were more harshly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]