Immigrant of the Day: Maye Saephanh (Thailand)

Photo Courtesy of Autumn Cruz, Sacramento Bee

 Born in a Thai refugee camp and raised in a Sacramento housing project, Maye Saephanh has provided humanitarian aid in East Timor, Thailand, and Haiti. Next month, she will go to Afghanistan with the U.S. Agency for International Development, working to stabilize war-torn communities. Saephanh’s family fled communism in Southeast Asia and she was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. The family resettled in the Bay Area when she was 5 and later moved to Sacramento. By age 9, at the Wellspring Women’s Center in Oak Park, Maye was translating for many of the Mien refugees. She attended Loretto High School and went on to UC Santa Barbara on full scholarship.  Read more.

KJ