Sumalee Milne, the founder and Director of the Ayui Foundation, is a Thai-Australian
woman who has been working with children and hilltribes in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand,
for over a decade. In 1998, after university, she began working with the Akha people
through the Australian Volunteers International Thai-Australia Youth Ambassador Program,
working for the Development, Agriculture and Education Project for Akha. Sumalee
then worked for the World Vision Foundation of Thailand for four years, as project
staff of a hilltribe Area Development Program, working in a large mountain community
comprised of three different hilltribes, including the Akha people.
During this time, Sumalee started translating and interpreting part-time. Most of
her work was for Chiang Rai NGOs, and she has interpreted for several documentaries,
including ‘Missionaries and the Akha’, for PBS (USA) and ‘Trafficked’, for Abracadabra
Films, screened in Australia in 2006. Sumalee also does interpreting in the Chiang
Rai Provincial Law Courts for non-Thai defendants.
In 2004, Sumalee began teaching at Chiang Rai’s largest primary school. During this
time, she also was the Director of a large hilltribe children’s hostel. From her
combined experiences in hilltribe community development, teaching, and an understanding
of young people and appreciation of the Akha culture, Sumalee founded the Ayui Foundation
in 2007.
