Smiling in The Dark: How to survive uncertainties and succeed. | Pascal Khoo Thwe | TEDxUM1Yangon

All of us face difficulties and hardships but we all deal with them in different ways. Pascal Khoo Thwe tells the fascinating story about his life, from fighting the Burmese soldiers for independence in the jungles, to being enrolled at Cambridge University and writing a renowned book. In this talk, Pascal reminds us to always keep smiling, even in our darkest moments. Pascal Khoo Thwe is a Myanmar author from the minority Padaung people, known for his autobiographic writings about growing up in Burma under military rule. His book, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, was awarded the Kiriyama Prize. he was born in Pekon, Shan State, Myanmar. He is the eldest of six sons and five daughters. His father died in 1996 in Thailand. By a chance encounter with Dr. John Casey, a Cambridge don, Khoo Thwe was rescued from the jungles of Burma where he and other student refugees were fighting Burmese soldiers for independence. In 1991, Khoo Thwe enrolled in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he received his BA in English literature in 1995. Khoo Thwe's autobiographical book "From the Land of Green Ghosts" was published by Harper-Collins in 2002. He currently resides in London. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx