Few people can advocate for global education as Lieu Tran can. She can tell you what it's like not being able to read her native language, much less the English of her adopted homeland. She can show you how her master's degree in human rights from Columbia University is opening doors for others.

As Tran and her siblings were born into extreme poverty in Vietnam, obtaining an education wasn't an option for them. "Our life was more about how to bring food to the family," Tran said during a recent visit to the Deseret News editorial board.

By the time she was 7 years old, Tran was forced into a labor camp, where she worked 13-14 hours a day in a fireworks plant. Even though she was subjected to beatings and lived with the anxiety of not knowing whether she would see her family again, Tran said a hard-labor job was preferable to being sold into the sex trade.

Tran eventually escaped the labor camp. One day, the guards at the factory abandoned their stations. The workers surmised they would be attacked by soldiers if they remained in the camp, so they, too, ran. According to a 2001 profile of Tran by Deseret News reporter Elaine Jarvik, the group kept running until they found a boat. The boat eventually made its way to the Philippines, although several people died from starvation en route. One day, by chance, Tran was reunited with her mother at the refugee camp.

In the fall of 1994, Tran's large extended family was relocated to Salt Lake City. For the first time, she enrolled in school. She was unable to read the alphabet in her native language, let alone speak, read or write English. The only Vietnamese students in her school were American born. To a large degree, Tran learned English on her own.

As she tended to her studies, she helped her parents, who spoke no English, to negotiate a new culture and to work through the red tape of government health and nutrition programs. She also helped them care for 10 brothers, sisters and nieces.

By her senior year at Highland High School, Tran was enrolled in four Advanced Placement classes, including physics and American history.

She was awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, including a $75,000 "Superkid" scholarship from actress Rosie O'Donnell. Tran earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah, then was accepted into graduate school in New York. Now, she works at a nonprofit in Utah that assists refugee children. She also volunteers for Results, a nonprofit, grassroots organization aimed at creating the political will to end poverty worldwide.