They pay a terrible price escaping poverty at home!
Looking out the window this morning, I prayed about constructing a unqiue training and development center that gives inspiration and skills, and cultivates people and cultural change.
I met with senior staff for breakfast and spoke more about the idea - and looked at steps necessary to see it become a reality and part of Openaid’s work in Southeast Asia. The center would operate on the Mekong River, welcoming disadvantaged young people into special training and development experiences.
There are many ideas being considered to help Openaid plan for its long-term future. Whether immediate or long-term, toying with the idea of including such a training center might well be worthwhile.
So many girls across the Mekong come to Thailand seeking jobs and new opportunities. They come from troubled families trapped in poverty and cycles of debt. The combination of these pressures forces them to leave home - and mostly, they are exploited in prostitution or by officials and business people who all benefit from the girl’s labour.
From from factory workers to sex workers, most girls relate the same stories about how they came to Thailand and couldn’t find sufficient work in border towns. Many end up in brothels and nightclubs. Tourism is growing along this east-west economic corridor and border towns are filled with young girls coming to the Thai side to work as general labourers, as well as waiters and waitresses.
Given that, I believe tourism is likely to become even more popular in the next 10 years, unless communities are properly developed and supported to take up measures to sustain their own development, girls will be increasingly vulnerable to exploitation and the worst forms of abuse.
What do you think? Designating resources to run a special centre working with severely disadvantaged families and young girls across the nearly 1,500-kilometre East-West Corridor… I think girls who come from Burma and Laos in search of better lives (born into terrible lives) should not end up in the sex industry.
Justin Whitecross
