The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter January/February & March/April2002, Volume 9, Nos. 1 & 2 WOMEN'S FREEDOM NETWORK NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STOPPING COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION Field Experience in Thailand: Student Involvement in 2002 by Christina Arnold

I have a unique perspective because I grew up in Asia and have personally lived around children who were trafficked. I remember when I was 10 years old, walking through the red light district of Bombay, and seeing children my age locked up in cages. Since then, I have had a desire to do something, to be a voice for these children who I feel are severely under-represented in Asia.

When I was 17 years old I moved to Thailand and began teaching English in Udon, a town on the Laotian border. It was there that I became aware that several of our students had actually been sold into prostitution at the ages of 7 and 8 years old. Two of my students had escaped, were picked up by the police and put into an orphanage. Through talking with them, I realized that these girls had so many emotional and physical needs that were not being addressed.

After that experience, I decided to return to the United States with my husband. We wanted to start our own nonprofit organization called Project Hope. The goal of Project Hope is to combat child exploitation and trafficking in Thailand and Asia through direct intervention programs.

"There are many organizations that operate prevention programs, but not many that run recovery programs that offer services such as safe houses."

Last January we were awarded a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation to take a team of six students to Thailand to examine what is being done there by NGOs and other local groups who operate recovery programs for child victims. We learned that there is a lot of really good work being done in Thailand, but the area that we lived in, which is at the northeast of Thailand on the Laotian border, has no presence of NGOs at all. There is still a great need for direct service provision, especially since the 1997 economic crisis in Thailand. There are many organizations that operate prevention programs, but not many that run recovery programs that offer services such as safe houses. Local law enforcement officials even told us that they cannot respond to all of the reports they get about brothels that harbor under-age children, because they have no place to put these special victims.

This year Project Hope plans to take another research trip, which will be more of a service-learnng trip, with other students from the D.C. metropolitan area. This trip will allow us to work in coordination with a Thai organization that deals directly with children who are in foster homes and group homes. Our students will be able to interact with these children, teaching them English and computer skills. We hope that our work, and the work of other organizations, can make the lives of these victims better.