Combatting Human Trafficking Through Education

sjs
July 11, 2008

Women religious in Thailand are making headway preventing young girls from falling into trafficking by training them “to stand shoulder to shoulder with men or their future husbands to build their own families.”

In the view of women religious working in Thailand, the key to putting an end to human trafficking is the education of would-be victims. “What we have done so far is founding schools based on national compulsory education in remote areas or up high on the mountains and opening centers for small children and students who have accomplished compulsory education to pave ways for their further studies in the government’s public schools in the cities,” she explained. “It is our hope that our children will have opportunities to acquire more knowledge and be adorned with spiritual and cultural formation.”

One school was founded after police saved 15 girls from being locked into the trafficking trade and asked the sisters to take care of them. “We pledged to give them vocational training with the hope that they would be self-reliant and able to support their family.” Such training keeps the girls from being forced to seek their livelihood on the streets.

One of the sisters says, “We encourage them to feel dignified and proud of their girlhood and motherhood. We prepare them to be ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with men or their future husbands to build their own families.”

Read the full Zenit story.


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