Prevent Human Trafficking and Child Labor in Thailand

This is my first time working away from home and my first time working full time for an NGO. The opportunity and experience have been invaluable. On a personal level I have learned a great deal about myself and what I am capable of. The children I teach and the people I have met have also taught me a lot about other cultures and ways of life.

On a professional level, due to the variety of work, I have had the opportunity to put a great deal of what I have learned from my university education into practice and I have learned skills that my degree does not cover.

Overall I feel that, on both a personal and professional level, I learned a great deal more than I could ever give back, but everyone at DEPDC/GMS made me feel appreciated and was thankful for the contribution I made. I will leave with a greater knowledge and understanding of how an NGO, such as DEPDC/GMS, operates and that I can put this knowledge into practice in my future career.

Working on the prevention side of trafficking is just as important as working with victims of human trafficking. It is better for individuals to be prevented from entering exploitive situations in the first place because then they have not gone through such a terrible ordeal. It makes a lot of sense to do prevention work as well as rescue and rehabilitation.

DEPDC is unique because we work in prevention. I’m sure we are not the only organization to do so. All the staff that work here are amazing, many if not most of them were at risk individuals who have been in our programs and are now talented individuals working in prevention. Our directors and project leaders are incredibly dedicated; they have a lot of fight and a lot of heart.

I suppose with any organization the goal at hand often feels impossible to achieve, until it is done. Here are DEPDC they have done a lot of great work and have indeed prevented many children and young people from being trafficked and exploited. Here we want students to learn about everything and to be inspired. DEPDC is also very welcoming of visitors, and volunteers, long term and short term.

Someone who is open-minded, brave, positive in outlook, willing to work hard, is curious, takes initiative, willing to learn, willing to make mistakes, and willing to say ‘you know what, I can do this.’ Maybe most importantly is someone who wants to be here, someone who wants to help and someone that can acknowledge that although you are here to help others, these very people you meet are amazing in their own right and that there is so much you can learn from them. I think it should be a mutually rewarding and giving experience.

By providing those in our program with opportunities for education, life skills and personal development, each project offers early intervention of those most at-risk for human trafficking with a wide range of risk factors including poverty, domestic instability, history of abuse and statelessness. Benefactors also benefit from a wide range of alternative educational programmes and vocational trainings to further reduce their likelihood of entering exploitative situations.

DEPDC also increases the awareness of human trafficking, child rights protection, and the importance of education, in both its target group and within its networks and in the community at large. DEPDC also works diligently to actively engage members of the community through outreach and networking so that teachers, village leaders, family and community members, and the government itself also works to combat the social problems plaguing the region.

It is worthy to note that the empowerment and prevention-based projects can impact families and communities of the participants in indirect ways. Already, many participants have indicated a willingness to share their experience and anti-human trafficking knowledge with their siblings, friends and communities. DEPDC and M-CRP believe projects supporting youth hold the greatest long-term potential to build strong communities that are active in protecting, educating, and caring for their children. The youth in these communities are empowered to work for change, and they will form the next generation of activists and social workers who will tackle this issue for a truly sustainable intervention.

Volunteers are supported by their Volunteer Co-ordinator who is here to supervise their work as well as look after their well being whilst they are here. Volunteers are given a wide range of tasks to do. Volunteers are also able to initiate small to larger scale projects or initiatives that they are interested in pursuing, given that our daily task can be covered. Volunteers are also welcomed by all staff, there may be a language barrier at first but the more you learn Thai the more you can benefit from this experience. We also include volunteers in many if not all of our events as well as monthly meetings, our half year and end of year meeting.