We are helping open a new Freedom Center in Thailand!
Thanks to the generosity of Ward Church we have given over $80,000 toward building a Freedom Center in Pattaya, Thailand. Sue Hanstad the director of Global Outreach and Rachel Sochacki are there now, helping open this new center!
Sue and Rachel reported that when they arrived, they met up with the Not Abandoned Board and their CFO who, as soon as she heard they were from Ward Church, literally grabbed them and hugged them tight, thanking us for all the needed support that Ward has given. We are so thankful for a church that is so generous!
The ribbon cutting to the Freedom Center was last Wednesday, March 13! Sue and Rachel are working with the Not Abandoned team during the day and in the evening, they are working with the girls that are currently trafficked and doing their best to love on and show the girls the love of Jesus. There are over 30,000 bars that you can hire girls in the Pattaya. Sue and Rachel have had 17-hour workdays since arriving and are currently counting about 13 miles walked a day in 97 degrees and extreme humidity! We will hear so much more once they are home and rested!
In Pattaya, without a path to freedom, women experience:
* Constant exploitation, both sexually and financially
* A lack of access to non-exploitative work
* Forced separation from their loved ones
* An unrelenting and undeserving cycle of shame
While walking one mile in Pattaya, Not Abandoned counted 2,783 girls for sale.
The new Freedom Center will provide:
*Practical resources; a variety of education and employment training that helps remove barriers to freedom.
*Restoration of dignity that happens through trauma-informed counseling and community reintegration, enabling a holistic pathway to freedom.
*Our program offerings ultimately work together to enable women to go from trapped to free and live a life filled with hope, changing their destiny.
To learn more about this mission, check out; Not Abandoned