notabandoned

Emir's Story: The Power of a Broom Stick

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 03:52:04 GMT

How Confidence Transformed a Man’s World

When our team first met Emir, a soft-spoken man in his mid-thirties who is blind, he sat quietly in the corner of a classroom. Everything—his work, his food, even his belongings—had been placed directly in front of him. Teachers explained that he needed others to do nearly all tasks for him, guiding him even to the restroom.

His world was small because everyone believed his abilities were small.

But everything changed with one ordinary broom handle.

A team member handed it to him and gently suggested he try it like a mobility cane. Within minutes, Emir began tapping right and left, mapping the space around him. He walked—independently—to the restroom for the first time in his life.

Outside, he located rocks, curbs, steep step-downs—navigating obstacles with growing confidence. His face lit up. For the first time, he did not need someone to lead him.

At lunchtime, staff instinctively set his meal in front of him. Our team moved it across the room and encouraged him to find it using his new skill. Without hesitation, he did. He found his sandwich, located the peanut butter, opened the jar, spread it on his bread.

Skills no one had ever asked him—or allowed him—to try. Within hours, Emir was slicing vegetables using tactile methods and practicing money identification with 75% accuracy.

But the deeper impact of this moment reaches far beyond one man.

In many regions of Morocco, people with disabilities face deep cultural shame, lack of proper training for caregivers, and almost no access to tools like white canes. Families often don’t know what their loved ones are capable of—and so abilities remain hidden.

Mohammed’s breakthrough is a glimpse of what is possible when someone is seen, believed in, and given the tools to thrive. Our team is now working to provide him with a proper white cane—one that could transform his daily life permanently.

His story is a powerful reminder:
Dignity begins with opportunity.
Independence begins with belief.
Hope begins with one small step.

Your Support Helps Unlock Ability, Confidence, and Freedom

Every gift equips children and adults with disabilities in Morocco to experience independence, training, and a life filled with dignity.

When donating to a cause as complex as human trafficking, it’s hard to know that your generosity is actually going to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most. Not Abandoned empowers freedom for exploited women in the darkest places around the world, so that your donations actually change the destiny of a woman’s life.

Amelia & Isabelle: A Mother and Daughter Begin Again

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 03:15:29 GMT

Healing Begins Here: They Found Safety After Years of Silence

Two weeks ago, a mother and daughter—Amelia* and her 20-year-old daughter Isabelle*—walked into our Algeciras Freedom Center. They carried fear, exhaustion, and a quiet heaviness born from years of surviving circumstances no one should endure.

We welcomed them into our support groups and entrepreneurship program, where women practice grounding, hands-on work like decorating sandals. But during those first days, they stayed silent, guarded, unsure if this place could truly be safe.

Then, in a moment of rare vulnerability, Isabelle broke her silence.
She said softly, “ I don’t want to live anymore… I’ve tried to commit suicide five times.”

Her mother sat beside her—tired, scared, and holding far too much pain for any one person. Trauma doesn’t just wound individuals; it wounds families and generations. But the very next day, something remarkable happened. Isabelle returned—this time with a spark of determination. She participated. She tried the work again. She connected with others. And when one of our staff offered her a bicycle for a moment of simple joy, she accepted. She rode it outside, just for a few moments. And in her face, we saw something shift. Not everything. But a beginning.

Today, Amelia and Isabelle are living safely in a shelter. They attend the center regularly—learning, rebuilding confidence, and discovering hope in community. Recently her mother shared through tears:

“I think we are in the right place. Thank you for listening to us.”

Their story is far from over, but now they are safe. Supported. Surrounded. Healing—together.

*named change

What Your Generosity Creates:

A place where silence can break.

A place where mothers and daughters can breathe again.

A place where someone who wanted to die can begin imagining a future.

Your Giving Creates Spaces Where Healing Begins

Every donation helps sustain the community, counseling, and safety that women like Amelia and Isabelle desperately need.

A Journey Home to Hope: Soonee’s Story

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 02:42:08 GMT

How Soonee* Narrowly Escaped Exploitation Before It Began

On her very first night working in a bar in Pattaya, 38-year-old Soonee* realized just how quickly desperation can turn into danger. She had left Chiang Mai because she couldn’t make enough to survive at home, hoping Pattaya might offer better opportunities. But by the end of that night, she hadn’t sold a single drink—already being told she would owe money to the bar if she didn’t meet her quota. The only way to make up this money was to go with a man for paid sex.

She whispered to our team, “I need a better option. I don’t want this life.”

Then, in a single moment, her world collapsed even further. The next morning, Soda learned that her father had died. She rushed to the bus station, clutching only 500 baht (~$15USD)— not even half of what she needed to get home. From the station she sent a message to our team, apologizing again and again for even asking for help.

“I’m so sorry… I don’t know what to do.”

Because of the generosity of people like you, we were able to step in immediately. We purchased her bus ticket, provided food for her 16-hour journey, and even helped support her father’s funeral—an important cultural expression of honor and love.

Soda made it home safely.

Not sold. Not trapped. Not alone.
Home .

And her story didn’t end there.

Our staff have continued walking with Soda from a distance, helping her look for safe, stable work in Chiang Mai so she never has to return to Pattaya or face the pressures of the sex industry again. She is supported. She is connected. She is choosing a new path.

Soda’s story is exactly why Not Abandoned shows up—why presence, compassion, and immediate action matter.
And it is exactly what your giving makes possible.

*named change

Your Support Helps Women Step Out of Exploitation

Every gift provides safety, dignity, and a chance for women like Soda to rebuild their lives far from the dangers of the sex industry.

Empowering Freedom for Children with Disabilities in Morocco

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Wed, 28 May 2025 22:39:19 GMT

At Not Abandoned, we believe that freedom should be possible for everyone—no matter their circumstances.

This month, our dedicated team of medical volunteers returned from another impactful trip to Morocco, and we're excited to share the powerful ways your support is transforming lives.

Here’s what we accomplished together:

240 children and individuals with disabilities received custom therapeutic support, providing them with renewed mobility, independence, and dignity.
67 national teachers were trained in advanced physical and occupational therapy techniques, equipping them to deliver better care and support in their local communities.
12 center directors and administrative staff received leadership and management training to ensure sustainable, high-quality care across all locations.
Moroccan teachers at our 7 partner centers received hands-on, personalized training , making therapy more effective and accessible.
Our volunteers assembled and adapted 7 specialized chairs for children with specific postural needs, helping them sit safely and learn effectively in school.
We delivered 6 complete sets of 7 custom-designed therapy benches , built by our talented team in Spain and tailored for functional use in each center.
Our partnership with the Moroccan government is expanding , now including 3 new centers in a previously unserved region.
Most encouraging of all, we received a positive government evaluation , affirming the success and impact of our work and paving the way for future growth.

Why This Matters

This isn’t just about numbers—it’s about children being able to walk, learn, and grow in freedom. It’s about teachers becoming equipped to nurture progress and hope in their communities. And it’s about systems being strengthened to care for the most vulnerable with dignity and excellence.

See the Impact for Yourself

�� Watch Now – Learn more about our work in Morocco and see firsthand how your support brings hope and freedom.

Where are we headed?

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 23:37:36 GMT

The journey Not Abandoned has been on since 2008 has been an exciting one.

We ended last year celebrating the hope and freedom brought to thousands of women, men, girls, and boys because of your partnership through your generosity, prayers, volunteer hours and support.

2025 will be a year filled with new l ife changing engagements as we continue to focus on our core competency– providing freedom from exploitation. There are women trapped in a hopeless cycle of cruel and painful oppression. It's an ugly reality, but we're not looking away. Instead, we will continue to walk directly into her world with steady love and steady support. We sit down at the brothels, we share a drink, we listen to her story. We walk the streets with her, we share a meal, we cry with her trauma. This is the slow, gentle, honorable relationship building, this is the foundation of trust and respect she deserves. Once she understands that our intentions are sound and decides she's ready to risk a change, now we get to do the glorious work of rebuilding her voice, her health, her spirit, and her power!

As this new year launches, we think back to when it all began-- the initial vision when we walked the streets of cities filled with the heartache of the illegal sex industry. Thousands of women, teens, and girls uncomfortable in their counter-cultural revealing clothing, waiting to be picked up by some guy that would allow her to send money home to her parents or kids. We asked ourselves: What should we do? What is our responsibility now that we have seen it?

Today, we have the immense privilege to see teams in multiple countries who are sold out to the mission of freedom right alongside us. The vision was not abandoned on those lonely streets of Pattaya, Thailand and she is Not Abandoned because of you.

This year... we will grow with additional staff, engage with those victimized by exploitation, and do everything we can to help restore their power of choice in their own future. We will provide job opportunities -- in-house and out with trusted business partners. We will provide trauma care, counseling, spiritual coaching, and healthy community. We will provide specialized care, training, and support to communities with disabilities. We will continue to expand our programs to better assist those we serve, including a residential program for mothers with their children and a community cafe. This year, our priority is growth-- but, growth with excellence.

Our vision is to ensure that any person exploited is Not Abandoned

Our mission is to facilitate sustaining freedom for the exploited by providing practical opportunities for empowerment through holistic programming.

This is what drives us forward.

Will you join us?

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

We Support This Woman's Right to Choose

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 21:27:49 GMT

We are not the rescuers, we are the supporters.

“No puedo creerlo. I can’t believe it.” A young Spanish woman about 22 stares down at her humble plate of spaghetti. Her feet swing slightly under the white folding table, the adrenaline of her life still clearly amping through her nervous system. “This is a dream!” The beginning of tears are starting to form in her eyes as we assume that all this emotion is due to the hope of finally leaving the sex industry. But it’s not. She’s sitting in joyful disbelief simply because she’s eating a hot lunch, at a normal lunch time, at an actual table. Her mind hasn’t even begun to comprehend that she is about to finally walk through an open exit door to leave behind a violent pimp and the drugs he’s used to hold her captive for a decade.

We sit with this woman in our Algeciras Freedom Center in Spain and offer her a couple choices for how she’s like to proceed. It’s not up to us, it’s up to her. It’s our responsibility to resource and support her, to be her healthy community to empower her in the next stage of her life with the mentorship that a loving and healthy family would provide. It’s up to her to decide if she’s ready to face this positive but labor-some and sadly painful change. She chooses to leave the city immediately. This makes us nervous because selfishly we’d like to keep her closer to us, but she is legitimately in fear for her life and so we support her decision.

Over the course of the rest of that day our team went with this young lady to hunt down her ID card that a controller was keeping from her. She needed some travel funds, she needed clothing (because we weren’t able to get hers back from another controller), but most of all she just needed friends willing to be with her in each step. Our team helped this young woman get out of town safely that day. Even though we would have rather spent more time with her at the center where she could have received regular support to ensure a healthier transition out of exploitation, we also understand that she has to decide that she is ready for and wants this sort of support… and if and when she is ready, we will always be here to offer more practical care, more enduring love, and more resources. Until then, we celebrate that this young woman is out and safe and infused with hope for the first time in literally over a decade.

As we said our goodbyes that day we heard this young woman whispering to herself, “I can’t believe this… I am free, I am finally free!”

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

Is it a Worthwhile Fight?

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 23:00:12 GMT

"Don't you get overwhelmed by the need here? There's just so many of them..."

This is a question we often hear when visitors are with us in Pattaya, Thailand or when they hear about the sheer number of those exploited in this city... According to local government officials there are over 20,000 bars operating as brothels in Pattaya with an estimated 200,000 - 300,000 people exploited in the city's notorious sex industry. It's true that this is a daunting reality. It's true that this can be overwhelming. However, that emotion of dread quickly fades when our perspective moves from helping "them" to supporting "our friend." When the women is a person we have a healthy relationship with instead of a faceless statistic on a chart, it is much easier to stay motivated in our work. It's only then that we're able to look past the pervasive evil and celebrate the opportunities for hope!

A Story of New Beginnings from the Pattaya Freedom Center Team

Last week, our outreach staff met “A”. She recently came to Pattaya and began working in a bar with her cousin. While she knows working in the bar isn’t the best for her, she is optimistic about her new start. Why? Because for her, Pattaya is the place she escaped to after 7 years in an abusive marriage. Originally from the North Eastern province of Buri Ram, “A's” husband took her from her young child and mom and moved them to Rayong (a seaside province not far from Pattaya). She worked all day in construction for very little pay and was assaulted every night by her husband. After 7 years of this abuse, “A” summoned the courage to escape. She ran away from her husband with only 700 baht ($20), spending half of it on taxi fare to Pattaya. Her only opportunity for employment was in the bar her cousin was working in, and so she transitioned from one form of abuse to another.

A’s story is not unique. Many of the women we meet have come to Pattaya to escape domestic violence. They have had their self-worth whittled down over the years by abusive families and boyfriends. Freedom from the sex industry means nothing to them if it requires them to return to the life they lived before. Finding ways to help women like “A" is difficult, time-consuming, and non-linear. But we are hopeful. We hope that as we continue to engage with her, we will be able to stoke the embers of value in her heart. It is through the staff and programming at our Pattaya Freedom Center that we are able to offer her practical opportunities that will support her journey to finally finding freedom from all forms of abuse. This is only the beginning of A's story of freedom and we celebrate that with her!

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

I Met Her at 4:30 AM

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 05:50:14 GMT

Prefer to watch or listen to this post? Click below.

It was 4:30 in the morning and jet lag had awoken me to a quiet Pattaya City. Quiet, yes, but this city is never truly resting.

TW: violence, sexual violence

The live music from the bar below has finally quieted and the roads are down to dozens of taxis and motor bikes transitioning partiers, sex tourists, and the drunk back home. I sit up in bed wondering how I should spend my time in these unnaturally early hours. There’s commotion from a couple down the hallway outside— not uncommon for this city. This is typically the hour when a client’s sexually appetite has been satisfied and they’re kicking out their temporary guest. Sometimes they don’t want to pay, sometimes they’re too drunk to make any sense of the money, the conflict varies. I usually try to say out of these arguments because my presence can easily make things worse for the woman involved, especially if there is a language barrier between myself and the man. I sit back in bed and my ear finally catches their specific words.

“I just want go home," she said exasperated.

“No, just stay with me.” He’s American— or at least his accent is.

“No, you’re drunk and I’m tired, please just let me go.”

“Just come back in, I can take you home with me. Don’t you want to come home with me?”

“No! I just need you to click the thing so I can leave.”

“I’m not going to do that, I’m not done with you, come back inside.”

I realize what’s going on. The elevators in this building won’t let you down without scanning a keycard and this guy is refusing to let this woman leave even though she’s literally pleading with him at this point.

I toss on some clothes, grab my phone and key card and I’m out the door. She spins around instantly at the sound of my door. As soon as I greet her the American man disappears back into his unit. It’s amazing how quickly the bullies run away here.

The Thai woman looks so young but she’s probably late 20s or early 30s. She’s dressed in an expensive club outfit, probably from one of the nicer brothels in town. Her eyes are wide with stress and her fingers tense but as soon as I motion for her to come with me and show her my key card relief physically washes over her. We quickly move to the elevator and I tell her I’ll come with her.

This girl is seasoned. She’s been working Pattaya for many years and you can tell she knows how to handle herself, but this one had her stuck and she was scared. She explains to me what happened with tears in her eyes. She doesn’t seem like a woman who cries easily but she is exhausted.

In the lobby she presses her palms together in front of her nose repeatedly to thank me and especially so when she realizes that I wasn’t headed out myself, that I just came out to help her. “Mei phem rei,” I tell her, “No problem. I was awake anyway."

We chat for a moment what jerks these guys can be. I make sure she can get home safely. Her body language is conflict because I can tell that everything in her wants to get the heck out of this building but she’s also longing for the reassurance of a friend. I open my arms for a hug and she leans right in. “It’s going to be ok. You’re safe now.” She smiles with even more tears. We do the “thank you, no problem” verbal dance again and then she’s off, literally jogging out of the doors in the only short step sort of way that stilettos allow a woman to jog.

Maybe it wasn’t jet lag that woke me up after all, maybe it was a strangers need of a friend. But now I’m really awake, so I guess it’s time for some coffee…

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Thailand and our Freedom Centers.

From Pasta to Peace

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 00:05:26 GMT

"I don't want to let you down because you have trusted me."

TW: violence, sexual violence

Sitting across a simple folding plastic table from us is a 26-year-old girl with the excitement of a child. “Amazing that we’re having lunch at a time when it’s normal to be having lunch and we’re sitting at a table. We never get to do that!” she exclaims this in a whispered tone, half to herself, half to the small group of us. She continues to stare down at the giant plate of pasta in giddy disbelief, eating quickly but carefully polite.

Carina was born into a family of drugs and violence. She started using and dealing at the young age of 12. She was never exposed to another option and the local mafias knew this. They cunningly drew her away from her family and put her to work for themselves in both the drug and sex trade. Back and forth between different “controllers”, Carina ended up owing different debts to several local groups. They were now on the hunt for her, filled with violence and revenge. With several other girls being murdered in the previous days, Carina’s friends were begging her to keep herself hidden.

“I can’t walk around. they’re going to find me and kill me. Just yesterday they killed three women. One of them they killed by sealing her inside of a block wall and just left her there to suffocate.” Carina told us this a little more nonchalantly than what felt healthy, but this is the reality of her life.

“Carina, would you be willing to leave the city today if we helped you?”

Her bun of freshly washed hair bounced as Carina’s attention suddenly turned from her lunch to our question. “Really?” A huge smile spread across her face as she looked at a friend who would also be leaving that day. “I can’t believe it! I can come with you?”

Carina has been on the streets for the past 10 years. Two weeks ago, she overdosed and almost died. Leaving the hospital, she had nowhere to go and slept on the sidewalk the first few nights. She was raped and beaten and ended up at the Freedom Center because she was told by a friend that she could get clothes and take a shower here.

“There’s a positive energy here at the center. I’ve been in a lot of places and I just feel something different here, a difference energy, there’s a peace here.” At last, doors are finally opening for Carina to break free.

“Carina, do you have any clothing to take with you? Anything we need to pick up for you before we go?”

“No, I just have this,” she replied tugging at her new white t-shirt, “ but I’m alive and I have my life.”

As we walked Carina and her friend towards their ride out of town we overheard her sharing with her friend, “This is like a dream. Finally. Hundreds of times we talked about this, being able to leave this city, and it’s finally coming true. It’s like a dream.”

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Spain and our Algeciras Freedom Center.

A Life or Death Phone Call

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 21:52:24 GMT

"We're right in the middle of a crisis here."

Our Algeciras Freedom Center director, Nora, just sent us a message on Friday relaying the desperate reality of a woman they’ve been working with. Assia* is a Moroccan woman being trafficked in Spain’s sex industry by local mafias. She has already survived much more than any one individual should have to endure. Assia a strong woman, but recently the risks of danger have raised to a morbid level, and she is scared. The day before another woman had been beat to death by their controllers-- the third this month already. Now these men had turned their attention to Assia and she knew she had to get out. Even though her friendship with our team was just beginning, Assia felt at peace whenever they spent time together so, she picked up the phone and called Nora for help.

“We are currently at the police station.” Nora told us. “We’re filing a report together about these men.” Our center and the local police have been very fortunate to earn each other’s mutual trust and support. When our team met with the Guardia Civil recently, they pledged their commitment once again to help us with anything we need, so we knew with such serious threats of violence and death, it was a wise time for Assia to come forward legally.

Our team stayed with her the entire weekend and made a plan for her safe exit to another city. They made sure she had food and travel funds, and of course a safe person and new location. However, most importantly, they made sure Assia knew she wasn’t alone. As of today, this brave woman is on a bus headed towards new beginnings. Her journey to freedom has begun. She is NOT ABANDONED...

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Spain and our Algeciras Freedom Center.

On the Way Home to Ukraine

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 19:41:44 GMT

I’m sharing a train car with a bright eyed woman and her young son traveling from Poland to Ukraine.

They came rushing in, full of shallow breaths and relieved to make this train in time after already 10 hours of travel. They are Ukrainian and they are returning home. *Ruslana has been staying in Sweden with her sister’s family since the invasion turned her lifelong home of Lviv into a city under dangerous treat. Her husband remained behind, conscripted to fight if necessary along the other able-bodied men in accordance with the nation-wide emergency decree. I didn’t ask if he was safe.

Ruslana and her husband both have been working for the Lviv airport for over 10 years, an airport now closed due to the conflict. There are a lot of unknowns in her return home, but to do it or not isn’t even a fathomable choice on this sunny Wednesday afternoon. “Of course we’re going to come back!” she offers proudly to my non-asked question. “On the train platform earlier" she continues, "I could hear many Ukrainians talking. Just the sound of their voice, my own language, it was so sweet.” Her son stirs, exhausted, yet obviously safe and happy with his mother near.

Ruslana stares out the train window with bright yellow rapeseed flowers blooming in the fullness of spring. Her eyes are pensive and emotional. She breaks her gaze to ask “aren’t you afraid to go to Lviv?” I say no, explaining that we’re simply inspired by the Ukrainian spirit and strength. She smiles a painful smile and I wonder if my comment was the wrong choice of words, but then her posture straightens with pride again and she shares how beautiful her city really is, what coffee shops I should check out, and how she was so surprised and proud to read in the paper that many restaurants and theaters are open. “We have really good food in Lviv! You could eat at a different spot each meal and always be happy.” We chat a little more but her boy is hungry and needs a nap so we let the conversation drop. To see them both here quiet and cautiously hopeful is to know their rest and return home is well-deserved.

Ruslana is returning to an in-tact and loving family, but a family without a job and a husband waiting to see if he will be called upon to fight. They don't know what is in store for their future, but they are relieved to at least be facing it together.

According to the United Nations, more than 14 million people have fled their homes since the Russian invasion, with about 6 million of those taking refuge in other countries. This means that two-thirds of Ukrainian children have had to leave their homes. However, around 1 million women and children have already returned to their beloved home of yellow and blue, ready to rebuild normalcy, even in the midst of an ongoing war. They are a strong people who carry pain and hope with great dignity. How many of the millions did not have the fortune of family and safety in refuge cities? How many have instead ended up in the hands of traffickers who prey on the desperation of war? How many will see exploitation upon their return as they desperately seek emotional and economic stability? It’s too early to tell, but preliminary reports describe this new wave of exploration as only just beginning.

Now is the time to intervene, now is the time to empower, now is the time to ensure freedom. Join us in this journey.

Your support is protecting women and children from exploitation.

Return to Normal

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 09:00:06 GMT

A return to normalcy, that is the goal. But how do you achieve a goal as ambiguous as this?

I’m sure we can all agree that there is no universal standard for a "normal life." For those who were born into a generational cycle of trauma, there may not be a known baseline of "normal" to return to, but it is still something almost mythical that they yearn for. This is why one of the most common desires we hear from exploited women is their desperation to “just have a normal life.”

Angel* looks around and sees others with kind marriages and maybe a child or two. She fantasies about a job at a shop where she can earn an income and pleasantly chat with customers as they come and go. She wants a mundane Saturday to run errands, to shop for groceries and cleaning supplies. She wants to get home and realize she forgot to buy bananas, not because her mind was riddled with worry, but because she got distracted gathering ingredients for a spontaneous baking project.

Angel doesn’t daydream of a frivolous kind of life; she believes in being frugal. But, one day she hopes to shop with a budget that allows her enough money to cover the essentials and also that container of ice cream-- just because she wants it. She wants to sleep without a weapon nearby or a chair blocking the door. She wants the security to put down emotional and physical roots in a community, without worrying when the next escape will be necessary. She wants to be able to go to the doctor when she has the flu, instead of worrying that the sharp pain she’s experiencing will force her to an emergency room, compounding her exposure and her debt.

Angel wants freedom. She wants the luxury of boredom. She wants a normal life.

This is the kind of normalcy you can provide for the women we work with who have been exploited. This is the kind of normalcy that makes room for a newly empowered woman to dream and to reclaim a life of dignity, stability, and freedom. Through the restorative power of healthy community at our Freedom Centers and the classes and services provided there, we are replacing trauma with beautiful normalcy.

How your support is restoring normalcy through our Freedom Centers

Korat, Thailand

Upon finally returning to her home province, our team takes this bright student shopping for some new t-shirts in her favorite colors.

Algeciras, Spain

Freedom Center students and teachers join together for some fun exercise with friends at the local park.

Pattaya, Thailand

Returning to school and graduating was once only a dream for this student. Education is such a key to empowerment!

Radical Hope

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:01:12 GMT

Prefer to watch this update in video form? Click here.

Adilah is originally from Morocco and upon her attempt to flee her abusive husband she was trafficked into Spain.

This is where our Spain team meet her on the streets— hungry, sick, and very much alone, aside from her beloved young daughter. Overwhelmed by the care she was receiving from our team she asked, “Why do you treat me as if I was an important person?” To this question she was reassured with words of unconditional love, non-judgmental care, and embracing community. Our team matched their compassion with practical support and found her a healthy job so she could safely provide for her and her daughter. But then Adilah disappeared...

Like a nightmare, Adilah’s husband located her. In retribution for her leaving him and the shame of Adilah being forced into the sex industry, he poured gasoline over her and lit a match. Once our team was able to find Adilah, they discovered that she had been burned over 60% of her body.

But, this is where radical hope comes in.

Today, Adilah and her daughter are both safe in the care of our team and recovering from the immense physical and psychological trauma. Because she now has a team of advocates supporting her, her husband has been arrested and she is receiving legal and financial support for her recovery. Most importantly, because of the trusted relationships she’s formed with the Freedom Center’s team, Adilah is not restarting from scratch. She is restarting with a foundation of hope. Our commitment to Adilah is the same as it is to all the others— to not abandon her.

Adilah is just one story of many. Each life and journey are different, but there is the common and tragic reality of exploitation. However, what if what these women had in common wasn’t something awful? What if what bonded them was a hope for a free future?

Double Your Impact

This December, you can support Not Abandoned and double the impact of your gift by joining the Total Freedom $250,000 Year-End Matching Challenge. So far, over $140,000 has already been raised-- an incredible 57% of the way to our goal! We have ten days remaining in this matching challenge. Don't miss out on this opportunity to change a woman's destiny!

Gifts made in response to the Total Freedom Challenge will support the priority needs of Not Abandoned to provide resources and support to thousands of women and youth from a life of exploitation. Join us today and double the impact of your gift before the end of the year. Give the gift of Total Freedom.

What Your Support Empowers

Not Abandoned is raising funds to empower women who have been exploited as well as to prevent others from being exploited. We provide tools, resources, support, and care for a woman to regain and maintain freedom through our Freedom Centers in Thailand and Spain. We hold the deep conviction that no matter how messy, complex, and slow her recovery process is, she can and will come to know she is not abandoned. Not Abandoned endeavors to help empower the most vulnerable through steady support, trauma-informed care, and practical training opportunities they can live a life of physical, emotional freedom and purpose.

Extend Your Impact

Did you know that in addition to this one-time matching opportunity, that Not Abandoned is also eligible for employee matching programs? Many major employers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, Expedia, and more will match your gift dollar for dollar. Check with your employer today and feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Not Abandoned is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which means that all your financial contributions are also tax-deductible.

TOTAL FREEDOM MATCHING CHALLENGE

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 21:24:30 GMT

There's an opportunity in front of us!

Throughout the month of December, you can support Not Abandoned and double the impact of your gift by joining the Total Freedom $250,000 year-end matching. This generous matching donation is in response to the harsh global reality of human trafficking. It is because women and youth today are recruited into a life of slavery and exploitation where the vulnerable are robbed of freedom and forced and trapped into a life of cruelty. Not Abandoned is driven by the fact that women and youth today are captive to a life of tyranny. Not Abandoned endeavors to replace slavery with bridges to freedom.

Double Your Impact

Throughout the month of December, you can support Not Abandoned and double the impact of your gift by joining the Total Freedom $250,000 Year-End Matching Challenge.

This challenge match from a private donor will begin December 1, 2021, in honor of Giving Tuesday, a globally recognized day of generosity and community impact. Thanks to the outstanding support of additional donors, we are beginning this month-long challenge with the first $90,000 (36%) already committed, and December 31 ^st as our final deadline.

Where Your Support is Going

Extend Your Impact

Not Abandoned is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which means that all your financial contributions are also tax-deductible.

New hope is now open!

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:02:23 GMT

In this new country, there is a new base, with a new center, providing NEW HOPE...

Our new base in Spain has officially launched! With the new base in Spain, our 5-part PEERS model of holistic care for exploited women is now being duplicated in Algeciras, Spain with a new Freedom Center to offer exploitation prevention and recovery programs to women. As of today, the first classes at this new center have begun with over 100 women (and 20 men) are signed up for this new center's programs, with even more on a waiting list!

The Location

Algeciras, Spain (pronounced, al·huh·see·ruhz) is located near the southern most tip of Spain, just across the bay from the Rock of Gibraltar. On a clear day here you can see straight over to Morocco from this large port city heavily populated by new immigrants and migrants. (See map image below)

The Team

Nora and Minerva (image below) have been faithfully working with vulnerable women for many years. They bring their own unique background and skills, but share an undying passion to reach, support, and empower women with both practical resources and holistic health. We are thrilled for you to get to know them both more personally in the next coming months.

What We've Been Up To

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 19:35:28 GMT

Highlights and Updates: from Exploitation to Empowerment

Prevention programs in Korat, Thailand (NE Thailand) are going strong, with further invitations to get involved in more rural communities.

Our Korat Team's partnerships with schools and social services have proven even more helpful and encouragement to the community, especially during these times of COVID.

Our teams in both Thailand and Spain have been providing food and support to communities suffering from the economic and health affects of COVID.

In Thailand this year, we have reached over 1,000 families with care packets of food and health packets with hygiene and safety supplies.

Our teams have maintained the vital lifelines of counseling and care for our students and exploited women, utilizing video calls, endless text messages, and social media to connect when being physically in the same place wasn't permissible.

You, our greater Not Abandoned family, showed such encouragement and support to our team during this summer's fundraising events: Elevate Freedom and the Empower Concerts. THANK YOU!

Thailand's borders for international travel have finally begun to open up, which means we're excited to now begin planning volunteer teams for 2022. (Stay tuned for details as they develop into next year)

Our NEW Not Abandoned base in Spain is officially a reality! (Look out on social media and in a second email from us in the next few days for all the exciting details!)

With the new base in Spain, our PEERS model of holistic care for exploited women is now being duplicated in Algeciras, Spain with a new Freedom Center to offer exploitation prevention and recovery programs to women

Over 100 women are already signed up for this new center's programs (and also 20 men!) with even more on a waiting list!

We're almost there!

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:19:53 GMT

Join us for a Final Push Celebration of

Elevate Freedom!

If you've been participating in Elevate Freedom or simply following again and cheering on the journey of our hikers, we'd like to invite you to join us!

Sunday, August 29th

11:30 AM

Overlake Christian Church (Lobby Room South)

Redmond, WA

Come meet other hikers and the Not Abandoned Team, including Stephen and Ying Fulton, the directors of our center in Pattaya, Thailand. Healthy snacks and plenty of smiles will be provided.

There's also a trail right at the back of the parking lot so whoever is interested is welcome to join us for a walk so we can get some extra miles in towards our goals!

(Special thanks to Stephen Nguyen for these great photos of last Saturday's group hike!)

The Reality of Unmarked Trails

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 23:54:20 GMT

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood?

Thanks to our Elevate Freedom hiking fundraiser I’ve been spending a lot more time out on trails this month. One thing that keeps coming up to bug me more than the mosquitos are frequent, unmarked forks in the trail. On one hand, venturing off into the unknown feds my exploration-loving soul. On the other hand, there’s a reality to contend with of risk and resources.

As a woman, I am cautious to weigh the risk of areas I explore alone. I try to stick to more populated areas, turn my headphones off, check blind corners; I listen for approaching footsteps, and many other measures to keep myself as safe as possible. As an asthmatic, I am careful to calculate my resources as well. Do my lungs have enough oomph left for the hills ahead, does my phone have enough battery if I need it, do I have my medicine and water?

Exploring unknown paths can lead to better opportunities and exciting adventures, no doubt! However, if you belong to a vulnerable group or have little resources, the unknown can be terrifying or just simply unreasonable.

But unmarked paths are a reality of life… literally and figuratively. How often do we encounter a pair of choices where it is necessary to decide without knowing all the details? We can base our decision on past experiences, on how the first steps of each path look, or on a gut feeling, but what can be especially helpful is the input of others with clarity of vision.

In the work of Not Abandoned, we aim to be helpful trail guides of sorts to the ladies we serve. We can provide the maps to help her see the big picture of a scenario. We prioritize the wisdom of voices that have walked those trails before and know how to navigate them by experience. We offer resources to recharge and equip her for her journey. Most of all, we make sure she doesn’t have to continue along the path alone. To take the thoughts of Frost a step farther, when choosing which road to travel amongst the diverged woods, the company kept will make all the difference.

Dao is one woman who choose to take a new road.

How did she end up in the brothel in the first place? The six months she’d been here felt so much longer. Dao is a quiet young woman who met our Thai staff through an outreach one afternoon. She had been coerced into going with clients for commercial sex by the bar where she only intended to serve drinks about four months prior and wanted out desperately. Thankfully she was eager to join in with programming at our center. Here she found healing, safe community, and attended a basic computer training to help platform her for future growth. Because of this practical and loving support, Dao was able to secure a new job at a rice production facility near her home village and quickly impressed her employer with the computer skills she learned. Dao’s reintegration hasn’t been without challenges but her immense progress is certainly a bright spot of hope for other women in the bars.

Support women like Dao along their journey to freedom and empowerment by making a donation today.

The key may not be what you think

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 23:54:13 GMT

The goal of sustaining freedom is complex.

Many people innocently ask, “How many people have you rescued?” The limitation of this question is in their inherent superficial timeline. The moment a woman decides to break away from her abuse and bondage is a dynamic moment riddled with the complexities of trauma and emotional dichotomies. The moment is often not a dramatic one of breaking down a door and running. They are often numb, slowly moving through the physicality of leaving as if experiencing their movements under water. One foot in front of the next. Belongings in a bag. Walk out the door. For some, the decision is spurred by immense hurt, anger, or fear after a last-straw occurrence of violent abuse. Then, it’s the tears that trigger their bravery to leave. Whatever this moment looks like for each individual, it is just that—only a moment.

True, sustaining freedom isn’t obtained by a single moment.

That choice to leave exploitation behind must be made many times over again. The process of exploitation to empowerment takes repeated encouragement, support, and recommitment before the roots of freedom can sustainability take hold. Even in the most mundane and typical life stories there will be grief. In the stories that include trauma, like in the case of those we work with, grief is compounded. There is no guarantee that the minute they exit the sex industry that their life will magically run smoothly. In fact, it’s more of a guarantee that it won’t.

Through the job skills classes we teach, the employment opportunities we open, counseling, financial assistance, and family support, we are constantly keeping our eyes on the goal of developing one vital tool: resiliency.

It’s natural to revert back to old habits when faced with great challenge. We all do this. Diets fly out the window of a stressful work week. Co-dependency reemerges amidst family conflict. Negative attitudes return with exhaustion and women formally stuck in the sex industry often return back to that abusive, controlling environment when their world seems to be out of control or when finances grow desperate.

Our students are going to experience challenge, and it’s normal that they don’t immediately choose healthy solutions to overcome those challenges. The muscle to make healthy choices is atrophied after years of living without the freedom to make choices for themselves. In time, we help her exercise her choice muscle. We practice together. We provide helpful routines and tips and tools just as any other coach would. Eventually, her health becomes evident as we watch the difference in how she approaches roadblocks and hardships. Instead of reacting in pain or fear, she shows off the resiliency of her healthy muscles. She pulls her choice from a place of empowerment, health, and freedom to overcome or endure the strife and continues forward.

Resiliency is one of the most obvious indicators of empowerment.

It proves that even though challenge, stress, and even additional trauma may attack, she will not be overcome by their sorrow. Instead, her freedom will sustain because it is not being propped up by an outsider’s well-wishes. It is now a strong muscle is held within her own self.

Resiliency is the key to sustaining freedom.

4 Reasons Why We Don't "Rescue" Women

alexm@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 03:08:44 GMT

When it’s said that a woman was rescued from being prostituted, a troublesome power dynamic is created. But, why?

1. This terminology creates unfair expectations for the recovering women.

The point a woman is removed from an abusive situation is not the end of her struggle, it’s only the beginning of her healing process. Of course, this moment can be one of great relief and celebration. It is often also riddled with conflicting emotions, fear of the unknown, and even numbness. Furthermore, it’s an entirely common part of the recovering process for a person to slip back into old norms. For some this may mean returning to the sex industry or another abusive relationship. She needs to know that it’s not abnormal and that it doesn’t make her a failure. She needs the freedom to have an imperfect recovery process in order to keep fighting for herself.

2. This simplistic goal ignores the complexity of trauma.

If we put too much emphasis on the moment of “rescue” instead of acknowledging the complex trajectory of recovery from trauma, we are only adding to a women’s guilt when she slips back into old, unhealthy patterns. Instead, we need to be transparent about the challenges of healing. Women exiting exploitation may be gravely wounded individuals but they are not weak. They are survivors and deserve to be treated with the respect of honestly. Their recovery will be difficult and even painful and confusing at times. However, the more they are educated about this process and supported through it, the higher likelihood of a healthy future.

3. A classic “rescue” creates social and emotional debts, especially within certain cultures.

It’s human nature to be grateful to those who are helping you. This is no different when helping a women leave an exploitative relationship. This is also often no different from the attic used to ensnare her in the first place. Traffickers and exploiters frequently manipulate girls and women with by first offering her support. Maybe a man pursued a storybook romantic relationship with her or maybe a women connected her to a job that would allow the women’s children to stay in school. Either way, coercion begins with gratitude and is executed through guilt. We must be careful not to mimic these same patterns in our attempts to do good. When helping a women exit exploitation we must continually demonstrate that nothing is owed in exchange for this support. If she is so inclined, she can pay it forward, but she does not need to pay it back. She does not need to convert to our religion or attend our services in exchange for help. She does not need to be tricked into attending a Bible study in order to receive help. She does not need to hide her struggles or accidents from us. An invitation to unconditional love is the only option for recovery.

4. Focusing on a rescue, does not does elevate the power of her own choice.

As potential helpers, it’s not about us, or our time-table. A women is not to be rescued. A women is to be supported and empowered. In the midst of trafficking and exploitation, the individual’s choice is beaten out of them, figuratively and sometimes literally. This individual choice must be restored in order for her to find sustainable freedom. She needs to be empowered to take back charge of her own life and make changes and decisions only when she is truly ready. As any good friends would, there is a time to push or encourage, but the final decision must always be hers. Often this can be frustrating to those of us on the outside looking in, grieved at the slow pace of forward progress, but what a luxurious seat we have in the comfort of our health and privilege. We must remain patient and support the pace of her recovery.

She must realize the power of her own choice, and so should we.

Help Her Thrive

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 03:23:46 GMT

There is an opportunity for you to help her thrive, not just survive.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought a great health threat to the shores of Thailand, but it' even more widespread damage has been on this country's economics. One of the hardest hit cities, Pattaya, is one that was already riddled with vulnerability.

Thousands of women already exploited by the city's sex industry have now been left in an even more desperate situation. They are hungry, stranded, jobless, and even homeless. To help combat this drastic rise in suffering, we've been distributing care packs of emergency necessities like food that will help each woman sustain for weeks at a time.

But this Valentine's Day, we want to take her from surviving to thriving and add in extra love to those care packages. Our team has put some beautiful effort into creating an extra-special pack full of beauty products, the most delicious smelling body wash, the good kind of sanitary pads that are actually comfortable, face masks, eye cream and more.

By February 5th,

our goal is to raise $8,000

to distribute 400 care packs.

The women we serve in exploited communities deserve to be lavished in love, especially now, and especially this Valentine's Day.

Join us to give her tangible hope during this especially challenging season.

This is Family

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 21:02:28 GMT

This is Family and this is what family means to us

At Not Abandoned, we think of ourselves as a family. We have a strong conviction that our ability to help those in need is directly linked to our ability to welcome women not into a program or system, but a family. But what exactly is a family? And how does being a family change the way we help?

Family embraces the messiness of relationship.

Relationships are hard. They take work, time, and commitment. In a school environment, the teacher/student relationship is governed by expectations. Failed tests, missed classes or poor performance can all lead to ending the relationship. In a work environment, the boss/employee relationship is governed by expectations. Poor teamwork, missed shifts, or failure to do a job properly can all lead to ending the relationship. Family (done well) is one of the few environments that doesn’t work this way. With us, there is no contract, no expected level of commitment or behavior that our continued relationship depends on. As long as the women we work with want to be part of our community, they are welcome. Some would disagree with this approach. Some might say that unconditional community lacks the necessary motivation (all carrot and no stick) that women need to push them to succeed. But we believe that a safe environment is the only foundation on which true healing (and with it, growth and change) can occur. So, we commit to the messy, the complicated, and “three steps forward two steps back” that is family.

Family is more loyal to its members than to strategy or ideology.

We have strong opinions. We work hard to develop effective strategies. But we are always willing to throw out the playbook and come up with something different for the sake of our community. Because this isn’t about the success or failure of our plans or using these women’s stories to affirm our own beliefs. It is about supporting these women, and bending our own preconceived ideas to the reality of their situation. We learn from them as much as (if not more than) they learn from us, because family doesn’t just talk. Family listens. Family doesn’t just teach. Family learns.

Family bends, morphs, and sacrifices for its members. If it’s easy, it probably isn’t family. Family is where you can have a bad day, clash, and annoy each other, but know that when it matters, you have each other’s backs. To do family, you have to get close enough to experience the downside of relationship. You have to sacrifice some of your autonomy, some of your resources, and some of the tidy organization that makes life simpler. In our effort to build family, we have had to learn how to give our time, our resources and our focus to the little details that can so easily go unnoticed, to sometimes sacrifice the “big picture” for what seems small and mundane. We have learned that real love is primarily an exercise in patient and attentive care. It may lack the “sexiness” of a good Hollywood script…but we are willing to break the rules of good storytelling. Our plot is expendable. Our characters are not!

Family is about creating an environment, not guaranteeing an outcome. We want all of the women we work with to succeed. We want them to grow, learn, and find their way. But we recognize that building up expectations and defining success is not our job. It’s theirs. Our role is to create an environment that is safe enough to calm their fears, malleable enough to fit their unique personalities and needs, and robust enough to absorb their mistakes. We DO feel tempted to micromanage their choices, steer them towards our preferred outcome, and blame ourselves when things go wrong. Letting go of control is hard! But restoration is about so much more than just escaping abuse or finding a better job. If we really believe in the immense value of these women, then we must also trust them with their choices.

At Not Abandoned, we think of ourselves as a family. We don’t know all the answers, and we don’t live up to all of our ideals. But we continue to believe in each other, and we continue to believe in the women at the heart of our community.

YOU ARE ALSO PART OF THIS FAMILY. As a supporter of freedom you are part of the Not Abandoned community. You celebrate with our victories and grieve alongside us the atrocities of exploitation. You share our stories and read these updates to stay informed. You talk with your friends about the realities of trafficking and even join in with your hands and feet to volunteer here in the US and abroad. This is the commitment of family.

As family often does during time of challenges, we also ask each other for help and support. We are asking that of you today.

We have remained steady and growing through this season of a global pandemic, but unfortunately our financial support has taken a hit.

Would you consider now making a donation to Not Abandoned to ensure that freedom is not forgotten?

We need you help to continue forward. We cannot abandon this cause; we cannot abandon our family.

"She is Not Abandoned."

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:07:27 GMT

Nat is the perfect example of what we mean when we say, "She is Not Abandoned."

Recovering from the trauma caused by the sex trade is a long process with many ups and downs. In the best of economic times, where there are real opportunities for employment outside of the sex trade, this can be very hard. But in times of widespread hardship, like what most of the world is facing today due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recovery can seem completely unachievable. Take for example, Nat*.

Nat had previously been working in a brothel in Pattaya in order to make enough money to support her family. She had pre-existing health issues that made even wearing high-heels or standing for any length of time very painful. She didn’t like her situation, but she knew no other option.

One day Nat messaged one of our volunteers to tell her she was ready to leave the brothel, but she needed our help to do it. We quickly made a plan, picked her up, and in short order had her on a bus back to her home village. We helped her with the finances and coaching needed to start her own business, and soon she was successfully selling food at the market near her daughter’s school. We have always been so happy for Nat. Unfortunately, recently Nat’s happy story took a turn.

Nat’s daughter was about to move onto high school and that transition would bring some added expenses to the family such as new uniforms. Nat was in the process of figuring out how to cover these extra finances when COVID-19 come on the scene. The schools shut down. Her customers (students and teachers) were no longer coming to her market but were staying at home. While Nat’s business had been successful, she was still making only enough for her expenses, and did not have a lot of savings to fall back on. She suddenly has no income. Furthermore, once the schools finally do open back up, Nat may have to ask her daughter to quit school to help her work.

However, we will do whatever we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Part of supporting a woman’s recovery is seeing that the daughters of the women we help don’t find themselves faced with the same impossible situations their mothers had to face.

Nat’s situation is desperate…but unfortunately, it is not uncommon. Right now, many of our students who had transitioned to healthy jobs (at hotels, restaurants, etc.) have already been laid off and are facing difficult times. We also have many students who were still working in the brothels who suddenly have no clients. While in good times this could seem like a positive, with no alternative work to be had and simply speaking, no clients equals no food. Others even want to go home to their families, but some provinces have restricted travel, leaving them stranded in Pattaya.

It is at times like these that we throw the normal playbook out the window. Words, like process, eventually, and work towards are meaningless. In this immediate moment, our students don’t need English training, or interview strategies, or budgeting skills. Our students need food to eat.

We are very aware that some of you reading this may have recently lost your own jobs as a result of COVID-19. Maybe you’re in your own desperate situation, not unlike the situations our students are facing. Times of global difficulty can be strangely unifying. As stories from Thailand or the US or Spain are far more the same than different. It’s harder to distance ourselves from other’s suffering when we ourselves are becoming acquainted with the same fear and uncertainty. While this may also mean that your resources to help are not what they were before, we want to ask you to consider helping in any way that you can.

We have begun to provide food for the women we know who are hungry. We plan to grow this aid to help more and more women. As we all become more personally familiar with the sense of uncertainty and hardship that many of our students are already too familiar with, let us choose love over fear. Let's partner together with the much or the little we have and let us remind these precious women what we have been telling them all along. Your life may be hard, and many may have used you and devalued you, but you are precious. You are not alone. You are not abandoned.

*a pseudonym has been used in the telling of this true story

What Will Our Response Be?

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 16:52:25 GMT

Coronavirus and Trafficking

In these days full of uncertainty, I often find myself wondering how history will look back at us during this season. Will we look back and judge our governments? Maybe we will remember how our physical churches were forced to close their doors, but how the same communities still came together in spirit. I pray that none of us will have to remember the sickness of a loved one. I also pray that each of us will look back and remember our own actions without regret.

For most of us, this Coronavirus season will carry the burden of inconvenience. We will do our part to stay home, stay away, and stay healthy, so that the most medically vulnerable around us can stay better protected. There are fewer options of pasta to choose from at the grocery store and the vacation we’ve been saving for has been canceled because we cannot travel.

However, we can take hope in the fact that this is mostly temporary. Our plethora of food options will return. Stores for us to browse will reopen, travel restrictions will eventually be lifted, and thankfully, must of us who are sick will recover. For us fortunate ones, this too shall pass.

But what if this lack of options, lack of choice and lack of freedom is your everyday reality? For the thousands we serve who being exploited by traffickers and the commercial sex industry, they can see no hope, no option, no freedom in their future.

Now, more than ever, we need your support. Because now, more than ever, they need our help. The main country Not Abandoned operates in is Thailand, a beautiful tourist destination in the heart of Southeast Asia and a nation that depends critically on the economics of tourism. The estimated impact on tourism during this season is an alarming 50-60% decline.

This decrease in tourism has three main repercussions. The first is that the women in the sex industry are having to take greatest risks to earn money from the few visiting tourists. Their managers (or sometimes their families) are pressuring them to go with riskier clients or to work “freelance” without the protection of a bar environment.

The second effect from this decline in travel is that women working healthy jobs dependent on tourism such as food services and hospitality are being laid off. The third, and possibly most wide-spread and longest-lasting effect, is that this will put a financial strain on the country as a whole. 85% of the women who end up Thailand’s sex industry come from the impoverished region of Issan.

With this major hit to an already tentative economy, we will absolutely see levels of poverty in this region rise, and the number one trafficking vulnerability factor for Thais is poverty.

So, what do we do? How do we respond? We press on further and with heightened urgency with our help and we’re asking that you do the same. Because this is a time of GREAT OPPORTUNITY for hope.

One of our operational values is adaptability. Because of this, our team on the ground is deep in the midst of asking those we serve, “What do you need most right now?” The initial feedback is that there is an immediate need for basic provisions like food. As a response, in addition to our normal programming we will now begin new programs like delivering care packages of rice and other non-perishable items. We are also considering immediate temporary jobs to our most vulnerable students to deliver these care packs and continue to re-evaluate the needs of our communities as this season progresses.

Just as the Coronavirus is now a global issue, so is sex trafficking. We are all in this together and it is at times like this that it is most critical to support one another. We won’t shy away from our support, but we need you to do the same. Please take a moment to evaluate your financial support of Not Abandoned's mission for freedom. Have you been considering membership to the Restore Partner Club? Today is a great day to begin that commitment to freedom! Take a moment and ask yourself, “When I look back at this season years from now, can I say that I responded with radical love?”

As always, we want to express how grateful we are to you, our Not Abandoned community. None of this work would be possible without your prayers, your volunteering spirit, your financial help.

A New Spark in Her Eyes

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 22:16:56 GMT

A Spark Has Returned to Aor

Aor is one of those women that you meet and immediately can see how special she is. She’s also one of those women that hasn’t always seen the good qualities in her own self but doesn’t have a problem seeing it in others. She’s a welcoming warmth to those around her. When new students walk through our doors for the first time, Aor can often been found ushering them in with a sweet smile and an offer of food from the kitchen. She’s that dear friend that you just want to take by the shoulders and shake because you see all their potential bottled up inside and you just can’t wait any longer for it to come out.

Well, it’s now coming out, and we couldn’t be prouder of her. Aor has been a student at our Employment Education Center for nearing 3 years now. Our team has had the absolute pleasure of working with her patiently as her confidence slowly increases. She’s quick to learn anything new you place in front of her but has carried doubts out of a belief that her formal experience and education is lacking. Our staff however describe Aor as "highly intelligent and naturally artistic."

Last week we got to witness a whole new stage n Aor’s growth. She recently accepted a job with Heidi Hull Designs through our Employment Education Center partnership. Even more so, our staff recently identified Aor as the best candidate to be trained as the lead trainer for this partnership. Heidi Hull Designs is a boutique wedding accessories business so this means that Aor will be in charge of primarily learning the construction of the designs for all accessories that are to be manufactured, training the other employees, and checking on the quality of the productions alongside our other staff.

We are thrilled to see Aor’s sweet leadership style come to rise, but we are even more thrilled to see such a spark of joy and confidence in her eyes these days. She says that she really enjoys working with this job and specifically that working with her hands in these artistic projects are even helping her to fall asleep at night.

We are so proud of you Aor! We are proud of your continual hard work and growth, and we so love having you as part of our community!

A Small Gift Leads to Great Hope

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 22:29:22 GMT

How the Christmas spirit shows up in the hearts of Pattaya

If there is one common thread that connects each of our student's stories, it is the search for a savior. Most women who find themselves in the sex industry in Pattaya are hoping that on the other side of the abuse they suffer there will be a long term-relationship with a man who loves them and provides for them. I'm sure you don't need to be convinced that this is an empty hope.

If there is one common thread that connects the staff, volunteers, and supporters of Not Abandoned, it is the desire to see these women rescued. Most of us have at one time or another fantasized about swooping in with pockets full of cash, educational opportunities, and job offers, and single handedly (and heroically) saving these women from their heartbreaking situations. But if you have been involved in our work for any length of time, you will realize that this too is usually an empty hope. It's not that we can't make a difference. It's that change is usually a lot slower and less predictable then our savior complexes would like to admit.

Lek* came to Pattaya three years ago. She had recently given birth to a beautiful girl, and with no husband in the picture, was looking for the means to support her child. In the short term she would do whatever she had to, but what Lek really wanted was to find a man who would love her and support her. Out of this desperation, she ended up as a freelance sex worker.

We met Lek only a few months after she started. She had a very strong personality. She had a biting sarcasm that didn't quite manage to hide her big heart. You could see that she had experienced a lot of hurt in her life, and that she was trying to protect herself from more hurt. In spite of this, she hadn't yet succeeded in killing her hope for true love. We welcomed her into our community, where she attended English and baking classes. She stood out for her artistry and attention to detail, quickly becoming a star at baking. Our savior senses were tingling! But Lek was also sporadic in her commitment with us. She would come for a few classes, then be gone for a month. She ended up starting a long-term relationship with one of her customers, and for a month or two it seemed to go well, only to have the relationship end. She went back to sex work but she also came back to classes and was showing great potential! Then, another boyfriend relationship came along and left. This story repeated itself several times and we began to feel a little down about her progress. As Lek's "saviors," we proved incapable of performing a heroic rescue. Then, the situation got worse. Lek disappeared on us again.

We received a panicked call from her Singapore. She had decided to take a "job offer" there without telling anyone. This job ended up being a trafficking trap. On top of this, she had gotten caught by the police and was being deported, authorities giving her a few days to leave the country on her own accord. Lek would have to pay for her own ticket home or the police would intervene more dramatically. She needed our help. We have an emergency fund for extreme situations like this and based on our relationship and the urgency of the situation, we helped her secure her ticket home.

Now back in Thailand, a fellow student approached Lek about working at a restaurant with her. Lek said yes. It wasn't easy for her to accepting this regular job because the pay would just barely support her and her daughter, but it was better than nothing. Mostly, she was still longing for a man loving her unconditionally. This wasn't a fix-all that gave her a better life, it was only a small step, but it was a good one!

Lek has now been at her job for 1 year. She is still attending our classes as often as her work schedule allows and she still shows so much potential for greater things! We are optimistic that as we expand our in-house businesses, she can be one of the women we hire full-time. There is also an opportunity for her to choose a service job with an Accor Hotel now that we have begun an official partnership with the company chain. The next step in her story isn't yet known, but we are now beginning to tangible hope and progress toward freedom in Lek’s life.

As we celebrate the Christmas season, let's remember this message. Just as Jesus was born in poverty and obscurity, lacking any of the "markers" we would expect to find on a life destined for big things, so too our hope often appears too small, too fragile to produce anything real. We think that we need to do something bigger, flashier, more heroic...that the simple means of love, acceptance, and practical help are too weak to "save." However, sometimes the greatest impact is delivered by small packages. Sometimes real hope comes dressed as a baby, surrounded by farm animals, in a barn. Sometimes it’s the small steps, the little acts, that produce the change we all long for. Let's not shy away from the smallness that brings love, hope, and change to the people around us. Let's not wait for something flashier, but let's give the little, insignificant gifts that we can offer. Who knows? Maybe the little you have is all someone needs to make a fresh start?

From all of us at Not Abandoned, Merry Christmas!

*All names have been changed for privacy.

Interested in Sustaining Freedom?

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 22:33:34 GMT

The Restore Partner Club

We subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime. We enroll in monthly subscriptions for clothing, wine, dog treats, and even beef jerky. We live in a world in which it’s becoming easier and easier to automate our financing of the things we enjoy, and there's nothing wrong with these little joys! This season however, we'd like to ask you to sign up for just one more subscription... a subscription to sustaining freedom from trafficking!

For only $40 a month you will become a Restore Partner Club member and help sponsor the prevention of and restoration from sex trafficking.

For every month that you donate $40, we can offer freedom to a new woman trafficked.

For every $40 we can provide an afternoon program to at-risk children.

$40 is enough to cover school uniforms or a night of our team's outreach to the brothels.

$40 can do so much more than deliver gourmet popcorn to your door, it can deliver hope, it can restore freedom. Will you join us? Set up a monthly minimum gift of $40 today.

As a thank you for your faithfulness in the monthly Restore Partner Club, you’ll receive exclusive and unique quarterly surprises from us. Freedom is vital, but it can also be fun after all!

So, what do I have to do to join?

Simply click the following link to our donation page
Fill out the remaining information on the form
Hit the Donate button at the bottom and that's it!

You’ll immediately receive a donation email receipt and feel free to contact us by email, phone or text any time you need to cancel or update payment information.

THANK YOU

Kim Breaks Free

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 22:40:43 GMT

November Student Spotlight

Love is Patient

We meet a large variety of women through our outreach work in trafficked communities. Some young girls are brand new to the sex industry and eager to get out at the first meeting of a new, friendly face. However, for the majority of ladies we work with, a lifetime of untrustworthy people and broken promises has taught them to be more cautious with where they apply their hope. Also, in order to survive the sex industry, a woman must become very good at building on self-protecting walls. Usually the longer she’s been enduring abuse, the thicker her walls are and the longer it takes us to earn the right to bring those relational barriers down. This is how our outreach team first met Kim*… she was a woman with a lot of bricks to her wall.

It can be disheartening to a short-term outreach volunteer when they quickly develop a genuine friendship with a woman working in the bars of Pattaya, only to have to leave a week and a half or so later. No matter what city they’re from, we want to see our friends happy and healthy. For many though, asking her to take a giant and unfamiliar step towards freedom in only two weeks, after she’s endured years of abuse, is just too much to ask.

In Kim’s case, she connected very well with the first group of Not Abandoned volunteers that she met. They shared meals, they took photos together, they connected on social media. They shared both hard and happy stories. Then the visiting volunteers had to leave, back home to the US. Our Thai staff picked up the relationship from there with Kim but she was still nervous about coming to our center in the city. Even though she had just started to work in Pattaya, she was exhausted.

A year later, a person from this same volunteer team was able to return and reconnect with Kim. This volunteer, Jill, found Kim at the very same bar where they first met. Kim told her, “Life is hard. My boss is unfair to me. He withheld money that he owes me. He is overcharging me for rent too. On top of this, I now have a lot of health problems and it’s made working nearly impossible.”

Kim was still struggling with making any major changes however because change had proven to have a bad track record in her life. Jill and the other volunteers completed their trip and eventually had to return home, once again saying goodbye to their friend Kim, who was still in the bars.

However, Jill and our team remained patience. They had taken the relational time to earn more of Kim’s trust and didn’t want to ruin that by pushing a decision on her that she wasn’t ready for. The choice to exit the sex industry was Kim’s and only Kim’s.

Three months after their last visit, that patience was rewarded. Jill was checking her social media when she noticed a new message from Kim. She said she had had enough. She was ready to get out. Jill contacted the Not Abandoned Thai team. They immediately contacted Kim, we to the bar where she was, picked her up, and helped her get back home. Because of previous conversations with the team, Kim had decided she wanted to start her own business, selling food in her local market.

One of the services that Not Abandoned offers is business start-up support. This consists of training, coaching, micro-loans and micro-scholarships, all of which were afforded to Kim. It has now been 2 successful business years for Kim selling food in the local market. She is out from under the fake debt that her Pattaya “boss” was holding over her head and instead, she is her own boss… back home, back with her family. She is healing, she is happy, and she is free.

Not every woman’s story is the same in the sex industry. Sure, there are common threads—common traumas and heartaches. Each story is complex and shaped by different needs and abilities. We must not force our way of help to fit a specific timeline or care mold, and even when our heart is aching, our love must remain patient.

We don't give up. We do not abandon. We show up. We love. We stay steady and then one day a simple Facebook message welcomes us in to finally show a lavish kind of love that we’ve been waiting to show… the kind of unconditional love that leads to sustaining freedom.

* a pseudonym has been used in the telling of this true story

Jaew’s New Reason for Confidence

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 21:44:22 GMT

October Student Spotlight

Jaew is a woman with an infectious smile that charmingly pairs with her initial shyness. She started learning English with us as an absolute beginner two years ago. It took a lot of courage for Jaew to walk through the doors of the Employment Education Center for the first time. She believed she wasn’t smart enough, but she came anyway.

At first, she thought she would never be able to learn English and didn’t have confidence in herself. She has come so far since then!

Jaew was put at ease though by the warm environment of the center. It wasn’t intimidating. It felt like a welcoming home. Now, Jaew can read and write in English, and her conversation skills have improved so much. Each day she is learning more and growing in confidence and leadership!

In addition to English, she has been a regular at some of our other classes, mostly baking and health. According to our Thai staff, “Jaew always adds so much to the class environment!”

Jaew’s kind and quiet nature (and almost-hidden mischievous sense of humor) make her a great addition to our community. She is a member of our family and we love watching her grow.

Recently, Jaew was selected as one of the two first employees with one of our new business partners. She is putting her natural detail-oriented talent and new skills into work as an artisan with Heidi Hull Designs . We are so proud of her!

Myths About Trafficking

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 21:53:10 GMT

7 Myths About in Trafficking in Thailand Revealed

Myth #1: The brothels of Pattaya are full of underage girls.

While it is absolutely true that there are sadly very young girls being prostituted in Thailand, it is a misconception that this is all you will find. In fact, through our Employment Education Center in Pattaya, Thailand we have been able to help both men and women, ages 14 – 65 out of trafficking. The most common age range we work with is women 25-34 years old. These women have often been groomed their entire childhood for the nefarious sex industry. This grooming happens by both the direct intention of exploiters but also by the wide-spread environments of gender inequality, multi-level domestic abuse, trauma, and poverty.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that, to the foreign sex tourist, a 26-year-old Thai woman often looks much younger, easily appearing to be 17 years old. This provides a convenient business opportunity for brothel owners. They can have women dress and play to this schoolgirl aesthetic for clients, without the same legal risk. Unfortunately, this does not protect children but rather increases the demand for sex with younger and younger girls.

Myth #2: Women who are trafficked have been kidnapped.

This is one of the most widely believed conceptions about trafficking. Kidnapping and forcing someone into prostitution does occur, but it is by far the minority of trafficking experiences. Most people’s genesis of trafficking is much more complex and involves layers of manipulation and relationships. Considering the students at our Employment Education Center, 58% were first introduced to the idea of the sex industry by a friend and 41% by a family member.

Myth #3: It’s safe to assume that trafficked women are single.

It’s a common assumption that women who are being prostituted have not yet been married. In Pattaya, Thailand an estimated half of the women working in the sex industry are actually divorced. It is typical for marriages in Thailand to not be healthy environments for a women’s self-esteem. There are high rates of infidelity, abuse, and inequality. It is very common for a women’s husband to abandon her for a younger woman. This often leaves her without financial resources because she often married without finishing education or growing into a profession of her own. Culturally, she is also often shamed by her community for not being able to keep her husband. This complex situation doesn’t leave her with many options for her future.

43% of students served by our Employment Education Center are divorced.

Myth #4: Prostituted Thai women are trying to support a party or drug habit.

We hear from buyers in Thailand’s sex market that the women here are just trying to buy themselves the latest smart phone or new trendy clothing. The men say they’re selfish and are just eager to party without working for it. The general public often has similar opinions, often pointing to assumptions of drug habits as well.

None of these preconceptions are the reality. What most all of the prostituted women in Pattaya are trying to support is not drugs, but family. An astonishing 85% of the students at our Employment Education Center have children that they need to financially support. Even more so, in addition to children, our students need to support anywhere between 1 – 9 different dependents. These dependents could represent aging parents, siblings, or nieces or nephews.

Myth #5: Only naïve dreamers end up trafficked.

We’ve all heard the story of a young, naïve girl who is told by a stranger in a mall that she could be a model and how that story ends with her being pimped out into prostitution. This for sure happens, but for the majority of Thai women who end up in the sex industry, do not do so as a result of fame’s desire, but rather as a result of financial desperation.

72.7% of our Employment Education students reported they first left home because there was a financial need that they could not find a solution for in their home community. In order words, they left because they needed to find a better source of income for their family.

Sometimes after leaving home they then discovered they too old or too under-educated for the higher-paying urban employment. Not because of stupidity, but often desperation, they then accept jobs, not realizing the full picture of what their employment entails… often this is compounding debt and sex-for-hire.

Myth #6: This is a job they’ve chosen over other options.

There are available jobs in Thailand. However, there are many personal and cultural factors that stand in the way of women in the sex industry from acquiring them. Ageism, sexism, prejudice because of the region in which they grew up, including judgment because of the color of their skin and perceived beauty all play against their access to employment. This doesn’t even begin to discuss the challenge of limited education.

In Thailand, what we’d consider an entry-level position as a barista at Starbucks requires a college degree. At our Employment Education Center, less than 7% of our students had completed university and only about 70% have completed middle school when they entered through our doors. To help medicate this challenge, we offer practical job-skills training and direct partnerships with healthy employers to offer sustainable jobs to our students.

Myth #7: Prostituted women can’t break out of their cycle.

There is a heart-breaking percentage of women we work with who have absolutely no dreams left in their hearts. By and large, however, these women survive their abuse by focusing on a greater goal and a better future. It’s amazing the power that hope plays in their survival.

In order to help keep this hope alive and thriving, we help our Employment Education students construct tangible goals out of their dreams. For 56% of our students, their goal is to one day own their own business. What’s especially exciting about hearing this dream is that, with the collective Thai culture, as one of these students goes on to open her own business, she will likely open that business back in her home community, adding to the positive growth and development of that community.

From a Mother's Nightmare to a Brand New Start

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 22:02:03 GMT

Student Spotlight: Tansanee Presses On

When *Phueng was around 18 years old, *Tansanee's boyfriend mentioned that he had a friend who was interested in dating her daughter. Tansanee innocently encouraged Phueng to go out with her boyfriend's friend, thinking it would be fun for them to have double dates together.

Phueng's date turned out to be a terribly abusive and jealous man who soon claimed the young girl as his and only his. Phueng became pregnant and his abuse only escalated. Several months into the pregnancy, Tansanee's daughter got in a fight with her controlling boyfriend and he killed her, and her unborn child.

Tansanee was devastated. She had lost her daughter and her granddaughter all at once.

Tansanee blamed herself for her daughter's death. She had been the one to encourage their first date. To only add to her pain, most of Tansanee's family blamed her as well. She wasn't even allowed to attend Phueng's funeral.

Heart-shattered and cut off from her family, Tansanee couldn't bear to stay in her home village. She felt the only option was for her to leave and try to start over. She boarded a bus for the city of Pattaya, where she had heard she could find work.

The only job Tansanee was able to find was at a brothel masquerading as a beer bar for sex tourists. She was in desperate need of money to live and had nothing left to lose, so she took the "job."

Tansanee had been in Pattaya for a year when our Not Abandoned team met her. Immediately, they could see that this woman was kind and energetic, but also that she carried a deep sadness inside her heart.

Tansanee began to attend classes regularly at our Employment Education Center. Here, Tansanee benefited from the free training, but it was the community, support, and hope that she received from the team which began to restore the deep desperation of her heart.

After 6 months of healing, and the team's encouragement, Tansanee made the courageous decision to leave the exploitive sex industry behind and find a job. She started working as a cleaner, but eventually decided that she would be better starting her own business.

And we agree.

Tansanee now has started her own food cart!

It has been inspiring to watch Tansanee heal, grow, and step out with courage and faith. Her journey is not complete, but the steps she has taken towards holistic health and sustaining freedom are an incredible feat to celebrate!

Thank you, for being a faithful advocate of freedom.

* All names have been changed for privacy. It's special to note that the name Tansanee was chosen specifically because of its Thai meaning: a beautiful view. This is our wish and prayer for Tansanee-- that from now on, after all the pain in her life, she will only have beautiful views ahead of her.

Trafficking Rampant in Schools of Thailand

info@notabandoned.org (Alex Miller) — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 22:07:24 GMT

Not Abandoned Responds

According to educators and social services of Thailand's Northeast Region, Isaan, young students are getting recruited into the sex industry at unprecedented levels.

"Prostitution Junior" is utilizing 18-year-olds as pimps, 16-year-old boys as buyers of sex, and 12-year-old girls as the prostituted. These young girls are being massively manipulated by older boys that seem "cool." They take advantage of their normal desire to fit in, to feel of interest to boys and also their parent's pressure to provide financially for their impoverished families.

It's a terrible cocktail of vulnerability.

However, because of your support, Not Abandoned has been reaching a bigger audience this month with trafficking prevention programs through the public school systems...

Our team is now working with 5 different school districts, representing 11,500 students and 1,150 educators weekly.

This in-classroom work includes interactive trafficking prevention media, counseling and new job skills education.

After-school and weekend programs are being held at our nearby center to help train students with early job skills such as budgeting, baking, and business.

Regular meetings are taking place with vulnerable families in their homes in various neighboring villages.

"Will you please come and talk to my parents? They're talking about sending me to Pattaya and I don't want to go there and do that kind of thing."

notabandoned

Emir's Story: The Power of a Broom Stick

How Confidence Transformed a Man’s World

Your Support Helps Unlock Ability, Confidence, and Freedom ﻿

Amelia & Isabelle: A Mother and Daughter Begin Again

Healing Begins Here: They Found Safety After Years of Silence

What Your Generosity Creates:

A place where silence can break.

A place where mothers and daughters can breathe again.

A place where someone who wanted to die can begin imagining a future.

Your Giving Creates Spaces Where Healing Begins

A Journey Home to Hope: Soonee’s Story

How Soonee* Narrowly Escaped Exploitation Before It Began

Your Support Helps Women Step Out of Exploitation

Empowering Freedom for Children with Disabilities in Morocco

At Not Abandoned, we believe that freedom should be possible for everyone—no matter their circumstances.

This month, our dedicated team of medical volunteers returned from another impactful trip to Morocco, and we're excited to share the powerful ways your support is transforming lives.

Here’s what we accomplished together:

Why This Matters

See the Impact for Yourself

Where are we headed?

The journey Not Abandoned has been on since 2008 has been an exciting one.

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

We Support This Woman's Right to Choose

We are not the rescuers, we are the supporters.

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

Is it a Worthwhile Fight?

"Don't you get overwhelmed by the need here? There's just so many of them..."

A Story of New Beginnings from the Pattaya Freedom Center Team

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work and our Freedom Centers.

I Met Her at 4:30 AM

It was 4:30 in the morning and jet lag had awoken me to a quiet Pattaya City. Quiet, yes, but this city is never truly resting.

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Thailand and our Freedom Centers.

From Pasta to Peace

"I don't want to let you down because you have trusted me."

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Spain and our Algeciras Freedom Center.

A Life or Death Phone Call

"We're right in the middle of a crisis here."

Learn more about Not Abandoned's work in Spain and our Algeciras Freedom Center.

On the Way Home to Ukraine

I’m sharing a train car with a bright eyed woman and her young son traveling from Poland to Ukraine.

Your support is protecting women and children from exploitation.

Return to Normal

A return to normalcy, that is the goal. But how do you achieve a goal as ambiguous as this?

How your support is restoring normalcy through our Freedom Centers

Radical Hope

Adilah is originally from Morocco and upon her attempt to flee her abusive husband she was trafficked into Spain.

TOTAL FREEDOM MATCHING CHALLENGE

There's an opportunity in front of us!

New hope is now open!

In this new country, there is a new base, with a new center, providing NEW HOPE...

What We've Been Up To

Highlights and Updates: from Exploitation to Empowerment

We're almost there!

Join us for a Final Push Celebration of

Elevate Freedom!

The Reality of Unmarked Trails

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood?

Dao is one woman who choose to take a new road.

Support women like Dao along their journey to freedom and empowerment by making a donation today.

The key may not be what you think

The goal of sustaining freedom is complex.

True, sustaining freedom isn’t obtained by a single moment.

Through the job skills classes we teach, the employment opportunities we open, counseling, financial assistance, and family support, we are constantly keeping our eyes on the goal of developing one vital tool: resiliency.

Resiliency is one of the most obvious indicators of empowerment.

Resiliency is the key to sustaining freedom.

4 Reasons Why We Don't "Rescue" Women

When it’s said that a woman was rescued from being prostituted, a troublesome power dynamic is created. But, why?

1. This terminology creates unfair expectations for the recovering women.

2. This simplistic goal ignores the complexity of trauma.

3. A classic “rescue” creates social and emotional debts, especially within certain cultures.

4. Focusing on a rescue, does not does elevate the power of her own choice.

Help Her Thrive

There is an opportunity for you to help her thrive, not just survive.

This is Family

This is Family and this is what family means to us

"She is Not Abandoned."

Nat is the perfect example of what we mean when we say, "She is Not Abandoned."

What Will Our Response Be?

Coronavirus and Trafficking

Your Support Helps Unlock Ability, Confidence, and Freedom