Chiang Mai!

We just arrived in Chiang Mai this morning. It's a breath of fresh air after leaving BKK.

Our time in the big city was good: we spent yesterday with Roy and Bonita Thompson of Home of New Beginnings in BKK. They work with women who have decided to leave the sex industry and offer them educational opportunities. While there are many organizations in BKK doing wonderful work in aftercare, we were especially drawn to Home of New Beginnings because they put such emphasis on the importance of education as well as local staff/leadership.

We spoke with Roy and Bonita about potential job opportunities for women that graduate with a high school diploma: waitressing, tourism opportunities, hotel work, etc. They put emphasis on the importance of learning english and graduating with a high GPA so that options for college were available. While their program is still too young to have stories of girls who have graduated
and gone in to the job field, their insights were affirming to our work in education as prevention.

More to come...