Programs

The Garden of Hope International

We equip national leaders with training, logistical, and financial support to address human-trafficking in their communities. The Garden of Hope International team conducts outreach in border areas and works to secure safe living situations for each individual.

Many of the countries surrounding Thailand face political instability and economic hardship. Citizens of these countries often make less than $1 a day. Because Thailand is the wealthiest of the countries in the Mekong sub-region, it is a high destination country for trafficking.

The Garden provides vocational training in a large teak house and beautiful garden setting for disadvantaged and exploited women and youth, especially those who are at-risk of or coming out of prostitution and trafficking. Almost all of the women and children we have encountered who are in or at-risk of prostitution are the sole or primary source of financial support for themselves and their extended families. They face tremendous pressure to send money home each month, often in excess of 4000 Baht (approximately US$100), however, they lack the skills necessary to obtain jobs that pay an average wage of 5000 Baht per month (approximately $125). The lack of viable alternative employment options and marketable vocational skills keep them trapped in prostitution.

Participants are taught marketable skills such as baking, cooking, sewing, customer service, English and computer training, as well as provided opportunities for income generation through small business opportunities offered on and off site.

Reaching Out to Women

Our team of volunteers builds relationships with women in the bars of Chiang Mai. These women are involved in prostitution or are at-risk of entering prostitution. By being in relationship with them, The Garden of Hope desires to enable the women to choose new options in life.

Reaching Out to Children and Youth

The Garden of Hope volunteers conduct outreach to children who spend time in the bar areas selling flowers or trinkets to provide income for their families.  These children are vulnerable to trafficking, prostitution, and child pedophilia. The Garden of Hope establishes relationships with the children to provide a support network in times of need.

The Garden of Hope hopes to establish a drop-in center for these children where they can seek refuge in a safe environment and participate in educational, health, and recreational programs.

As our teams of female volunteers go out to the bars, karaoke's, and massage parlors, they encounter not only women in prostitution and their ever present customers, but also children. While shooting a video of visiting the bars, our team discovered a shocking fact on reviewing the tape: every bar had a child between the ages birth to 10 in them! Some were children of the women working in the bar, some were neighborhood kids, and some were selling trinkets or flowers to the foreign male customers. All would agree that the beer bars are not the best place for children to be at night. Not only are these little boys and girls being exposed to all kinds of things children should not see, but they are also in danger of horrors that are almost unspeakable.

Our dream is to open a child care center in the neighborhood of the beer bars where the working women could bring their children to be cared for in safe, clean, and loving environment. The facility would also be a great contact point to introduce the women to our drop-in center.

Culinary Arts Academy

The Garden of Hope is in the process of securing funding for the Culinary Arts Program. Once established, the Academy will provide vocational training to equip the women and children of our target group with higher skill levels so that they may secure a job for life that provides viable income.

The food and beverage industry is highly diversified and provides jobs and markets at a variety of levels. In Thailand, the demand for superior quality western baked goods is high due to the large expatriate community and the more than 3 million tourists who visit Chiang Mai each year. This demand will only grow as new luxury hotels have recently opened in the area and the Thai government increases promotion of Chiang Mai as a tourist hub. The Garden of Hope sees great opportunity in this industry to provide sustainable income to the women and children in the Academy – there are low barriers to entry to start cafes or food stands in the area, and the sale of western goods is highly lucrative as customers are willing to pay more for better quality.