Sawadee ka/krap! It has been a long time coming, but this year (2018) all of Rotaract for Project Starfish's donations were finally designated and are now in the hands of our chosen non-profit organisations, these are: the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights, Child Helpline Cambodia, Hagar International, and Nvader (now LIFT). Thanks to you, our supporters, advocates, families, and fellow Rotarians, we have managed to support key programs for preventative, investigative, and restorative action. Together we have challenged ourselves and spread awareness of the people making REAL difference in REAL lives. Back in 2016... Whilst it may seem like a long time since our fundraising campaign back in 2016, we have been busy planning and reflecting on what we learnt. As Rotarians it was most important for us to take the time for due-diligence and making sure our fundraising and final donations were fully transparent. After our research in 2016 we decided to support projects that aligned with the most current best practice in anti-trafficking work as supported by the findings of international NGOs and the United Nations. During the team visit to North Thailand in 2016 we donated NZ$414 to the Rescue Mission for Children This went towards new storage equipment for specialist dental equipment and three ukuleles, one guitar, and an electric keyboard for the entertainment and skills learning for the 40 hilltribe children living at the Rescue Mission and going to local Thai schools. This complimented a dental program where our dentist treated all the children and voluntary staff at the center, our electrician provided electrical maintenance and electrical site mapping in the facility and the rest of the team planted a brand new guava orchard sponsored by the Rotary Club of Christchurch Sunrise, NZ. We have not concluded here all of the other donations and support directly from David Black of Project Starfish and the New Rotary Generation Club, Dunedin, NZ. 2017... saw us processing the information some of our team gathered in situ in Thailand and Cambodia about the direction that research and trends in eliminating human trafficking is going internationally. You can read about some of our findings here; we primarily identified a growing movement away from institutionalized child care and post-trauma rehabilitation, towards supporting communities to make themselves safer and stronger, such as being less reliant on cross border migration for work and better able to support healthy family life and education. This movement centers on individual wellbeing and targets NGO efforts towards sustainable changes to eliminate initial occurrences of human trafficking, rather than addressing the tragic aftermath. By the end of 2017 we had discussed options of specific directions for our funding to be used with the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights and Child Helpline Cambodia. This way your support and our work mean that our donations are going towards work that directly supports the areas that we identified as most important and most valuable to a long term goal of eliminating child trafficking. This year, 2018... we have focused on the surprisingly difficult task of sending money to Cambodia, involving several banks at first. We have also reached out to Rotary clubs in Cambodia to advertise for a much needed Financial Director for Child Helpline Cambodia. If you think you can assist this amazing group with your skills please contact us! So at the end of it all, with fond memories of the bright children we met in Thailand and the many energetic and admirable volunteers in New Zealand, America, and the United Kingdom we are proud to announce: We donated NZ$1,804 to the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights CCPCR recently transitioned away from institutional care towards alternative care methods such as supporting communities through saving groups, cow banks, and opportunities for education and safe and sustainable employment. Acting Director Nget Thy helped us to decide on a donation of US$800 towards toilets in one of CCPCR's new kindergartens. This kindy allows 20 children between 3 - 5 years access to early education while their parents have safe and local work. The remaining US$600 was given to six different Savings Groups to assist communities with people vulnerable to or survivors of exploitation and trafficking. Savings Groups improve income generation by a sustainable process, with community ownership. CCPCR supplies the capital to start the Savings Group. Each group (some have up to 30 members) then independently decides on their policies for investing savings and supplying loans for starting small businesses. Once CCPCR phases the project out, the money remains in the community and continues generating income through the businesses it has helped to support; this is the meaning of sustainability. We also donated NZ$2,047.25 to Child Helpline Cambodia After many discussions with their Executive Director Sean Sok Phay we decided to sponsor one Self-Protection from Human Trafficking training workshop for 16 Youth/Helpline Ambassadors. CHC's Youth Ambassadors run awareness sessions on self protection and unsafe migration in villages in provinces affected by migration such as Battambang, Banteay, Meanchey, Koh Kong, Pailin, Preah Vihear, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, and Kampong Cham. Awareness sessions support these communities with a bottom-up approach so that their youth are fundamentally more aware of the risks and dangers of migrating for work and are aware of avenues for advice and support. Families are also more aware of the importance of positive parenting and school education. Educational and promotional materials about the Helpline are also spread to wider communities through these workshops, generating an exponential effect. We also gifted NZ$500 of your donations to Nvader When we met Nvader in Chiang Mai, Thailand, they were growing from a ‘raid and rescue’ model towards supporting legislative strength and support of sex slavery survivors. Now, they have furthered this transition with a rename of LIFT, focusing on strengthening judicial systems, supporting survivors, and prosecuting criminals. Lastly, we gifted NZ$250 to Hagar International, on top of donations made as part of the 2016 Hagar Run for Freedom at Angkor Wat. Hagar's focus is social empowerment and support and reintegration of survivors. Through this work they have heard many remarkable stories of recovery, belonging, and love; some of which our team heard first hand when we visited Hagar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. You can see the direct impacts that our individual efforts, once combined in a likeminded network, have made for these organisations and the lives that their work affects. Collectively, we have achieved this, not just through donations but also through education and advocacy of what it really means to be defining, identifying, and confronting human trafficking in the modern world.
Together, through our networks, through our passion, and through our kindness we can take down human traffickers' networks and means. To continue building a network that disrupts criminals and feeds FREEDOM, please partner with us and partner with our partners; together we can see the end of the world’s biggest injustice within our lifetimes. Kob khun ka/krap, thank you, rom the Rotaract for Project Starfish Team
1 Comment
2/17/2020 08:31:32 pm
As 2 Otago workers in the Rescue, Rehabilitation, Redemption and Prosecution living and working in The Gambia West Africa, we would like to make contact with Starfish, not for the purpose of money, but rather to explore opportunities for the Internships we offer.
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July 2018
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