Help 5,000 Thai Girls Protect Themselves

Dear friends,

On 5 September 2018, we travelled to Kudkhowpunwittaya School in Ubon Ratchathani province where we conducted the ‘Better Me: Claim your Rights’ Workshop for 41 girls between the ages of 13 and 18. Most of the girls told us post event that they enjoyed the training as they had never experienced anything similar before, adding that working closely in a group with other students, outside of the classroom setting, was immensely satisfying as well.

In our workshop, we provided them with the information and skills they needed to recognise and report crimes against them, avoid dangerous situations, and respond sensibly in times of threat. These knowledge and skills will be useful especially when they move from the village to the capital city for work and find themselves in risky workplaces such as bars, clubs and private homes. The workshop covered the following:

• Awareness and Prevention of Danger: Raising awareness of a range of risks (including relationships, harassment, financial dependency, pregnancy, and online grooming), as well as teaching tactics for avoiding different types of danger and ways to deal with incidents that may arise.
• Basic Self-Defense: Training in basic moves, such as wrist grabs, lapel grabs, and protection on the ground.
• Women’s Laws and Rights: Raising awareness of the laws relevant to women, such as procedure in reporting domestic violence or assault to the police.

These newly minted graduates of our workshop, plus another 201 we trained previously from four other high schools, bring our grand total of girls trained in the last six months to 241! We still need to reach out to many more and arm them with the knowledge to protect themselves against violence and harassment. Please consider donating to help us reach our goal, we are still some distance away from it!

Dear friends and supporters,

Thanks to the support and donations that we have received since March 2018, we were able to conduct four workshops. Please read on to find out what we have been able to accomplish over the last two months.

On 22 May 2018, the Pratthanadee team travelled to Warinchamrab School in Ubon Ratchathani province. We conducted the ‘Better Me: Claim your Rights’ Workshop for 50 girls between the ages of 13 and 18. In a dipstick poll, we found that 94% of them had experienced violence previously and 78% were not aware of the avenues to get help if they found themselves in danger. For more photos, click here. 

In our workshop, we provided the participants with information and skills they needed to recognise and report crimes against them, avoid dangerous situations, and respond sensibly in times of threat. The workshop also covered the following:

• Awareness and Prevention of Danger: Raising awareness of a range of risks (including relationships, harassment, financial dependency, pregnancy, and online grooming), as well as teaching tactics for avoiding different types of danger and ways to deal with incidents that may arise.
• Basic Self-Defense: Training in basic moves, such as wrist grabs, lapel grabs, and protection on the ground.
• Women’s Laws and Rights: Raising awareness of the laws relevant to women, such as procedure in reporting domestic violence or assault to the police. 

After the workshop, the girls said they had gained new knowledge and a better understanding about danger. They added that they were confident of applying what they had learnt if they found themselves in dangerous situations in real life. They also said they knew where to get help should they need it.

As you can see from the students’ sample feedback below (translated from Thai to English), the girls truly found the information and workshop helpful and worthwhile.

• Happy to see the staff today. I feel that I learnt so many things today. I learnt about the causes of danger and how to protect myself from dangerous situations.
• I had so much fun today. I learnt about basic self defense and so many things. So much fun today.
• Happy, fun, and learnt basic self-defense. I gained new knowledge. Staff were so friendly.

These newly trained graduates of our workshop, plus another 151 from three other high schools, bring our grand total of girls trained in the last two months to over 200! And we are not stopping there. We have already inked another workshop with a high school for September.

Please share our success stories with your friends, family, co-workers, and social networks so that we are able to reach out to more girls at risk. Or, consider making a monthly donation to help us reach our goal!