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!