Help 5,000 Thai Girls Protect Themselves

Hi Supporters,

Even though we raised $2,637 for this project, short of our target of $26,000, we were able to reach out to 272 girls in Ubon Ratchathani. Our training with them covered:

• 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 these risks and ways of dealing with incidents that may arise
• Girls’ Laws and Rights: raising awareness of the existing laws relevant to girls, and the procedures for reporting domestic violence or assault to the police. Additionally, we provided instructions on contacting public and governments services available to protect girls
• Avenues for help: raising awareness on how to reach out for help and support from public agencies and non-government organisations on violence-related mental and physical issues
• Basic Self-Defense: training in basic defensive moves, such as wrist-grabs, lapel-grabs, and self-protection while pinned on the ground

After our workshop, we polled the girls and received the following feedback:

• 84% had never attended this kind of workshop before and most of them had never
• experienced any kind of training workshop
• 69% mentioned that they had personally experienced and/or seen violence
• 20% would not know what to do if they were confronted with a dangerous or violent situation
• 94% had no idea about potential dangers and the services that are available to help them avoid or deal with these dangers
• Domestic violence, youths fighting and being teased(in negative way, for example: you are fat, your skin is black, being subject of cruel jokes) were the most often cited examples of the girls’ experiences

We polled the evaluation of our training workshops:

• 74% said they had gained more knowledge about the issue of gender-based violence
• 64% said they now know how to protect (physical) themselves from danger
• 86% said they are able to apply the new skills in daily life
• 88% said they would share the new knowledge with families and friends
• 64% said they were happy to have participated and found the workshops fun

Feedback collected from girls (translated from Thai):

• Fun and so happy to join this workshop. I gained a lot of knowledge. All staff so friendly and lovely. Refreshment was also good and I ate so much that I didn’t buy any meal for lunch; save lot of money. I would like to join this activity again.
• I am so excited to attend this workshop. I gained a lot of practical knowledge from these activities. I learnt more about risky situations, dangers online and appropriate social skills.
• I now know how to protect myself from sexual harassment, online grooming chat and other risky situations.
• This is a very good activity and I can apply the knowledge in real life. I now know how to protect myself from risky situations. This workshop allowed me to share opinions and participate in group discussions. I had a lot of snacks during the workshop.
• So much fun and gained more knowledge from activities. Very good and able to use it in daily life. Staff so friendly, thank you very much.

We hope to reach out to more girls in the coming year with your support. And tell your friends about us. As the year draws to a close, we like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Enjoy the holiday season and take care.

All the best,

Pratthanadee Team