Helping Children from Ex-Sex workers in Thailand

Greetings from Tamar Center! We had a very special month: Not only are school holidays in Thailand – which all the Tamar children love – but we also celebrated 25 years of Tamar Center on the 4^th of October. Amazing! It is hard to believe that Tamar is already 25 years old, and it was very special to see many of the former Tamar women and their families come to visit for the celebrations! We had a very nice evening celebration with many speeches, good music and even better food and on the next morning we had another special brunch for all former Tamar women and staff. This was very informal and a good opportunity to catch up with everything that has happened in the last years. It was a great time of talking, learning from each other and it was very nice to see how Tamar was able to help many women over the years. Sometimes, when we are stuck down in the work and problems it is hard to see the outcomes, but a day of celebration and the testimonies from many former women, remind us, that all the work is worth it! Thank you to all of you for being a part of our history and for making our work possible! If you would like to see the celebration, you can have a look at the Tamar Center Facebook page and on the 5^th of October you will find a recording from our celebration!

In the week after the big celebration, we took all the children and women from Tamar Center to Bangkok for an outing. They had all worked very hard for the celebration and with the school holidays starting a week later, it was time for some fun. We went to the Healthy and Happy Bike Lane – a 23,5 km long bike lane around the Airport from Bangkok. Very nice place, you can cycle without stopping around the airport, stop to watch the planes land and take off and enjoy the ride. Many of the older children joined us on the long ride but some of them did not manage it all – they were picked up from the Staff of the Bike Lane when they got tired and driven to the children area – a big bike themed area with a pump track, toys to play and much more. Everybody enjoyed the trip and was very tired at the end – we finished the day at a big mall in Bangkok and everyone stocked up on ice cream and other snacks. The ride back in the big Bus was very quiet, as most people were sleeping!

Now that we have school holidays, the kids are in the Tamar Nursery and our Teachers have made a special program for them. They have different activities during the day, some crafts, story time and much more. On top of that we have given each Mum some money to spend quality with her children during the school holidays. Each Mum can choose what she wants to do – go for a nice desert, go to the beach, or whatever the children want to do. The only requirement is that they spend quality time together!

Thank you for investing in the Tamar Children. Our kids are very thankful to you for your regular support and also for the outings and other things that we can finance with it. Thank you!

For the Tamar Family

Greetings from Tamar Center. Today it is time again to update you about the children at Tamar Center. In the last update we wrote about the start of the school holidays and that the kids were looking very much forward to it. We had a great outing at the start of the holidays and, at least for the children, the school holidays were over too fast, and they had to go back to school and so we added another day at the beach for everyone just before school started. The first days of the new school year were exciting for some of the kids and challenging for some of the others – as it meant getting up early again.

Several of the children moved to a new school and so there were some adjustments that they had to make. But thanks to your support over the last months, we were able to purchase all the new uniforms, books and school supplies that were needed for the children to start the new school year. The children that joined the next level of school and the new children that had just moved to Pattaya form the villages needed a full set of new uniforms. The costs of them would have been impossible to master for some of our women (one mother had to pay a total of around 300 USD for the full set of new uniforms and supplies for her two children) but thanks to your generosity, we were able to pay the complete costs for her and the kids are now enjoying school – as much as kids enjoy school! They made new friends and are happy to be together with their mom.

In the moment we are prepping already for a special outreach that we do every year in Pattaya. On the 12^th of August will be Mother’s Day in Thailand – this is the birthday of the Queen Mother. On this day we will be packing 750 big Mother’s Day gift packages and will go out into the bars of Pattaya to bring some hope and joy to the many Mothers that work in prostitution in the bars of Pattaya. They often see their children only once or twice per year and on Mother’s Day often feel especially lonely. In the last years we got a lot of responses from the women, and some joined us with their children as a result of the outreaches that we did. We hope for the same this year. Please remember us during our Mother’s Day outreach and follow us on Facebook or Instagram to see the pictures of this coming outreach.

Thank you for supporting our children and their mothers and for helping them to stay together!

For the Tamar Family