What Will Our Response Be?

For most of us, this Coronavirus season will carry the burden of inconvenience. We will do our part to stay home, stay away, and stay healthy, so that the most medically vulnerable around us can stay better protected. There are fewer options of pasta to choose from at the grocery store and the vacation we’ve been saving for has been canceled because we cannot travel.

However, we can take hope in the fact that this is mostly temporary. Our plethora of food options will return. Stores for us to browse will reopen, travel restrictions will eventually be lifted, and thankfully, must of us who are sick will recover. For us fortunate ones, this too shall pass.

But what if this lack of options, lack of choice and lack of freedom is your everyday reality? For the thousands we serve who being exploited by traffickers and the commercial sex industry, they can see no hope, no option, no freedom in their future.

Now, more than ever, we need your support. Because now, more than ever, they need our help. The main country Not Abandoned operates in is Thailand, a beautiful tourist destination in the heart of Southeast Asia and a nation that depends critically on the economics of tourism. The estimated impact on tourism during this season is an alarming 50-60% decline.

This decrease in tourism has three main repercussions. The first is that the women in the sex industry are having to take greatest risks to earn money from the few visiting tourists. Their managers (or sometimes their families) are pressuring them to go with riskier clients or to work “freelance” without the protection of a bar environment.

The second effect from this decline in travel is that women working healthy jobs dependent on tourism such as food services and hospitality are being laid off. The third, and possibly most wide-spread and longest-lasting effect, is that this will put a financial strain on the country as a whole. 85% of the women who end up Thailand’s sex industry come from the impoverished region of Issan.

With this major hit to an already tentative economy, we will absolutely see levels of poverty in this region rise, and the number one trafficking vulnerability factor for Thais is poverty.

So, what do we do? How do we respond? We press on further and with heightened urgency with our help and we’re asking that you do the same. Because this is a time of GREAT OPPORTUNITY for hope.

One of our operational values is adaptability. Because of this, our team on the ground is deep in the midst of asking those we serve, “What do you need most right now?” The initial feedback is that there is an immediate need for basic provisions like food. As a response, in addition to our normal programming we will now begin new programs like delivering care packages of rice and other non-perishable items. We are also considering immediate temporary jobs to our most vulnerable students to deliver these care packs and continue to re-evaluate the needs of our communities as this season progresses.

Just as the Coronavirus is now a global issue, so is sex trafficking. We are all in this together and it is at times like this that it is most critical to support one another. We won’t shy away from our support, but we need you to do the same. Please take a moment to evaluate your financial support of Not Abandoned's mission for freedom. Have you been considering membership to the Restore Partner Club? Today is a great day to begin that commitment to freedom! Take a moment and ask yourself, “When I look back at this season years from now, can I say that I responded with radical love?”

As always, we want to express how grateful we are to you, our Not Abandoned community. None of this work would be possible without your prayers, your volunteering spirit, your financial help.