Garden of Hope

In the course of networking and job searching, I was so excited to come across Garden of Hope, a registered foundation in Thailand located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is where I went to high school.

Their mission statement:
"The Garden of Hope reaches out to women, children, and youth involved in, at risk of, or affected by prostitution, sexual exploitation and/or trafficking by developing Christ-centered relationships and offering alternative livelihoods and resources for personal development so they may experience a life of restoration, dignity, and hope that will lead to the transformation of Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand for God’s glory."

The people involved with Garden of Hope provide vocational training to these women and youth, build relationships with women and children working in the bars in Chiang Mai, and are in the process of securing funding to start a culinary arts training school and hoping to at some point establish a child care center where the working women can drop off their kids, instead of having them in the bars with them.

I cannot tell you how excited I was to read about them and to see multiple things I'm passionate about come together!!! I'm going to email them and introduce myself and ask a bit about what kinds of preparation or training they would recommend for folks who are interested in working someday with this kind of thing.