JoJo's Sanctuary - Thailand
BIO
Heather is originally from Washington State and came to Thailand after spending ten years working in the Los Angeles film industry. Heather is completing her Master’s degree in Child Advocacy and Policy. She has been doing anti-trafficking work in Thailand since 2011, first as a program coordinator for Taw Saeng (an after school program), and then as a case manager for child victims of abuse and trafficking with HUG Project. Heather founded Jojo’s Sanctuary in 2016 with Jay and Butsaba and is passionate about fighting injustice in whatever form it may take.
GOALS:
Educate: Knowledge is power. Our goal goes beyond merely sending children to school. To change a life, you must change the community. To change a community, you must provide knowledge. This is why we offer not only secondary school scholarships, but also community trainings about children’s rights, trafficking, safe and unsafe touch, child abuse, positive reinforcement in discipline and online safety. Our goal is for every child to know their value as a child of God and to know and exercise their rights as human beings.
Protect: Every child deserves to feel safe. In our previous work with other organizations, we have seen a gap in housing service for vulnerable children whose parents were unable to care for them for a short time. We hope to fill this gap by providing a short-term foster care home for children in this situation for a period of less than one year. As a member of Baan San Rak, we will work with social workers to provide housing to children who have no caretaker while parents may be in jail, rehab, hospital or in otherwise unstable situations. During this time, we will provide counseling for the children and, once their parents are able to take them back, will assist in their transition back home and follow up to make sure the home is stable.
Empower: One of the biggest contributors to human trafficking is lack of access to social services for marginalized people. Lack of citizenship is one way that people are unable to receive support services. There are many families eligible to obtain citizenship who merely lack resources and knowledge in how to pursue it. This may include lack of access to a vehicle to return to their home village, illiteracy, or funds to pay for lost wages for people who will come act as witnesses in their case. Jojos’ Sanctuary wants to be the bridge that links these people to the rights they are due. Achieving citizenship allows access to health care, higher education, and, most importantly, work. It opens up opportunity to every generation that follows. Our goal is to walk alongside these families as long as it takes for them to get these basic human rights.
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