How does Joy to the World Thailand PREVENT trafficking?
- Joy to the World Thailand Staff
- Jul 29
- 3 min read
Mutarica, the Director of Operations at Joy to the World Thailand, took the time to address the key to our work in trafficking prevention.
How is the work you are doing in Thailand preventing trafficking?
One of our founders, Bill Moritz, or Uncle Bill as known at Breanna’s House of Joy, once said that if we wanted to transform the culture against human trafficking, we must change the people of the culture. One of the ways we make the change happen is through education.
Joy to the World Foundation’s mission is to provide the disadvantaged people groups in Thailand with care, programs, housing, resources and education. We seek to value the dignity and worth of each individual as a child of God. Through education, we can add to their worth, which in turn will change their mentality and prevent them from entering the underground economy and help them improve their living conditions. This improvement allows them to contribute value in their own homes and villages.
Being able to add value to the lives of the villagers prevents them from falling into the trafficking traps. Educating the next generation is an investment in the future of the villages that long for better standards of living so that they do not need to consider exchanging their children for food or other necessities -- that they do not put their hopes in some strangers who make an offer of a good life for their children as a cover-up for taking away children to be a child laborer, to work in a sex trade, or to get involved in other dark activities.
What we do through this ministry is to provide holistic care for children ages six to 18, for college students, and for hill tribe women. We believe in caring for the individual and creating opportunities for each individual to grow and thrive in a safe environment. When they thrive, they share our core values wherever they go. Most of them are from hill tribe villages where human trafficking is pervasive. They go back and share core values within their communities through the way they live. These values will create a shift in hill tribe cultures. They will be equipped to outsmart the trafficking lies.
Why is anti-trafficking work so important in Thailand?
Anti-trafficking work is so important in Thailand, especially in the northern part, because people lack knowledge on how trafficking works, let alone, how to protect themselves from being trafficked. Moreover, a lot of hill tribe families get pulled into a mentality that it is acceptable to use their children as a means to provide for the family. When the families cater to that work, it is more difficult to fight against the trafficking. Our hope is that our strategy will change the culture in the long run.
What do you want people to understand about the anti-trafficking work JTTWT is doing?
The anti-trafficking work we do is not a short-term project. It is pouring into children’s lives day in and day out. We do not see the impact of our effort right away. Consistency is the key to our work here. We need all the resources we could get. We invest in these children’s lives, which takes years to shape who they are and hopefully, a healthy mentality will be formed to protect them from being a victim of trafficking and to be flourishing leaders in their communities.
