Send 70 At-risk Children to School in Thailand

I wish we we’re able to begin this update a little differently than our last but sadly - for the safety of all students, staff, and community and to comply with governmental regulations - HDS has once again closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Covid-19 has spread to all areas of Mae Sai with case numbers and cluster outbreaks continuing to rise. All the schools in the area have temporarily closed including HDS which closed on August 20th.

As education is an integral piece of our mission to prevent human trafficking of vulnerable youth, the staff and teachers at DEPDC have been creative in their methods to continue educating students at HDS. Each week, the teachers prepare lessons, assignments, and homework for the students to complete. Many of the students are able to make a weekly trip to HDS to drop off the past week’s lesson and pick up the new week’s lesson. In cases where it is not possible for the students to come to HDS, teachers and staff drop off and pick up lessons from their homes.

Some of the student’s families are within vulnerable communities and have been quarantined at home for 14 days, leaving them with inadequate supplies of food, sanitizer, face masks, and medicine. In order to support the students of HDS and their families, DEPDC and HDS prepared survival bags and delivered them to the student’s homes. Survival bags included a variety of different foods to ensure food security during these difficult times as well as safety supplies of sanitizer, masks, and some medicine.

We sincerely hope that our next report includes the celebration of the reopening of HDS. Until then, to all our past, present, and future donors we would like to thank you for your continued support in keeping this program running. Education is at the core of DEPDC’s mission to prevent the trafficking of vulnerable youth and thanks to your donations we are able to do just that. 

I wish we we’re able to begin this update with better news but sadly - for the safety of all students, staff, and community and to comply with governmental regulations - HDS has once again closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Our first plan was to reopen on May 17th, but a third wave of infections saw a surge in cases in the Mae Sai area. We hope that we are able to open on June 1st but if cases do not decline then there is a chance we will have to postpone opening until June 14th.

We don’t want this report to be all sad news, though! Here’s some good news: Before HDS closed we had many fun activities that brought a lot of joy to all involved! HDS participated in the highly anticipated and favored event of Sport’s Day. The students spend days preparing for the differing sports events. There’s definitely a lot more energy (and noise!) in and around the center when Sport’s Day is approaching. The students also participated in a study tour and a camping and training excursion. The staff at HDS dedicate a lot of time to provide the students with fun-filled activities that support their cultivation of life skills and personal empowerment. This year the students participated in agricultural projects and learning how to take care of frogs and fish. They also learned how to make animal feed! The intent is that all the skills they learn during these activities can be utilized within and outside of HDS and translate to future success.

We sincerely hope that our next report includes the celebration of the reopening of HDS. Until then, to all our past, present, and future donors we would like to thank you for your continued support in keeping this program running. Education is at the core of DEPDC’s mission to prevent the trafficking of vulnerable youth and thanks to your donations we are able to do just that.