Empowering women: Pattaya's Fountain of Life Centre

(Vatican Radio) - Sandy beaches, Buddhist temples, plenty of nightlife – Pattaya, on Thailand’s gulf coast has it all. But since the days of the Vietnam War when American soldiers first flocked there, sparking a transformation from sleepy fishing village to bustling resort city, the place has also become increasingly known as a centre for the sex industry. Though prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, foreign tourists continue to pour in to Pattaya’s bars, brothels and clubs in search of young women from all over the country who come there to find work…..
"Most women are from the countryside, from the North East, they come when their families fail, their husbands divorce them and don’t care for the children…"
Sr Anurak Chaiyaphuek is Coordinator of The Fountain of Life Women’s Centre, run by the Good Shepherd sisters for women caught up in this flourishing sex industry. Impoverished or abandoned women, with children in tow, who turn to selling their bodies in order to put food on the table. Hoping to find western husbands who can give them a better life….
Listen to Philippa Hitchen's interview with Sr Anurak Chaiyaphuek....
"They are quite young, most are in their early 20s to 40s…..some of them are successful but some of them fail…we provide them opportunities to study, especially languages and skills so that they don’t have to work in the bars….some of them, after marriage with foreigners, were sold to the next man or to brothels in other countries…"
Sr Anurak has seen and heard so many similar stories of exploitation and abuse, with women being bought and sold on to bars and brothels around Thailand and abroad. The centre strives not only to give the girls language skills and training in hairdressing, cooking, typing or traditional Thai massage, but above all to help them slowly discover a sense of dignity, respect and self-esteem that many of them have never known before…
"They get work in town and come to study during the day…one thing we teach them how to lift up their own dignity, they don’t have to depend on these men, our Good Shepherd foundress said that one person is of more value than the whole world, so we teach them that they have dignity and value and don’t have to sell their bodies…we don’t try to change them to believe in Christianity, we give them the spirit but we don’t force them, they can learn from our example... "
The Good Shepherd sisters have been running the Fountain of Life centre since 1988, helping many women to leave the bars and streets of Pattaya and find other ways of making ends meet. Over the years the sisters have encountered opposition from the bar owners but have persevered with their mission to provide a safe haven for women and children and empower them to build new lives for themselves…
"Sometimes the bar owners don’t want us to give the brochures to these women….we provide the children with education and we have helped many already, but it’s very hard to help those already exploited……one lady had three children from different fathers and sometimes she brought them along with her to work, so you can imagine what they have seen…with the Good Shepherd spirit we don’t give up hope…at least if we help one, we feel successful and we have helped so many over almost 25 years…"