“ It transcends language , it transcends culture – it ’ s just love . These kids know that the team that was there were there to do good stuff for them , and they just latched on from day one . They had new friends .
“ There were more than a few tears on the night before we left . A few struggled , and some of the kids struggled – there were tears on both parts .”
As emotional as it was farewelling the Rescue Mission ’ s children , the young Rotarians ’ experiences at the centre provided the perfect insight and context for what was to come .
David ’ s commitment to fighting child sex slavery goes beyond his work on Project Starfish , which he hopes soon to register as a charity in its own right . He ’ s also the Oceania regional co-ordinator for the Rotarian Action Group Against Slavery ( RAGAS ), which has been established to tackle slavery and trafficking in all its forms .
An audience to remember
As part of those wider responsibilities , he scheduled a series of appointments with both Rotary clubs and the non-government organisations in Thailand and Cambodia that are trying to tackle trafficking . And , that ’ s how a group of young adults from all the way around the world , some not even 20 , were left pinching themselves .
There they were , sitting in meetings talking one-onone with the people at the sharp end from the likes of the United Nations , Hagar , which helps women and children whose lives have been devastated by abuse , and child protection agency Nvader .
“ I think it just showed us how big this whole issue , this world is – David called it a ‘ total immersion experience ’,” Georgia says .
“ Each of the different organisations we met are all working in a different way and all are addressing the problems slightly differently , so that was what was so amazing , understanding just how complicated the issue is , but also how they ’ re addressing it .
“ And , what I found great after being at the Rescue Mission was gathering all of the knowledge from the rest of the trip – meeting all of the NGOs who run programmes on a large scale , and learning from them , and then looking at how we can best apply that to the centre .
“ Because the Rescue Mission runs on a small scale , they don ’ t have the people to go and do research , so that ’ s what we did while we were there .
“ We connected them with the Nvader agency and with the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club , so , hopefully , we can continue to build those relationships , and get them more support through these channels .”
Youngsters from the centre are treated by the Project Starfish team .
Georgia was particularly interested in what the team had learned from the NGOs about the increasing role of community-based support for at-risk children and families , a model the team hopes to , in time , help the Rescue Mission find its place within .
“ The objective of community-based care is not so much about safeguarding the children , but to alleviate the problems and poverty that lead to their vulnerability in the first instance .
It transcends language , it transcends culture – it ’ s just love .”
Georgia Kerby , Dunedin Rotaractor
“ It ’ s about community outreach , and providing opportunities to gain education and sustainable employment . And , not just to live off subsistence farming , but to actually have greater knowledge to grow bigger enterprises , so they can sustain themselves – that will give them more power and knowledge and lead to less potential for exploitation .
“ Through meeting Hagar , the Cambodian Centre for the Protection of Children ’ s Rights and the Cambodian Helpline , we heard how they go into communities , do workshops , educate the people and provide rice banks , cow and pig banks and training opportunities , not only for the children to go to school , but to take the next step and get training and employment .
“ That means they don ’ t have to look elsewhere and have that risk factor of being exploited .”
While getting into areas like Myanmar , where many vulnerable Akha live , posed challenges under the community-based support framework , Georgia remains hopeful .
“ I think we just need to do a lot more research with the Rescue Mission and keep connecting them with these larger organisations and see what is possible , because the centre is a fantastic place from which to work with the community .”
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