Sex workers empowered to make other life choices

Many women enter the sex trade because of poverty, but now they are more able to put their lives back on track thanks to a center run by Good Shepherd nuns in the bustling resort town of Pattaya.

Good Shepherd Sister Supaporn Chotipal

“Poverty causes many to sell themselves. We try to help them through education and vocational training,” said Sister Supaporn Chotipal. Her congregation is giving sex workers and other women with limited employment opportunities in Pattaya, a favorite haunt for foreign tourists, the opportunity for an education and vocational training to better their lives.

“I call them ‘vulnerable women’ rather than sex workers. Many of them have little or no education. Some have never learned to read and write,” said the director of the Fountain of Life Women’s Center.

Many girls from poor families in Thailand’s northeast flock to Pattaya, a resort famed for its nightlife, in search of a better future. Most of the girls working in bars are lured into the sex trade, or need money to support their families, Sister Supaporn continued.

Fountain of Life, however, offers training in hairdressing, cooking, computing, typing, sewing, traditional Thai massage and languages to empower vulnerable women and improve their chances of finding regular employment.

The center also teaches the women self-reliance and self-esteem, and provides them with information on their rights. It gives legal advice for those tricked into prostitution, and provides them with a safe, non-judgmental environment. Around 250-300 women use the center daily.

The center’s 10 staff members and many other volunteers provide counseling and training in the various skills.

According to Sister Supaporn, their duty must be to let the women know that the trafficking of people is one of the most serious problems in society.

“Many of them who come to us want to quit” the sex trade, she said.

A quotation from John’s gospel at the Fountain of Life Women’s Center. It reads: ‘The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty.’’

Staff member Rapiphun, 44, who has been teaching German at the center for seven years, said the women hear about the center mostly through word of mouth.

UCA News was not allowed to talk to any of the women using the center. However, Sister Supaporn shared one of their stories.

Noi, 38, (not her real name) is learning hairdressing and written Thai at the center. The divorcee has two children and her parents are over 80 years of age. Her sister has HIV and her brother-in-law died of AIDS. Noi came to Pattaya to look for a job so she could send money back to her family, but found herself working as a prostitute.

Sister Supaporn says Noi now wants to learn hairdressing and how to read and write so she can open a salon in her hometown.

Fountain of Life was established in 1988 as a drop-in center for women and girls exploited by the sex industry in Pattaya. Another center in Pattaya, for street children, was opened in 1995.