Our Story
Development of the Good Shepherd project in Thailand and Phuket:
The Congregation of the Good Shepherd Sisters was founded in Angers, France in 1835. St. Mary Euphrasia, foundress of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, was a woman of vision, a compassionate innovator and an inspiring leader who felt driven to address the urgent needs of her time. With a ZEAL that embraced the whole world, she developed a network of homes for women and girls. Their work has traditionally been done in the most neglected areas, where the socially deprived families have personal, social and psychological difficulties. Their work is carried out in 72 countries throughout the world. The Sisters came to Thailand in 1965 and established a centre in Bangkok. The principle projects include the Mothers and Babies Home, The Fatima Self-Help Centre, Day Care Centre for children and a Vocational Training Education Centre offered to youths and adults who lack formal schooling. There are five active communities throughout Thailand offering different services according to the needs of that area.
The Good Shepherd Care for Women and Children center: was set up in 2010 and offers a number of services to women and children. This project aims at working with foreign migrants, especially Burmese women and children, in Phuket who are affected or have high risk of being affected by trafficking in person. Many foreign migrants are undocumented and, thus, are marginalized, discriminated against, often exploited and abused because of their illegal status. They suffer from low wage, poor working conditions, lack of access to healthcare services and have unstable jobs. They are also harassed by authorities, all of which violate their basic human rights. This project plans interventions to empower migrant workers, especially women and children in Phuket to take care of their own health by themselves, have greater access to public healthcare services, gain life skill to protect themselves from abuse and trafficking, and learn vocational skills for better jobs.
Rehabilitation and Development Shelter: The Good Shepherd Sisters provide a number of services for those involved in human trafficking: Shelter and a formal education, Prevention and rehabilitation for those affected by human trafficking, We provide counseling, legal aid and human rights education, We provide a supportive education centre, skill development training and net working.
Health Outreach program: We provide community nursing to several migrant camps across Phuket.The programme offers healthcare to members of the community and identifies cases where a doctor or emergency treatment is needed. The programme also trains members of the community to become volunteers. Training is also provided in First Aid, Human Rights, HIV/AIDS, contagious diseases and environmental sustainability.
Education for Disadvantaged Children: The Good Shepherd Learning Centre provides basic education for disadvantaged migrant children (Thai and Burmese). The purpose is to improve the written and oral communication of the children in Thai, Burmese and English. We work closely with the Ministry of Education so that children are able to study at Thai schools. We also grant scholarships to disadvantage students.
Community Network and Reconciliation: We aim to build trust, friendship and an environment of co-operation with migrants, raising awareness of the services available to them and assisting them in accessing these services. We do this by empowering migrants to build stronger communities and by encouraging mutual respect and understanding of cultural differences. We are also training community volunteers to work for community education and mobilization issues. This work is achieved by organizing workshops, cultural and social activities and seminars for community volunteers on managing and mobilizing the community. We recognize that our role is one of support where we empower local communities to be their own agents of change.
