HISTORY

Prevent Human Trafficking has partnered with the Mae Sarieng Peace Scholarship in Thailand to help raise funds to support their work/enable them to access international funding for their work?  PHI has taken a special interest in the Mae Sarieng Peace Scholarship and its effort to promote education for under-served children. The Peace Scholarship’s main intent is to provide access to education to disadvantaged children, some of whom could otherwise become vulnerable to being trafficked.

Although the Peace Scholarship’s main intent is to provide access to education, it indirectly works as a prevention measure for trafficking. The children that this scholarship support are especially vulnerable to this type of exploitation.  Although PHI does not manage this fund, we provide the administrative infrastructure to facilitate donations and the non-profit 501 C3 status for supporters to receive the tax benefits.  As with any donation, PHI will take an administrative fee to process the donation.  

MAE SARIENG PEACE SCHOLARSHIP IN THAILAND

MSPS_porch.jpgThe Mae Sarieng Peace Scholarship is a self-perpetuating fund to enable underprivileged children in Mae Sarieng District, Mae Hong Son Province in Northern Thailand to attend secondary school (7th, 8th and 9th grade).  This fund was established in 1992 by Laurie Mack Rohrbach while she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand along with the Mae Sarieng School District as part of an effort to reduce poverty, improve health and combat social issues, through education.  The population that is supported is especially vulnerable to these problems.  Project Hope International’s focus to eliminate the exploitation of the weakest segments of our society goes hand-in-hand with the objective of this scholarship fund.  

Mae Sarieng District, which borders the Union of Myanmar, is a mountainous, rural and very poor region inMSPS_hillside.jpg Thailand. The population is a blend of Northern Thais, hill tribe settlements such as the Karen and Hmong groups, as well as more recent refugees from Myanmar.   It is estimated that more than a third of these people live in poverty and nearly half of the population is illiterate.  Part of this status is attributable to its rugged terrain, which limits transportation, access to schools, utilities, agricultural expansion, and the development of basic infrastructure. 

MSPS_outside.jpgIn 2003 Mae Hong Son was selected by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to pilot an initiative that will fine-tune its poverty data and assessments, and ensure that development planning truly targets the needs of the area's poorest families.  Through this process, Mae Hong Son identified education as its first priority.  The Province reported that increasing the opportunity in the educational system and upgrading the educational level of people are the major drivers that can push the overall provincial development.  Currently it is estimated that  only 74% of the children in Mae Hong Son Province attend lower secondary school (middle school) and less than half (42%) attend upper secondary school (high school). The percentage of children attending secondary school in Mae Sarieng District is even lower, as this is one of the poorer areas in the region.

MSPS_kids.jpgThis new data from the UNDP has encouraged us to expand the Peace Scholarship fund. To date the Mae Sarieng School District has awarded 70 scholarships using The Peace Scholarship fund.  In 2005 four students were awarded with scholarships to attend and complete secondary school.  Students are selected to receive the scholarship from many different villages and schools in the district, based on their academics and socio-economic status.  Children we support generally come from families whose income is estimated to be 10,000 Baht (about $245 US) or less per year.  Although the government provides free education up to 12th grade, students are required to pay for other related costs (e.g. uniforms, school supplies, books, food, transportation and lodging) by themselves, which makes it prohibitive for many of these families to send their children to school.  The Peace Scholarship money is used to assist these children with these expenses.

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http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=107046