Tamar Center - Thailand
The Tamar Centre was opened in August 1999 by YWAM Thailand.
Tamar Centre - Vision:
To work together with local churches to show the love and compassion of Jesus by bringing help and healing to girls and women in Pattaya involved in prostitution.
Tamar Centre - Outreach & Drop-in-centre:
A few times a week, a special team goes into the red light area to make contact with the girls who work in the bars. To further build trust and relationships with the Tamar Centre Staff, the girls are invited to learn English at our Drop-in-centre, and to special outs and activities. The Drop-in-centre is in the heart of the city, the area where most girls live and work. It is primarily a crisis shelter/open house, with a focus on counseling and medical/healthcare advice.
Tamar Centre - Training Program:
The girls who decide to leave prostitution can be part of a special, three month training course. This program offers job training in hairdressing, sewing or bakery. At the same time the girls receive counseling. They are prepared to return to Thai society in a way that reaffirms their dignity and self-worth. During this time the girls make cards for income to support the families. Throughout the rest of the year the Tamar Centre offers the girls jobs in our card-making program or hairdresser salon.
The Tamar Centre is named after two women in the bible. Firstly Tamar, the daughter of David who was dishonored by her own brother (2 Samuel 13), and secondly Tamar the daughter-in-law of Judah , who posed as a prostitute to benefit her family (Genesis 38). In the same way many girls in Pattaya are sacrificing themselves to support their families. There are an estimated 20,000 female prostitutes working in Pattaya. No matter what the exact figure is, one person is one too many.
You can directly support these women and the Tamar Centre by purchasing these beautiful handmade cards made of native tree paper and other natural and synthetic objects.
About one of the workers:
At the age of 12 Jen left school to help her single mother on the farm. When she was 16 she moved into her boyfriends home and not long after she became pregnant. Her boyfriend didn't want the responsibility so Jen moved back home. Finances were very limited, so when a neighbor built a very big expensive house nearby, Jen was very curious to know she could afford one. It turned out that the Thai woman had married a rich foreigner she had met while working as a prostitute in Pattaya. Jen started to think that this might be the answer to her financial difficulties so she went to work as a prostitute in Pattaya. Some men were kind, many others abused her. She lived with the fear of AIDS constantly and she missed her son. She started to drink more and more. She still hopes she will one day marry a rich foreigner! (Jen is not her real name)
Tamar supply the following products:
Accessories
Bags and Purses
Ornaments
Stationery
