Dear Friends,

As you probably know, the New Life Center has been working with victims of human trafficking since its inception almost twenty years ago. However, no-one used the term "human trafficking" back then. The staff at the New Life Center just knew that they were assisting young tribal women, many from Burma, who were deceived and/or tricked into exploitative labor.

Today, the New Life Center continues to work at the forefront of these issues. In addition to providing care for individual victims, God has been leading us to continue our work in macro-education and prevention campaigns throughout the Mekong sub region (Thailand and its surrounding countries).

Our most recent project was an amazing trip to the LAO PDR, to provide education and training (through the use of drama, singing, and pictures) to the Akha people living in the northwestern area of this country. (The trip was conducted with the assistance of two other NGO's, and supported by the United Nations Inter-Agency Project and UNESCO.)

The project was led entirely by New Life Center Akha staff and residents. They developed materials, researched the unique aspects of Akha culture in LAO, wrote the script for the drama and performed it. After returning to Thailand, Ms. Anna Phawnjarunphan (an NLC staff member) said the trip to LAO was "… the biggest learning curve of my life to date." Growing up in Chiang Rai, Anna was familiar with some of the challenges facing Akha women in Thailand; she was not aware of the particular challenges facing Akha women in a neighboring country.Once Anna was back at home, she felt even more determined to promote human rights, and to support efforts in the campaigns to eliminate human trafficking throughout the region and throughout the world.

I remain grateful to God for these incredible opportunities, and trust that they will lead to more cross-border partnerships among all the tribal persons living in this region.

Due to our work in these areas, we periodically get some extra special visitors at the New Life Center. Since I last wrote, we were delighted to welcome former model Niki Taylor (she promotes the work of the International Justice Mission and its partners throughout the world). Niki is a beautiful Christian and shared her amazing testimony with our residents. What a blessing for all of us to hear her story, and hear how God is working in her life.

This past May, we also welcomed actress Julia Ormond, who is now a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the "…Abolition of Slavery and Trafficking" through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Ms. Ormond is very knowledgeable about trafficking and its ramifications; she asked good questions, and we just had such a good visit.

I trust that these celebrities will continue to lend their fame in the fight against labor exploitation throughout the world.

Some other exciting things are happening, too, and I would request your prayers specifically regarding the next two things:

1. We are planning on moving our emergency home from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, sometime early in 2007. Please pray that this change will happen as smoothly as possible and that the right staff will be found and trained, etc.

2.We've sent a proposal to a private donor organization which would provide new funds to give over 50 girls specialized vocational training. As more and more tribal girls are accessing elementary school education these days, the needs for vocational training have grown considerably. Please pray with us that we would be able to receive these funds, as they would provide opportunities with an immediate and enormous impact for our residents.

Thank you so much for your prayers for the New Life Center. As I sit in various meetings with Thai government officials or meet special visitors or work with individual residents, I am filled with gratitude to you for the opportunity to be here and do this work to which God has called me. Thank you for your support of International Ministries which allows me to be here!

Thanks too for all of you who prayed for me during my recent bout with dengue fever. I am feeling almost 100% better now. What a relief!

How can I pray for you?

With love and gratitude,

Karen