The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand (www.mfa.go.th) recently hosted a two day conference entitled “Friends of the Helsinki Process Workshop on Human Trafficking: Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and International Cooperation.” This was a wonderful meeting that brought together over 100 persons from 20+ countries to: “…strengthen the international dialogue on human trafficking by exchanging national experiences on development, raise awareness on the threat of human trafficking to human rights and human security; and to promote international and regional multi-stakeholder partnerships”. Part of the conference agenda included a field trip to the New Life Center Foundation on Thursday afternoon, February 22nd. What a joy it was to receive such distinguished guests! The participants included the Deputy Prime Minister, the Deputy Permanent Secretary, and many other staff persons from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ambassador for the Helsinki Process, Mr. Jukka Leino from Finland; and many representatives from foreign embassies and the United Nations. I personally had the chance to talk with people from Tanzania, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Spain, Indonesia, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, England and Myanmar. I spoke briefly to the delegates about the programs and services of the New Life Center, including my personal recommendations regarding future international cooperation to combat human trafficking. A Lahu resident sang a song from our educational radio soap opera project to prevent trafficking (www.unescobkk.org); other residents donned their traditional tribal clothing and took guests on a tour of the NLC facility. The girls in our baking training program had made cakes and cookies all morning and provided a live baking demonstration. Delegates saw pictures drawn in art therapy sessions and bought beautiful handicraft products from our income generating program. The whole afternoon was just a huge encouragement for me and all the staff! The truth is, I’m so proud of Thailand for doing so much in the work to combat trafficking. The regional networks that have been developed, the implementation of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) which outlines the ways in which both GO’s and NGO’s will cooperate across province borders, and the national campaigns to raise awareness about human trafficking and stop the exploitation of women and girls' it’s all starting to bear much fruit and for that, I thank God! American Baptists' you’re a part of this good work! Thank you! Karen