Eden Outreach teams make weekly visits to red-light districts and trafficking hubs in the countries where we operate. We also work with partner organizations that refer survivors of trafficking to Eden for healing and empowerment. Our teams identify trafficking victims, provide rapid HIV testing, communicate messages of hope and opportunity and gift the women we meet a Committed necklace with a gold love heart pendant. Your support allows us to share these messages of hope and a plan for escape with women who felt like there was no rescue coming.

  

In 2021, Eden recorded a 200% increase in the number of women and young girls engaging in survival sex in order to support their families. Eden realized that the existing program needed to expand its reach and impact in order to support this significant increase in women and girls who had been trafficked or were at high risk of trafficking. They needed to have access to humanitarian support, health care, trauma counseling, vocational training, and empowerment.

So, in late 2021, Eden opened its first drop-in center in one of Yangon's largest red-light districts. After only a few weeks, 20 to 30 women were coming to the center every day for support; many of them were victims of sexual violence, abuse, and trafficking, while others were women and young girls who had been pressured into street prostitution as a result of the collapse of the economy and social structures in Myanmar.

Following the success of the first drop-in center, Eden started up three more drop-in centers in Yangon, and Northern and Eastern Shan State.

This drop-in center program has proven to be highly effective in combating the increasing trend of survival sex and trafficking, as women and girls are given an opportunity to learn new skills, have reduced symptoms of PTSD, increased resilience and empowerment, and find safe employment or start their own enterprises. Eden Provides the following vocational training programs at the Eden Drop-in centers:

• Hair & beauty training

• Sewing/tailoring

• Financial literacy & saving

• Nail art

• Permaculture and gardening

• Small business training

In addition, Eden also trains women and girls in jewelry and macrame making, women who are employed in Eden’s jewelry making earn a full-time wage making the beautiful jewelry that funds our programs. Your support helps them pursue job training in their area of interest and attain the financial literacy needed to save and invest in their future.

 

The emergency shelter is essential for rescuing human trafficking victims and giving them a secure location where victim protection and trauma counseling can be provided. Shelter services play an important role in the overall effort to interrupt human trafficking criminal networks. Shelters allow women to participate in the rehabilitation process in a safe and supported environment. Eden’s shelter services are flexible to address a range of needs and enable beneficiaries to access these services. Eden keeps the length of time in the residential program to a minimum in order to reduce institutionalization and dependency. The shelter's goal is for emergency provision of victim protection and counseling.

 

Eden works to stop trafficking at its source. Your support facilitates our awareness and prevention training in at-risk communities and in the Eden drop-in centers through monthly awareness meetings. Our hope is that together we can protect young girls and women from ever experiencing the trauma of sexual exploitation and equip those communities to identify bride traffickers.

 

The cornerstone of Eden’s program is Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Counseling and creative therapies. Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a psychotherapeutic model that integrates elements of cognitive-behavioral, humanistic attachment family, and empowerment therapies into a treatment designed to address the unique needs of trafficking victims with PTSD and other problems related to traumatic life events. TF-CBT is identified as a best-practice treatment and is an exemplary evidence-based program for treating individuals who have experienced trauma.

Individual TF-CBT sessions are held at least once a week with beneficiaries. Eden beneficiaries show a 95% decrease in PTSD symptoms after three months of trauma counseling. As PTSD is directly correlated with the repetition of traumatic experiences like trafficking, this directly lowers the risk of re-trafficking.

 

Once a rescued woman is restored to health, well-being, and work, we find that she creates a ripple effect throughout her community. Each beneficiary supports an average of 4.2 people, which means entire families’ lives are changed by your support!