Keeping girls in school reduces their vulnerability to being trafficked

We believe in keeping girls in school as long as possible and supporting our graduates to receive tertiary education, as this allows them to have many choices after graduation. We also believe if they are in school or college, versus being unemployed and searching for work, that they are less vulnerable to the wiles of traffickers. They are for sure, but they are not exempt from the ongoing efforts of traffickers. Sadly the fact is that traffickers are getting more ruthless and shrewd; traffickers include siblings, other class mates and recent school graduates.

Poor girls and young women worldwide are so vulnerable to traffickers, as they know of their desperation for a better life. As long as poverty exists there will be trafficking. As long as birth control policies exist in societies that value males, then there will be gender inequality, therefore there will always be a high abortion rate, infanticide and trafficking of females, as is the case in Vietnam and China.

Because the trafficking of impoverished girls and young women is a growing issue in Vietnam it is being publicized more, through media and by NGO's; this helps spread awareness of this issue, but it leaves females deprived of  the opportunity of growing up experiencing trust and safety in their homes, schools and communities.

Some of our CEF girls who are at a very vulnerable age...