Goodbye COSA (for now!)

Alright, I have to accept the inevitable; after eight hectic, rollercoaster, wonderful months, I’m now in my last few days of working at COSA. A lot has changed in that time, and I think it’s fitting in my last week to go all the way back to my first week, when we intervened in the trafficking of twenty two children. When we first came across them, they were quiet, reserved and highly suspicious of us. Eight months later, most of the boys and three of the girls are going to a boarding school in Chiang Rai; the rest are living in one of the villages we work with, attending school and living with foster families. On our regular visits to the village, they come up to greet us, no longer suspicious but friendly and open. They have all become very close, and form a solid support network for each other. In only a short time, they have gone from being vulnerable, scared children to smiling, happy kids who can look forward to a better future.

It’s not just individuals who have changed; COSA itself has seen a lot of development over the past while. Eight months ago, we had twelve girls living at Baan Yuu Suk and were working with a couple of villages on prevention. Now, we have eighteen girls living at the shelter, and are busy building another house to meet the increased numbers. We have also reached out to more villages, spreading the message of education as an alternative to trafficking and carrying out the MOSAIC medical trip, which has seen great success in its first few months. There is now a fostering system in place to meet the demand of all the new children that we can’t take in ourselves. This next year will only see more of this growth, with a forthcoming photography expedition, more MOSAIC trips and potential collaboration with other organisations and institutions. The Baan Yuu Suk girls have all seen big changes in their lives too, many moving up from middle school to high school, some in their last year. Their English has come on so well, and a lot of them seem to have really grown up in the past few months; they’re still giggly teenagers, but they’ve also become more confident and not afraid to chase their goals. It’s exciting to think about the future and what it will hold for them all, especially those who are due to leave school soon. The first COSA graduates!

Now, at the very beginning of this blog I said if I ever spouted on about myself too much, you would have license to slap me. I think I’ve been pretty good up til now, so I’m allowing myself one final paragraph of self-indulgence. I have noticed a lot of changes in the past eight months, not least in myself. When I first arrived I had only vague ideas of what career path I wanted to take, and knew very little about the trade in humans, how widespread it is, who the traffickers are, and why it happens. Since working at COSA I’ve learned so much, not only about these issues, but also about the importance of addressing the root causes of a social problem in order to have any hope of alleviating it, as well as the differences in cultures and how central these are to approaching such problems. I’ve also learned about the depth of human strength and resilience; some of our girls have been in unspeakable situations, yet they’ve managed to come out the other side smiling. I’m very grateful to COSA for teaching me all these things, and helping to focus my path in life; I am now hoping to do a Master’s in development in the next couple of years. It’s all down to the fact that this organisation, though small, is one of those places that you know is actually making a difference, and you want to continue to be a part of it even when you’re far away. I’m leaving here with some great work experience, wonderful new friends, and eighteen new little sisters. I hope I’ll continue to be a part of the COSA family even from afar, and that its grassroots level approach will be adopted by more and more organisations; because only then will we stand a chance of truly putting an end to trafficking.