Earlier this year some first-year Emory medical students were moved to action after hearing a presentation on human trafficking. They were inspired to use their medical knowledge to aid in the fight against this worldwide issue and they formed a group called “Emory Health Against Human Trafficking” (EHAHT).
The students learned about a remarkable woman, Kru Nam, an abolitionist in Thailand, who had been raiding clubs to physically remove children working in the sex slave market. After receiving death threats from some of the children’s captors, Kru Nam moved to a rural area in Northern Thailand and established a makeshift shelter for her and the children. Kru Nam needed assistance establishing and developing the shelter’s medical and public health infrastructure, and that’s where the Emory team came in.
The EHAHT team devised a list of first steps in improving the health and well-being of the 65 rescued children at the shelter. At the top of the list was treating the children’s basic medical needs. Next came meetings with local healthcare workers to set up consistent treatment for the children, and bringing in donations of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.
For their medical supply needs, the team visited MedShare’s MedTeam Store. They collected supplies, such as dressings, gauze, surgical gloves and sutures to treat the children during their trip, and to leave at the shelter for future use.
Upon arriving in Thailand, the team quickly learned from Kru Nam the magnitude of the children’s medical needs. She pointed out that some had malaria, TB and several who were possibly HIV positive. Kru Nam said assessing health care was one of the biggest challenges for these children’s caretakers.
In two days, the team performed physical exams on almost 200 children at two elementary schools. From there, they traveled to Mae Sai, a town near the border of Burma, where they spent three days examining women and children who were at risk for being trafficked or sold into prostitution.
While in Mae Sai, one team member, Laura Donovan, encountered a woman on the Burma side of the fence separating it from Thailand. She sat with a cup she used to beg and a baby in her arms. Laura noticed that the baby was motionless, with his head flopped to one side and his arm dangling. She could instantly see that this baby needed medical treatment and fast.
The woman sat there all day, but would not cross the border to see the doctors. Finally, one of the doctors approached the woman at the fence, and using a translator, learned that the baby was only ten days old. She took the baby’s temperature through the fence and it was a little over 102 degrees! The doctor gave the mother medicine for the baby and instructed her how to use it.
The next day, no longer fearful, the woman crossed the border to come to the clinic, and her baby looked much healthier. In one day, this child went from near-death to life.
The EHAHT team plans to continue working with Kru Nam in her efforts to rescue and restore children from the bondage of sex trafficking. Along with future medical mission trips, they are raising money for the construction of an on-site clinic to provide a place for the children to receive medical care and for the storage of donated medical supplies like those collected from MedShare.
