By WENQIAN ZHANG
An anti-human trafficking group called Ping Pong-A-Thon launched its 2018 fundraising movement in Melbourne last Thursday.
The theme of the event was Pong vs Slavery.
“Whether [slavery is] in the red-light district in Thailand or a brick factory in India, 45.8 million people are enslaved today,” Ping Pong-A-Thon founder Adrian Rowse, said at the launch.
When the event began in 2001, Mr Rowse gathered his friends and family and asked people to sponsor them to play ping pong for 24 hours.
“We raised $10,000 and started a whole bunch of conversations with our people, our families and friends around this issue,” he said.
“[Young people] heading to the big city … are told by their families, ‘we need you to find a job and send money back to help the family survive’.
“Because of their lack of education and experience, young people resort to doing illegal things such as drugs, gangs and robbery.”
Over the past seven years, Ping Pong-A-Thon has hosted more than 230 events to raise Australians’ awareness about human trafficking and its detrimental impact on young people’s lives.
Ping Pong-A-Thon works strategically with organisations in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and India to combat human trafficking and slavery.
“Tonight [there are] some of the faces of young people whose lives have been changed, who have found their way to freedom because of you and others like you,” Mr Rowse said.
More than 50 people attended the launch, and the crowd included both long-term supporters and new faces.
Guest speakers included Australian real estate investor and author Steve Mcknight and the directors of Home of New Beginnings, Benita Thompson and Ann Thongves.
There are about 10,000 to 15,000 women and girls who work in major red light districts in Bangkok and 20,000 prostituted women and children working in Pattaya.
Brendon Klinko from the Werribee fundraising team said visiting Thailand on a mission trip last year was difficult at times.
He said seeing the girls in the residence of Home of New Beginnings was a “tough” day.
“We went during the day through the red light district ... some of the people are there by their choices but some are there because they have no other choice,” Mr Klinko said.
According to the Coalition Against Trafficking Women (CATW), there are 4.6 million Thai men and 500,000 foreign visitors who pay women for prostitution every year.
Speaker Ann Thongves, who is the co-director and house mum of Home New Beginnings Thailand, shared her experience of working with sexually enslaved girls
“I think now I can see with my society, my people, they are willing to open and help more, they understand what’s going on more than the past.”
Ms Thongves said they were opening a second home in Pattaya to teach new skills in baking, sewing and computers to help the girls find jobs in the future.
Hagar Australia, an international human rights group that works to protect women and children, partnered with Ping Pong A Thon this year.
Hagar Australia program and policy manager Sara Webster said it was all about the bigger picture when it came to human rights.
“If you can start to create that culture shift, plant a seed in people's mind, questioning what they buy ... and what they do on holidays, that will actually have a really big ripple effect,” she said.
Fundraising events are held annually in October, with people encouraged to sign up and take part. Donations can be made on https://www.pingpongathon.com.