New water filter for a kindergarten in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. Photo: CWS
In all CWS projects across Southeast Asia – integrated rural community development, especially WASH and nutrition as well as disaster risk reduction and mitigation – are designed and implemented with a focus on children’s best interests, rights and needs.
Laila is an Afghan refugee now under CWS protection in a group home for girls and women in Jakarta, which the Australian government funds. Because of World Refugee Day, we now know that she does not just paint and draw; she also markets! Here she is talking about her work with a potential buyer who asked about her painting – which he then bought. Well done, Laila!
In Indonesia, CWS supports an initiative to protect children who are in Jakarta as asylum seekers and refugees. In addition to support for young children seeking refuge along with their families, CWS has a strong shelter and protection project for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, mostly young teenagers, who find their way to Jakarta on their own. About 200 such children live in five group homes (shelters) in several Jakarta neighborhoods, and they are supported to have the basics for safe daily living by CWS and a number of other groups, including local police. In addition, these children have educational opportunities, recreational activities and access to psychosocial and healthcare services.
Students from a CCT school (Thailand) take part in a workshop on child protection and internet safety. Photo: CWS
CWS supports the Church of Christ in Thailand’s Office of Child Protection as The Church continues promoting a positive, proactive Code of Conduct for Child Safeguarding for all its members: churches, schools, orphanages, universities and hospitals. The aim is to have a fully ‘child safe’ organization.
The NEW IDEA project in Vietnam has a particular focus on child protection awareness-raising because of the potential harm that the ethnic minority communities with which we work face regard child trafficking.
Countries: Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam
CWS Thailand | June 17, 2019
When Saw Myint started having more severe back pain than usual for a woman of her age, she knew where to go for help. Her whole family relies on the Kwai River Christian Hospital for care because they know that the doctors are friendly, and the staff are kind to patients. Originally from Burma (now […]
CWS Indonesia | June 16, 2019
Before CWS-supported Peer Educators came to her village, 18-year-old Yulianti Elenda Tetty, knew nothing factual about sexual and reproductive health. “Our school never taught about this, and no other people ever really talk about it either”, said Yanti, who is a high school senior. When not in school, Yanti helps her mother with housework. In […]
CWS Vietnam |
Recently colleagues from Plan International in Vietnam asked CWS to visit a project site in Than Uyen district to learn about our environment friendly biosand water filters and reduced smoke kitchen stoves, which are known to good models for poor families and schools. Of course, CWS team members and our local government partners were willing […]
CWS Vietnam | April 6, 2019
By Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, Program Officer. With 296 students, Muong Kim #1 primary school is considered a large school with its commune. Yet, about 18 months ago, when I visited the school and asked to visit the library, I was taken to such a small room that was full of books and supplies – […]
CWS Vietnam | November 28, 2018
By Pham Cong Tuan, CWS Project Officer. Hoang Thi Vien, 33, and Quan Thi Tham, 34, are the two women who cooking twice each school day for students of the Hoa Trung primary school, which is a boarding school for ethnic minority children who travel to a central village from their remote mountain villages if […]
CWS Thailand | October 9, 2018
The CWS Thailand team recently feted Child Protection Officer, Ponsawan (Cake) Lysoowan for earning her Master’s degree in Psychology at Thailand’s prestigious Mahidol University. She joins our other Child Protection Officer, Suchawalee (Bon) Mankhong, whose graduation was celebrated some months ago. Both young women support The Church of Christ in Thailand’s congregations, schools and hospitals […]
CWS Indonesia | August 19, 2018
In July, CWS partnered with Kampus Diakonia Modern, a local foundation that supports street children in Jakarta, to bring 33 unaccompanied and separated refugee children (UASC) together with 35 Indonesian children for two days of fun through sports, arts and crafts activities and cultural sharing and learning. Among many options, the Indonesian children wanted to […]
By Tran Van Thang, CWS Project Officer | July 23, 2018
I had a chance recently to meet with a young girl student when I visited the Muong Kim junior secondary school #1, who surprised me during a school awareness-raising event where she used a picture to support her talk to other students. Showing a drawing, she explained, “My drawing show a young girl in her […]
by Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, CWS Program Officer | July 22, 2018
Duong Duc Trung is Head Teacher at Muong Kim #2 primary school in Than Uyen district, and he recently joined CWS-organized child-friendly school library training course I led. During one break time, he told me that during 10 years of teaching and leading schools, this is the first time he has worked in a school […]
CWS Thailand | July 2, 2018
On Friday afternoon, June 29th, a host of Church of Christ in Thailand leaders, Royal Thai Government local officials, university representatives, local Church pastors and members came together to bless the cornerstone for a new, state of the art Kwai River Christian Hospital in Sangkhlaburi town of Kanchanaburi province in west-central Thailand. Church World Service […]
CWS Vietnam | June 20, 2018
By Nguyen Thi Hai Yen and Ngo Quoc Dung. “It was a great event that our school had. So many student parents, both dads or moms, joined,… and even some grandparents, too. The feedback from them is also good, and it shows an increasing interest of the community on the issues, I think.” Luong Thi […]
CWS Thailand |
In Thailand the CWS child safeguarding team is working to support The Church of Christ in Thailand as it mobilizes its communities – schools, orphanages, churches and hospitals – to understand and embraces its 2016 Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct. Recently, the team surveyed young students about their feelings safety and, more broadly, their happiness […]
CWS Vietnam | May 18, 2018
By Tran Van Thang, CWS Project Officer. Hoang Thi Nu is a little girl of the Thai ethnic group living in Muong Kim commune, where CWS partners with schools to improve student learning environments, including the library and the reading activities it promotes. Nu is in Grade 5, which is the last grade of primary […]
CWS Indonesia | May 16, 2018
Education is one way to inspire hope among displaced and at-risk children, including those who are separated from their families as refugees and asylum seekers in foreign countries far from their homelands. Nowhere is this more evident than in Jakarta, Indonesia, where CWS staff see that there is a thirst for education among the multicultural […]
CWS Indonesia | April 17, 2018
For unaccompanied refugee children living in CWS-hosted group homes in Jakarta, Indonesia, soccer means something different than in many places. Played most by boys seeking asylum and safety from war-torn countries around the world, soccer represents a real kind of freedom – if only momentary freedom from worry and fear about the future. While all […]
CWS Vietnam |
By Nguyen Van Ty, CWS Program Officer, and Leslie Wilson, Asia Regional Director. Like many other schools in rural mountainous areas in Vietnam, the very remote Ta Mung kindergarten has an even more remote satellite school in Lun village where, amazingly, almost 100 pre-school children aged 3- to 6-years old come to learn and play […]
CWS Thailand | April 16, 2018
Speaking to hundreds of Church of Christ in Thailand pastors about “how to grow a healthy church”, General Secretary Elder Surapong Mitrakul chose to highlight the importance of children by focusing on some who attend Church-sponsored schools. The CWS-supported Child Safeguarding Team was gratified to see that the General Secretary used information and data they […]
Ngo Quoc Dung - CWS Vietnam | March 15, 2018
“It took me an hour to walk here, but I’m happy. I usually visit the school every two weeks.” – Giang Thi Seo, H’Mong woman. I met with Giang Thi Seo during my recent visit to a school in Ta Mung commune, where CWS is partnering with local government workers to improve education in this […]
CWS Vietnam | February 18, 2018
by Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, CWS Program Officer for Education Inspired by joining a CWS-led workshop about child-friendly libraries, Le Thi Kim Lan, from the Than Uyen district Education Department, shared her thoughts when we met again after some time: “You know, Yen, we teachers used to share ideas about child-friendly libraries during summer vacation […]
CWS Vietnam | December 18, 2017
“It was such a meaningful and interesting teacher training session!” “We have never, ever had a good training course like this!” “I didn’t even mind that it was on the weekend outside work time!” These are just a few answers from the teachers who were asked about a recent First Aid skills hosted by the […]