The Empower Training is presented by the international non-profit organization Not Abandoned. The NA team labors to empower women who have been exploited.  It is not our drive to "rescue" her from trafficking. Rather, our collective goal is to provide her the tools and unyielding support necessary to regain and maintain her freedom.  We hold the deep conviction that no matter how messy, complex, or slow her recovery process is, that she can and will come to know, she is not abandoned.

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The Not Abandoned Ethos

Our vision is to ensure that any person exploited is Not Abandoned.


Our mission is to facilitate sustaining freedom for the exploited by providing practical opportunities for empowerment through holistic programming.

In order to maintain a quality of excellence these values are non-negotiables in how we operate:


1. We will continue to be an action-driven organization that is committed to reaching the most vulnerable and exploited in the darkest trafficking hubs of the world. We will not just talk about it, but we will be present among them to offer emotional, physical, and spiritual freedom and hope.


2.  We will not abandon those victimized, no matter how messy, difficult, or complex their life circumstances become. Upon engaging with them in their lives we offer our commitment of care and we will remain alongside the traumatized with practical help and unconditional love.


3.  We will maintain the priority of strategic partnerships with others who are like-minded to grow effective and reproducible avenues for freedom and empowerment.


4.  We will not allow ourselves to grow stagnant. We will keep this organization flexible, relevant, and humble so that we may be sensitive to new opportunities and respond with agility when the unexpected transpires with the exploited whom we serve.


5.  We will operate with integrity and handle resources wisely, in a spirit of openness and transparency.

In the late 1990s a research team traveled to the country of Thailand to understand first-hand the issues of sex trafficking. It was not only seeing its prevalence in the nation, but also the sheer magnitude of the sex industry. It was clear very quickly that Thailand was the global epicenter of human trafficking, which set a pattern on a global level for the exploitation of the most vulnerable. As a result, Not Abandoned was started for the purpose of bringing practical solutions, spiritual guidance, and hope to exploited and vulnerable communities. 


Not Abandoned has now expanded our opperations into two focal points of work in Thailand and a new branch of opperations in Spain.


The continued vision of Not Abandoned is to continue expanding this mission in the darkest corners of our world and also in partnership with others who are like-minded. 

Empowerment Through Our Freedom Centers

We recognize the hopelessness experienced by women trapped in exploitation. Through our Freedom Centers, Not Abandoned's program offerings work together to help remove barriers to freedom and empower women with self-confidence, restorative hope, and practical support to live free. To date, we have been able to help over 5,000 women experience hope and freedom from exploitation.

Pattaya Freedom Center

Pattaya is known as the sex trafficking capital of the world, sadly attracting over 12 million international sex tourists in a typical year. For obvious reasons, our center is strategically located in the heart of this dark city in order to best serve the 200,000+ women exploited here.

Our Thai team works directly with exploited women to provide:

  • Trauma-Informed Counseling
  • Job Skills Training
  • Employment Placement Programs
  • Small Business Training
  • English Language Classes
  • Health & Wellness Programs
  • Emergency Resources
  • Reintegration with Family & Community

Korat Freedom Center

In rural Thailand, desperation leads to the choices that make young women vulnerable to exploitation. This desperation is fueled by poverty, lack of education, job scarcity, social status, gender inequality, and the role young women play as providers for their family. Because of this, 85% of exploited women in Thailand come from the rural Korat province. Not Abandoned’s primary work in Korat is to prevent desperate scenarios for young women so they don’t get trafficked into sexual exploitation.

Our Thai team work directly with vulnerable communities and young students to provide:

  • Prevention Programs in 10 local schools and villages
  • Home visits for vulnerable children with Thai social services
  • Awareness Education: health, safety, self-advocacy, and sex ed
  • Job Skills Training and Employment Placement Programs
  • Income Generation for Local Families
  • English Language Classes

Algeciras Freedom Center

The city of Algeciras in Spain hosts the largest port in the Mediterranean and is a major gateway for trafficking women between the two continents making Algeciras a strategic location for one of our Freedom Centers. Women are trafficked here and forced into prostitution from North Africa, Eastern Europe, and from as far away as South America, and it is one of the top transit destinations for trafficked women in the world. Because of this, the city is an ideal location for a Not Abandoned Freedom Center.

Here our multilingual and multicultural staff work directly with women to provide:

  • Spanish Language Classes language
  • Job Skills Training
  • Access to legal and financial services
  • Trauma-Informed Counseling
  • Healthy Community Reintegration
  • Emergency shelter

Our Freedom Center programs work together to help remove barriers to freedom and empower women with self-confidence, restorative hope, and practical support to live free.