Borderless Friendship WA Inc (BFWA) is a not-for-profit Western
Australian organisation. Our purpose is to support the work of
Borderless Friendship Foundation (BFF) in Thailand, who seek to
provide the best possible opportunities for healthy, safe and
rewarding lives for hill tribe children and youth in their care in
Thailand, ensuring inclusion of family.
Borderless Friendship Foundation exists to ensure that the hill tribe children in our care, many of whom are stateless, have a safe place to live, with food and clothing, and access to health care and education. We do this through supporting six hostels that house over 400 hill tribe children in total. Some do have parents who may be too poor to look after their children, or they may live too far away to access school. Most do not have parents though – they may have died from AIDS or because of no access to healthcare. Education is critical to the survival of these children. Without it they are at risk of living a life of poverty and sex trafficking.
BFWA Wins Award
Led expertly by Lorel, in November 2023 BFWA was the recipient of an exceptionally high honour - the 2023 Award of Excellence and Innovation in Sexuality Education by the World Association for Sexual Health.
“Attending school provides hill tribe children with the opportunity to move from being stateless to having an official identity in Thailand. This will then enable the young people to gain an education and to have the chance to gain legitimate, fulfilling job opportunities rather than a horrific life in the drug trade or sex industry. UNICEF estimates that the number of children under the age of 16 working in the sex industry in Thailand is in excess of 50,000, and many of those are hill tribe children. Because many hill tribe people do not have ID, children can ‘disappear’ – this is a complex issue with multi-faceted solutions.
BFWA is involved with community health, education, sexuality and relationship education.”
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