Fiji

Village of Hope

In 2004, Shared Hope International partnered with a couple to purchase 40 acres in a remote area of Fiji for a new facility that would care for trafficked women and their children. In 2005, the Village of Hope in Fiji was born, offering safe housing to over 40 children and 30 women between 13-29 years old who have been or are at-risk of being commercially sexually exploited. The campus is fully equipped with a preschool, grade school and bakery, along with dorms and single-family dwellings. Women are enrolled in the three-year program with ample opportunities for vocational advancement and personal development. After completing the program, they are assisted in reintegrating back into their home communities. While the transition can be difficult, this holistic rehabilitation model includes counseling, spiritual care, and both educational and vocational training, offering each woman a foundation for success as a survivor.

Women’s Investment Network

The Fiji Village of Hope enrolled 18 women on-campus and 13 women off-campus in the WIN program this year. The ladies are offered several opportunities for financial independence and business skill development through the program’s training center: hospitality, baking, gardening, farming, teaching and nursing. By instituting a skill-based model of leadership, individual women are empowered to develop their vocational skills while taking a slower pace in the classroom. This model ensures that every woman is empowered to excel in her personal gifts, instilling confidence and independence immediately.

Funding from Shared Hope has also enabled this wonderful ministry to expand its vocational training to include a new enterprise: Quele bead-making. The endeavor employs nine women, with vast potential for growth in the coming years. It is presently their main focus for a social enterprise and, as it develops, has the potential to generate significant funding for operations and programs. Women have been invited to choose from a variety of roles – from digging clay or rolling beads to firing, glazing or marketing. They are taught quality control and efficiency along with management skills.

Through funding from Shared Hope, Fiji VOH has worked for the past year to document their program and WIN model, formulate a formal WIN manual and business plan. The goal of this manual is to provide a guiding light to those who wish to serve survivors of trafficking in other locations, whether in Fiji or beyond. Shared Hope’s partner in Negril has been the first to duplicate these WIN efforts in another country, with hopes to expand their existing programs based on Fiji’s proven success.