Travel & Do Good

Use your power to empower others

100% of our Proceeds are donated
to Daughters Rising

The Chai Lai Orchid is more than an eco-lodge and home for rescued elephants– We are also fighting exploitation by empowering our sisters.

Through providing a safe home, education, and employment, we empower marginalized women to overcome intergenerational poverty and to uplift their communities. In the context of unethical tourism, we strive to be different: By prioritizing social transformation over profit, we believe we can protect the environment, our community, and the elephants.

Human trafficking happens everywhere, but it doesn’t victimize communities indiscriminately. Indigenous women and girls around the world experience the highest rates of physical violence, sex trafficking, and exploitation, The marginalization of indigenous populations is due in large to the legacy of colonization, which persists in the forms of racial discrimination, and poverty, and lack of rights. These are the factors which allow trafficking to thrive.

The Circumstances of Trafficking in Thailand

The civil war in Burma/ Myanmar has forced ethnic minorities such as the Karen and Shan to flee to Thailand to escape ethnic cleansing. Decades of conflict have left Burma one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. UNESCO has identified this “lack of citizenship” as a significant risk factor to be trafficked or, otherwise, exploited. Burmese and Hill Tribe women are the most trafficked population in Thailand.

The Common Causes of Exploitation in Thailand

One of the most common tricks that traffickers use to lure young women away from their families is to trick them with the opportunity of employment. With widespread poverty, the idea of being a maid in a big hotel, earning a few dollars a day, is an irresistible temptation. Many leave their villages or refugee camps only to find themselves in the clutches of traffickers and held against their will or told that their family members will be hurt or killed if they try to escape or fight back. It’s an all too common story told time and time again by victims rescued from brothels. These women clamor for urban jobs in hospitality because they’ve seen how tourism has grown and redefined success.

Trafficking: A Growing Problem Around the World

With widespread poverty across the world, there is no shortage of victims or accomplices to feed the human trafficking enterprise. In 1809, at the height of the transatlantic slave trade, the average price of a slave was 40,000 USD (adjusted for inflation). Today it is only 90 USD. With the cost of human life so low, girls are often considered disposable assets. Sex trafficking is now one of the fastest-growing criminal industries, second only to drug smuggling in terms of profits. However, unlike selling an AK47 or a bag of heroin, traffickers generate huge profits by selling a girl hundreds of times.

Mahouts and Trafficking

What is Life Like for Elephant Caretakers?

One of the most popular activities for tourists traveling in Thailand is elephant riding. A Mahout is a person who works with, rides, and tends an elephant. Learn more about elephant caretakers and their historical significance by reading this address from Dr. Jade Kelly.

The Chai Lai changed everything in my life. Before, I didn’t think that a woman could take care of herself and her children. Now, I am strong, and I have hope for my future.

— Nukul, Chai Lai Orchid Training Program Graduate