There were many shelters and local organisations who tried to support victims of human trafficking in Cambodia in 2003. Teamed up with my friend, Amanda, we were asked by the International Organization for Migration to develop simple approaches to sharing participatory drama and theatre-based activities with shelter staff. The staff then devised specific ways to adapt these activities into the daily lives of the shelters.

This included, for example, finding ways to get 50 children ready for school simultaneously, understanding the experiences of young women after they were rescued by police from situations of near slavery, and making short pieces of theatre to inform local communities about the risks associated with travelling without documentation to a foreign country, and after some loose promises of work from a broker they didn’t really know.

The applications were many and the creativity and care shelter staff engaged in travelling these reworked activities into everyday situations was nothing short of amazing. We learned the value of sharing games, storytelling and theatre activities as part of a broader psychosocial outlook. Importantly, it was during this three years of entry to a reality that constantly shook and astounded us, that we learned we had something very practical and useful to offer.

Variations of the handbook we wrote during this project, The Drama Works, have gone on to be available in six languages. It was after writing this that we took up the handbooks name to describe ourselves and formed – The Drama Works.

See the Publications section for more detail on handbooks and other written materials.