About
Every Girl Safe, Supported, and Able to Thrive
One Thousand Villages is a small Christian organisation working to protect girls from exploitation and abuse.
We work with girls, families and villages across Thailand and the Mekong region to prevent exploitation and help people find a way out of poverty.
Our work takes many forms. We help girls stay in school, support families with essential needs, build skills and confidence, and create opportunities for safer futures. But helping isn’t just about programs. It’s about being there, building relationships and standing alongside people.
This work is never straightforward. Poverty and family hardship don’t come with easy answers. The problems are enormous, and our resources are limited. We can’t solve everything or help everyone. But that doesn’t mean we do nothing. We help where we can, stand alongside people and keep going.
One girl growing up safe, free from exploitation and able to build a future of her own is reason enough to do this work.
That’s what One Thousand Villages exists to do.
Why the Mekong?
Across the Mekong region, millions of people face poverty, inequality and a lack of opportunity. Conflict and displacement make life even harder. The sex trade is enormous and powerful, and far too many girls are at risk of exploitation.
This is where OTV works. We work with girls, families and villages, helping where we can and working to give girls and families more choices for the future.
Vision
Girls in the Mekong region: safe, supported and thriving.
Mission
OTV works with girls, families and communities across the Mekong to prevent exploitation and create pathways out of poverty.
How we work
Prevention and Protection
We work to protect girls from exploitation and abuse before harm occurs. This means understanding the risks they face and helping girls and families find safer options.
Families and Communities
We work with families, schools, churches and village leaders. We listen, respect local knowledge and respond to what girls and families need.
Practical Support and Opportunity
We help girls stay in school, support families with essential needs and create opportunities to build skills, grow in confidence and have more choices for the future.
Long-Term Relationships
Helping is about more than programs. It’s about being there, building trust and staying involved. Real change takes time, and we’re committed to doing the work for the long haul.
Our Values
How it all began
Justin grew up on the Gold Coast, where life revolved around surfing, football, and time with mates. He speaks with deep love and appreciation for his parents, who shaped his values of hard work, kindness, and responsibility toward others.
Justin completed a trade as a greenkeeper and later studied theology and psychology. Following Jesus has shaped Justin’s life and work. As a pastor, he spent many years walking alongside people experiencing homelessness and children who had lived through trauma and abuse. Thirty years ago, a trip to Thailand with World Vision exposed him to deep poverty and the reality faced by many girls at risk of exploitation. It changed the direction of his life.
Justin began building relationships with organisations including World Vision and Tearfund Australia, as well as schools, churches, NGOs, and local partners across Australia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. He established OTV in Australia and a foundation in Thailand, developing community-based prevention programs designed to reduce girls’ vulnerability to exploitation and create pathways out of poverty.
Building OTV has been hard. There have been financial pressures, difficult environments, and ongoing challenges on the ground. It has been exhausting at times. It has taken years of persistence. But the focus has remained the same: stay in communities, build trust, strengthen families and create practical pathways that give girls greater safety and opportunity.
Today, OTV works alongside girls, families, community leaders, churches, schools, and local groups across Thailand and the Mekong region. The work is built on long-term relationships and sustained presence — preventing exploitation and creating pathways out of poverty.
“I didn’t choose this work. I know it’s my calling, and I’m grateful for that. But it hasn’t been easy. At times it’s been exhausting. Still, as we look ahead, I’m hopeful. We’ve learned so much along the way, and now we can use that to help even more children and families,” Justin says.
Built Over Time — No Quick Fixes
OTV works through sustained presence, trusted relationships and structured prevention programs in real communities.
We address immediate needs while creating opportunities for change that can last. It’s not always easy, and progress doesn’t happen overnight. But we believe every girl deserves the chance to grow up safe, supported and able to shape her own future.
One girl. One family. One community at a time.
Our Team
Governance
Staff
