Thai festival raises funds to combat human trafficking

Visumitra Vichayanggoon, an IT student at Mary Washington University, makes crispy Thai pancakes.

A Thai Festival in Annandale Feb. 29 featured food and other vendors with the goal of raising awareness and funds for efforts to end child sex trafficking.

The event, at the Timberman Masonic Lodge on Columbia Pike, was organized by Nelson Figueroa-Velez, an attorney and member of the lodge, who advises foreign embassies in Washington, D.C.

Ning Molae of Manassas sells bags made in Ching Mai, Thailand.

Figueroa-Velez got interested in fighting human trafficking a few years ago when he was working for an embassy and was asked to help two victims from Thailand, ages 13 and 16. One of the girls had been sold to a trafficker when she was 11 and was brought to the United States.

Nelson Figueroa-Velez (standing, left) announces the name of a raffle winner.

“Despite their really harsh life experiences, they were really resilient,” Figueroa-Velez says. Since then, he’s received tips about half a dozen children forced to work as sex slaves. Embassy officials rescued them and secured foster homes and documentation for them.

Onim Saleerum (left), a home baker based in Arlington, makes Thai desserts with shredded coconut and sweet custard.

He refers to his work with embassies as “a back channel” and says he would like to form a network with federal and local law enforcement agencies to facilitate efforts to save exploited children.

He is planning a similar festival and fundraiser March 12, also at the Timberman Masonic Lodge, featuring the food and culture of El Salvador, as well as Thailand.