2025, A Year At Friends
As we move into 2026, let’s look back at just a few of the highlights of 2025, from the exciting to the challenging, at Friends-International. In January, we looked at how our FI programs collaborate across borders to help undocumented migrants access health care, resolve conflicts, and support their families back home. In February, we put the spotlight onto sport, which has played a big part in promoting healthier lifestyles for the young people we support through our Mith Samlanh program.
March brought an opportunity for all our staff to celebrate the amazing women who make up half of our workforce, and a look at our Pattaya team in action! April saw sadness as we checked in with our team in Yangon following an earthquake in Myanmar.
In May, we gave a glimpse into the activities of Phnom Penh’s nightbus and ended the month celebrating our anniversary. During June we shared how our work had helped one young Thai woman to stabilize her life.
July was the Big Move, as we relocated our field HQ to F3. Unfortunately, further sadness came late in the month as we responded to the conflict that had erupted on the Thai/Cambodia border. We caught up with migrant families in Thailand in August, who were supported by our team following the ceasefire.
A journey back to school for a young woman from Jakarta was featured in September in our education campaign, and we featured the Peuan Mit graduation ceremony in Lao PDR. October was ushered in with the return of Friends the Restaurant to its original location, and mid-month brought distribution of school materials by Kaliyan Mith.
During November, we experienced a sea of blue at Club Friends as the ChildSafe Agents meeting took place there. December began with our Futures for Families campaign, sadly it also saw the resumption of hostilities at the Thai/Cambodia border, leading to a mass of displaced families needing urgent support. Hostilities do appear to have ceased at the time of writing this, but hundreds of thousands remain at risk and in need of support.
So, this is just a snapshot of the work of our #everydayheroes over this past year. Visit our social media pages to get the full picture, and to keep that work going, please do consider making a donation here
Thank you so much for your support over 2025, and a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to all our friends of Friends from us!
