Rachael Gardiner, Carly Wilson, Laura Wylie and Elaine Johnston, all in their early 20s, will be setting off next week to visit Pattaya, a place famed for its ‘bar girls’.

It was Laura Wylie, who is training as a counsellor, who urged the girls to join her after she witnessed how prostitution had such a stranglehold in the area.

Laura said: “There are thousands of prostitutes in Pattaya and they will go home with men for a night for a fee of about 50 US dollars. For this reason Pattaya attracts a considerable number of single men taking advantage of women who feel they have no other choice if they want to support themselves and their families.”

Rachael, a graphic design student, added: “We know it will be tough and we will see a lot of disturbing things, although it is something we are passionate about supporting. We aim to show these women love and friendship as some of them may have never experienced this before.”

Laura and Rachael along with their friends Carly, a dental nurse, and Elaine, a psychology student, are a self-organised group who have connections with Emmanuel Church in Lurgan.

When they make the eight-day trip they’ll be meeting people from Pattaya Praise, a missionary group based in Thailand.

The four friends have had to raise a total of £1,000 excluding their own personal spending money. So far, they have been relying on generous donations from family, friends and their church and fundraising events including car boot sales, a quiz and a coffee morning.