Changemakers around the world

MEET THE NEW HEROES OF OUR TIME

What is a hero? The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word as "a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life."
The heroes you'll meet on these pages and in these films are different from those in the pages of most history books. They are not famous politicians or legendary soldiers — yet they have improved the lives of MILLIONS of people and made the world more secure. Their 'arsenals' are not of weaponry, but of creative ideas, dogged determination and a deep belief in their power to change the world. Also known as "social entrepreneurs," they develop innovations that bring life-changing tools and resources to people desperate for viable solutions.

Kailash Satyarthi

Projects: Global March Against Child Labor, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS), Rugmark
Locations: New Delhi, India (headquarters), partners in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Kailash Satyarthi has saved tens of thousands of lives. At the age of 26 he gave up a promising career as an electrical engineer and dedicated his life to helping the millions of children in India who are forced into slavery by powerful and corrupt business- and land-owners. His original idea was daring and dangerous. He decided to mount raids on factories — factories frequently manned by armed guards — where children and often entire families were held captive as bonded workers.
After successfully freeing and rehabilitating thousands of children, he went on to build up a global movement against child labor. Today Kailash heads up the Global March Against Child Labor, a conglomeration of 2000 social-purpose organizations and trade unions in 140 countries.
Yet even as he has become a globally recognized figure, Kailash continues the gritty work of leading raids to free slaves. Kailash believes that he must focus on a range of activities -- from the most grassroots to the most visionary -- in order to win the fight.

What Does SACCS Do?

Since its inception in 1989, SACCS and its partners have liberated nearly 40,000 bonded laborers, many of them bonded, working in various industries, including rug manufacturing. But to free such children without offering new opportunities would, in Kailash's view, be meaningless.
Bal Ashram in Rajasthan, India is a transition center where newly-freed slaves are taught basic skills. Kailash describes the arrival of a girl recently freed from a stone quarry: "It's a joyous experience to watch the changing emotions flit across this beautiful girl's face. She's like an open book, and her varying expressions tell us a story: the story of transition from slavery to a new life of freedom. When her face lights up, it is clear she is taking her first steps toward freedom and belief in others."
Since the Ashram can only serve 100 children at a time, Kailash has begun a program called "Bal Mitra Gram" to encourage Indian villages to abolish child labor. In order to be a part of the program, an entire community must agree that no child will be put to work and every child will be sent to school.

While changing India village by village is a worthwhile pursuit, such a strategy could take centuries to achieve Kailash's goal, and he is not prepared to wait that long. So he has begun attacking the problem by harnessing the immense power of market forces.Many rugs from South Asia are manufactured using child labor. Kailash believes that if consumers around the world knew how their expensive and colorful Indian rugs were made, they would no longer think they were so beautiful. He started "Rugmark," a program in which rugs are labeled and certified to be child-labor-free by factories who that agree to be regularly inspected. Kailash plans to extend the labeling program to other products such as soccer balls, another popular product that is commonly made by children.
Kailash says "If not now, then when? If not you, then who? If we are able to answer these fundamental questions, then perhaps we can wipe away the blot of human slavery."

Mimi Silbert

Project: Delancey Street Foundation
Location: San Francisco, Calif. U.S.A.
In 1971 Mimi Silbert founded Delancey Street with four residents, a thousand dollar loan and a dream. She envisioned a place where substance abusers, former felons and others who had hit bottom would, through their own efforts, be able to turn their lives around. Silbert has since built an empire grossing 20 million dollars a year with locations in New York, New Mexico, North Carolina and Los Angeles. She has never accepted a single penny of government funds. Since those early days in a single house, Mimi Silbert has empowered more than 14,000 people to lead crime-free, drug-free lives in mainstream society. They have acquired skills, they attend college and they are part of the workforce. Silbert says she has spent her career cultivating a "university of the streets." She calls it a "Harvard for losers," where the students are former pimps, prostitutes, junkies, drug dealers and armed robbers. Her program's name comes from Silbert's own past. Delancey Street is a place on Manhattan's lower east side where immigrants like her parents came to make a new life for themselves. What Does the Delancey Street Foundation Do? The Delancey Street Foundation is a residential education center where drug addicts, criminals and the homeless learn to lead productive, crime-free lives. It has been called the most successful rehabilitation project in the United States. The foundation runs at no cost to the taxpayer or client. They earn revenue by operating more than 20 businesses, including the Delancey Street Restaurant and Café and the Delancey Street Moving Company. These "training schools" not only generate income, they teach residents marketable skills and inculcate in them habits of self-control and self-discipline.

Each resident spends up to four years at the facility and must pass equivalency exams to obtain a high school diploma in order to graduate. They also need to line up a job and a place to live. Silbert likes to see each of her students graduate with three marketable skills to ensure their job success. Silbert reports that 65 percent of the organization's operating costs are paid for by revenue from its businesses. She originally rejected foundation money, fearing it would deter from the participants' feeling that their survival depended on the success of the businesses.

Today, the organization receives more than ten million dollars from private donations every year. Silbert and Delancey Street are always facing new challenges. Today, offenders are often third-generation criminals. Silbert used to tell clients that their parents wanted a better life for them. Since participants' parents are often criminals as well, the draw to go back to the streets can be strong. Fortunately, after more than 30 years, Mimi Silbert isn't about to give up.

Moses Zulu

Project: Development Aid from People to People in Zambia (Children's Town)
Location: Lusaka, Zambia
Moses Zulu is a dynamic 40-year-old with a winning smile and extraordinary determination. In 1990 Zulu opened Children's Town to serve Zambian children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic and other causes. He is devoted to helping these orphans find their way in life.

The program has grown from a handful of children living in tent shelters to almost 300 children and a staff of 22 living in six different houses. The grounds include a primary school and a community center. Zulu's vision includes a plan to make Children's Town self sustaining. Zulu offers hope and inspiration to his young charges. "At our core," he says, "we enable our children to have dreams, to believe in themselves and to take responsibility for their lives."

What Does Children's Town Do?

According to UNICEF, by the end of 2004, nearly one million children were AIDS orphans. Many come from rural areas and, after their parents' deaths, they are force to flee to African cities, where their only means of survival may be working as a street vendor, or resorting to crime or prostitution — behavior that brings an extremely high risk of contracting AIDS and other illnesses. In Zambia's capital, Lusaka, alone, it is estimated that there are more than 75,000 AIDS orphans

For these children, basic needs are unaffordable luxuries. They have no childhood, no time to play, no future. They are overwhelmed by chronic illness, lack of shelter and frequent abuse by adults. Children's Town is a residential education and vocational training institution in the African village of Malambanyama, Zambia, designed to give some of these children basic life skills and hope for the future. Each child goes through a five-year program in which they are taught life skills, responsibility, values and self-care. They graduate with vocational training in agriculture or crafts and business management, as well as a ninth-grade diploma.

Children's Town has trained more than 90 students in agriculture, 50 in business and 400 in agribusiness. They are socialized, taught academic subjects like reading and math, and given practical skills like running a farm and doing carpentry. Children also attend counseling sessions and steel band rehearsal and interact with the local community at least once a week.

Although the future looks bleak for many African children, Moses Zulu's Children's Town provides an oasis of hope and a vitally important example for how poor countries with high numbers of orphans can respond with humanity and compassion to the next generation of the AIDS crisis.

Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy ("Dr. V.") & David Green

Project: Aravind Eye Hospital and Aurolab
Location: Madurai, India, Nepal and United States
Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy and David Green use what Green terms "compassionate capitalism" to give sight and hearing back to millions of people who would otherwise be blind and deaf.

Dr. V. came to the conclusion as a young man that "intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful." So instead of retiring at the age of 65, Dr. V. mortgaged his home and opened a hospital to perform free or low-cost cataract surgery — if untreated cataracts can lead to blindness — on poor Indians. In his first year, Dr. V. performed 5000 surgeries. Green was inspired by Dr. V.'s belief that humans were put on Earth not get to rich, but to serve. He noticed that the number of surgeries Dr. V. could perform was limited by the high cost of replacement lenses — $150.00 a pair.

When Green discovered that the actual cost of making the lenses could, with a creative approach, be reduced to just $10.00 a pair, he convinced Dr. V. to open a lens factory. Green is convinced that western capitalism has failed to grasp opportunities in the developing world because of a focus on extracting the highest possible profit from every item sold. He says "compassionate capitalism" extracts a small amount of profit from each item sold, but generates a very high sales volume. In the process, it is possible to make available critical goods and services — like eye care — to billions of people.

What Do Aravind Eye Hospital and Aurolab Do?

Dr. V. and David Green are dedicated to making medical technology and health care services accessible, affordable and financially self-sustaining. More than two million surgeries a year are performed at Aravind Eye Hospital using products made through Aurolab, such as intraocular lenses, spectacle lenses, optical lenses, suture needles, cataract kits and hearing aids. Aurolab's products are used by eye care institutions and ophthalmologists in more than 120 countries. The factory produces hundreds of thousands of lenses each year — 10 percent of the world supply — at $5.00 a pair. The company turns a profit of thirty percent on its investment. With the revenue stream produced by Aurolab, Dr. V. has been able to open five new eye hospitals in southern India.

Through Aravind Eye Hospital and Aurolab, Dr. V. and David Green have performed what might as well be miracles for elderly Indians living in remote villages. Restoring their sight and hearing has given them back their dignity and allowed them to contribute to their communities again.

Nick Moon & Martin Fisher

Project: ApproTEC (Appropriate Technology for Enterprise Creation)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya, offices in Tanzania, Mali and San Francisco, Calif.

Nick Moon and Martin Fisher founded ApproTEC out of their belief that poor people don't need handouts, they need concrete opportunities to use their skills and initiative. ApproTEC provides these opportunities by specially designing and manufacturing tools that help people work more productively, allowing them to break the cycle of poverty. "The concept of poor people is really that they need handouts, they need help," says Moon. "We say that a poor person is a very entrepreneurial person and the one thing they want in life is to get ahead." Moon says his company takes a business-like approach to the business of development, "otherwise we're going to be locked forever in this cycle of handouts and giveaways and bleeding-heart social welfare programs."

Fisher says he believes a private sector solution like ApproTEC is the only sustainable economic model for developing the world. He says that on average, income goes up by a factor of 10 after people buy an ApproTEC product — providing a return on investment that would be hard to beat anywhere in the world. "It's transforming their lives," says Fisher, "moving them from poverty into the middle class. If you look at the problems in Africa, in other developing countries -- the solution is to create a middle class."

What Does ApproTEC Do?

ApproTEC develops and markets new technologies in Africa. The company's product lines include a series of manually operated micro-irrigation "MoneyMaker" pumps and the "Mafuta Mali" sunflower and sesame seed oil press. These low-cost tools are bought by local entrepreneurs and used to establish new small businesses. The technologies not only create jobs, they create new wealth. All of ApproTEC's tools are designed to be profitable, affordable, durable, easy to operate and easy to maintain. Most of the equipment is manually operated because electricity and fuel are expensive. The tools are also designed to be mass-produced locally in Africa. ApproTEC has developed a sophisticated monitoring program in order to gauge impact. According to their latest research, 35,000 new businesses have been started with their products (about 800 per month), 35 million dollars a year in new profits and wages have been generated, and new incomes drawn from the businesses account for more than .5 percent of Kenya's GDP and .2 percent of Tanzania's.

Fabio Rosa

Project: Agroelectric System of Appropriate Technology (STA) and Institute for Development of Natural Energy and Sustainability (IDEAAS)
Location: Brazil
Fabio Rosa is a charismatic, charming Gaucho -- a guitar-playing cowboy with the energy and vision of a corporate titan who is determined to bring electricity and new farming opportunities to millions of rural Brazilians, allowing them to enjoy sustainable livelihoods while preserving the environment for future generations. Rosa first came to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande Do Sol in the early 1980s, when much of the rural population lived without electricity because they could not afford the installation costs. He saw that by using a single wire system instead of the ususal three wire he could bring affordable electricity to most the people in the region and create a model for bringing it to all Brazilians and people of other countries. Rosa's first effort in the countryside outside the town of Palmeras was wildly successful — bringing hundreds of families electric powered pumps, refrigerators and lights for the first time in their lives. Rosa spread his idea to thousands of families, and eventually to more than half a million Brazilians. But in the late 1990s, the electricity industry in Brazil was privatized and the new owners weren't interested in pursuing his model because the profit margins in the countryside were too low. So Rosa came up with a new plan to rent solar power equipment to villagers who live in the most remote areas of Brazil.

At times, Rosa has felt like a modern-day Sisyphus, constantly pushing the his boulder uphill only to have it roll down to the bottom, forcing him to take up the challenge again from the beginning. In a number of cases, he has come up with a new idea to serve poor families, poured his life into building that idea, managed to realize his vision successfully at an impressive scale — only to be thwarted from further success by bureaucratic forces beyond his control, often by the very government agencies that have failed to meet the needs that Rosa is addressing. But, after twenty three years, he is not prepared to give up the fight. Perhaps, it is because it gives him so much joy to work they way he does. He says, "I am trying to build a little part of the world in which I would like to live. And even if my inspiration is romantic, I require material results, a re-colored reality and so my projects are practical, doable work. Creating these projects, implementing them and succeeding, witnessing one's dreams come true, is my version of happiness." Recently, in one of Rosa's most unexpected victories, the Brazilian government announced it will use his single wire model to bring electricity to millions of Brazilians.

What Do STA and IDEAAS Do?

Fabio Rosa founded both a for-profit corporation -- Agroelectric System of Appropriate Technology (STA) -- and a not-for-profit organization -- the Institute for Development of Natural Energy and Sustainability (IDEAAS). Through STA and IDEAAS, Rosa has been working to bring electricity and community development to rural Brazil since the early 1980s using a combination of non-profit and business approaches to reach the largest possible number of people, including the very poor. IDEAAS creates and demonstrates models of self-sustainable development for low-income rural populations by focusing on the use of high-efficiency and low-cost technologies in the fields of renewable energy and agricultural science. STA has been one of the leading companies in Brazil spreading the use of solar energy and managed grazing systems.

Rosa first floated the idea of renting solar equipment in a village in southern Brazil called Encruzilhada, a poor area where many of homes are so remote that they have little hope of being connected to the electric "grid" anytime in the foreseeable future. His biggest challenges weren't technical; they were overcoming people's beliefs that solar energy was unreliable and unaffordable, and then developing cost-effective systems to serve many customers who pay only tiny amounts each month for their electricity.

Moving forward, Rosa now identifies leaders in each community to who help him convince people their neighbors that renting solar energy will benefit them, and will cost no more than they are already paying for candles, batteries and lamp oil. At least 600 families in the region have joined his program. It is a slow process, but Rosa sees Encruzilhada as an essential first step toward his ultimate goal of demonstrating how to reach the 2 billion people worldwide who still live without electricity. His mantra: "First Encruzilhada, then Brazil, then the world. But first Encruzilhada."

Albina Ruiz

Project: Ciudad Saludable
Location: Peru
Albina Ruiz started worrying about health and environmental problems caused by garbage in Peru when she was a student studying industrial engineering. After writing her thesis, she came up with an idea for a new community-managed system of waste collection that she hoped would serve as a model for urban and rural communities around Peru. One of the first neighborhoods she worked with was El Cono Norte in Lima, where1.6 million people produced about 600 metric tons of garbage daily. The municipal authorities were only able to process about half of the community's trash. People tossed the rest in streets, rivers and vacant lots, causing serious health problems as well as creating a perpetually ugly environment that many residents found dispiriting. Ruiz's idea called for micro-entrepreneurs — small business people chosen from the community — to take charge of collecting and processing the garbage, at once addressing another serious problem in the community: unemployment. She helped these businesses get going and set the monthly fee for the service at about $1.50, the cost of a beer, and came up with a wide array of creative marketing schemes — including special gift baskets — to entice families to use the services and, importantly, pay for them regularly and on time.

Ruiz started doing the work alone nearly 20 years ago. She now oversees projects in 20 cities across Peru, employs more than 150 people and serves over 3 million residents. Her approach to waste management is so successful that she has been asked to come up with a national plan for Peru, while other Latin American countries have expressed interest in emulating her method. Even though her organization has grown, Ruiz remains central to the operations on the ground. She still visits municipalities overwhelmed by garbage, checks on neighborhoods involved in her program and meets with government officials. Ruiz says that where most people see a problem, she sees a possibility. Her ultimate goal is to change the way people think.

What Does Ciudad Saludable Do?

Ciudad Saludable develops efficient solid waste management systems that generate employment and contribute to better quality-of-life and cleaner cities. Ruiz created the organization because government-run garbage collection in Peru had not been effective and illegal dumping was causing environmental deterioration and ground water contamination. The garbage crisis arose partly because municipalities failed to collect the funds necessary to maintain the infrastructure. Because the system wasn't working, people didn't pay their monthly fees, making the garbage problem worse. Ruiz set out to break that cycle. In addition to taking care of the garbage problem, her micro-enterprise model provides self-employment opportunities to local residents in neighborhoods where unemployment rates are high.

The businesses are often run by women who go door to door collecting garbage and fees, and educating people about respecting and protecting their environment. Some women have even built profitable businesses by creating products like organic fertilizer out of the trash they collect. By generating income for local residents and involving them in the process of improving their neighborhood, Ruiz has succeeded in obtaining pay rates of up to 98 percent. The government collection pay rates sunk as low as 40 percent. Ruiz's simple idea has become a successful business and community-organizing model that benefits large numbers of people and has worldwide potential.

Maria Teresa Leal

Project: Coopa-Roca
Location: Rio de Janerio, Brazil
Maria Teresa Leal founded Coopa-Roca, a sewing cooperative located in Rocinha, the largest favela (slum) in Rio de Janeiro, in 1981. Nicknamed "Tetê," Leal has a college degree in social science and a license to teach elementary school. It is unusual for a middle-class or wealthy Brazilian to set foot in a favela. But when Leal visited the favela with her housekeeper, who lived there, she saw that many poor women in the favela were skilled seamstresses — yet they had no opportunity to use their skills to generate income. So she got the idea to start a co-operative, which would recycle fabric remnants to produce attractive quilts and pillows. Gradually, as the women gained experience and developed skills in manufacturing and marketing, the work grew more professional. In the early 90s Tetê attracted interest from Rio's fashion world, and in 1994 Coopa-Roca began producing clothes for the catwalk.

In order to acquire the luxurious fabrics for high-quality designer clothes, Tetê sought out donations. She also convinced fashion designers to teach the women about production skills and trends. Coopa-Roca started getting media attention, which helped Tetê get more fabric and more contracts. Pieces produced by the co-op are unique, combining a particular type of craftsmanship originated in northern Brazil with luxe fabrics found in couture fashion. Tetê recently signed a contract with the European clothes manufacturer C&A, which she hopes will allow the co-op to expand its offerings and multiply the number of women who benefit from it.

What Does Coopa Roca Do?

Coopa-Roca's mission is to provide flexible employment opportunities to women from low-income families who live in Rocinha, particularly opportunities for single mothers to work from home. The co-operative formed as an offshoot from a recycling project involving local children.

The first group of women was organized to produce decorative craftwork made with textile remnants and using traditional Brazilian techniques such as drawstring appliqué, crochet, knot work and patchwork. The co-op employs more than 150 women, most of whom are homemakers who had never worked before. Its office is still based in the middle of the favela. All decisions are made collectively and the women share the responsibilities of production, administration and publicity. Most women work from home, but they come to the office to bring their finished pieces and to get more fabric. At first the co-op's biggest challenge was finding outlets for their products. As the project has grown,

Tetê has been able to focus on training younger women as new leaders in the community. Although conditions in the favela are still difficult, the women say the co-op has given them a chance to improve their quality of life dramatically.

Dina Abdel Wahab

Project: The Baby Academy
Location: Cairo, Egypt
When Dina Abdel Wahab's son Ali was born with Down syndrome, she was unable to find a preschool to meet his needs. Children with Down syndrome do not benefit from environments where they are kept apart from mainstream society. They need to be integrated in classrooms with non-disabled children whom they can interact with and enjoy mutually-beneficial learning experiences. In Cairo, at the time, Dina had no such options for her son. If such a place was going to exist, she would have to create it herself. Abdel Wahab felt that preschooling in Egypt amounted to little more than babysitting.

Early childhood education was not grounded in the science of child development and psychology, as it is in European and American schools. Determined to help Ali lead a normal life and to improve preschool education in her country, Abdel Wahab made a brave choice: She decided to open her own school where Ali would become the first student. "I didn't want to change my son's lifestyle, so I decided to try to change society," she said. "Being an entrepreneur I had the flexibility of doing what I really believe in. In my past development work there was too much bureaucracy, too many agendas. Now I could put away the papers and be there to give what I felt the children needed."

What Does The Baby Academy Do?

The Baby Academy is a chain of preschools for children three months to five years old. The school's child-centered philosophy is based on love, learning and play and its curriculum is tailored to children's developmental needs and designed to inspire children to achieve their potential. Today the business is thriving with a remarkable 20 percent of its preschoolers children with special needs. Abdel Wahab recently opened a new branch in Cairo and plans to open two more schools in the next two years. Eventually she'd like to franchise the concept. According to a United Nations report, less than four percent of Arab children have access to preschool education. The mission of The Baby Academy is to become a leader in early childhood education throughout Egypt and the Middle East.

Now that her private model is working, Abdel Wahab is preparing to work with the government. Since not everyone can afford The Baby Academy, she advocates for inclusion opportunities for special needs children in Egypt's mainstream education system. She believes it is the role of entrepreneurs to envision new ideas to solve society's problems and assume the risks of bringing them to life. She says, "It is easier for me as an entrepreneur to take the risk and do something, than for the government to do that on a mass scale. I do think that this is the future, I do think we can work together as partners."

Inderjit Khurana

Project: Ruchika School Social Service Organization (RSSO), Train Platform Schools
Location: Orissa, India
As a schoolteacher, Inderjit Khurana used to take the train to work. And each day, in the stations, she would come into contact with dozens of children who spent their days begging from train passengers rather than attending school. She learned that it was not a rare or isolated problem and that millions of children in India live on the streets. Convinced that these children would never be able to escape their conditions of poverty and homelessness without education, and realizing that it would be impossible to enroll these children in school, Inderjit decided to create a model program for "taking the school to the most out-of-school children."

Khurana's "train platform schools" aim to provide a creative school atmosphere and equip children with the basic levels of education necessary to allow them to work productively, enjoy many of life's pleasures, and become positive contributors to their communities. Khurana's ultimate goals reach far beyond the 20 platform schools she and her colleagues have created in India's Bhubaneswar region. She is determined that her program become a model for effectively changing the lives of the poorest children throughout India and the world.

What Does RSSO Do?

In response to the challenges faced by children who live in the slums of Bhubaneswar, India, Inderjit Khurana founded the Ruchika Social Service Organization (RSSO) in 1985. The program is dedicated to creating a society free of child labor, destitution and exploitation by advancing the opportunities of extremely underprivileged children through education. Initially the program consisted of a single train platform school. Today the organization reaches out to more than 4,000 underprivileged children and their families. Remarkably, the train school program is inexpensive and cost effective. Teachers gather the children together between the stops of the train for reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and history taught through song, puppetry and other teaching devices such as the train schedules themselves.

RSSO targets mostly street children, child laborers and children of impoverished families, providing basic literacy, vocational training, nutritional information, medical treatment and emergency assistance. Some of the children are orphans who live on the street and beg to acquire the barest necessities. The rest of the children live in the slums and are sent by their parents to beg at the train station. Khurana recently came to realize that the education of these children is practically impossible when the most basic needs of their families are not being met. So she expanded the program to provide food and medicine to their families. Khurana maintains that every child has the right to an education and vows that if the child cannot come to the school, then the school must come to the child.

Sompop Jantraka

Project: Development and Education Program for Daughters & Community Center (DEPDC)
Location: Mae Sai,Thailand and Mekong sub-region (including Laos, Burma and the Yunnan Province of China)
Sompop Jantraka has put his life on the line to save young women sold into prostitution by poor farming families. He is also proving that these women can be far more valuable to Thailand as educated members of the work force than as sex slaves. Jantraka offers the poor families of young women between the ages of 8 and 18 (who are often desperate for income and easily deceived by brothel owners) an alternative to sending their daughters into prostitution by providing the girls with education, job training and employment assistance.

Eight different projects focus on children at risk, children's rights, child sexual abuse and forced labor. Since 1989 when he founded the Daughters Education Program, Jantraka's work has directly affected more than 1,000 children. Starting with an initial group of 19 students, the program is now supporting more than 360 girls and boys. Jantraka considers education and training the keys to allow these girls to find alternative employment, improve their communities and reach their full potential.

What Does DEPDC Do?

The Development and Education Program for Daughters & Community Center (DEPDC) is an organization that offers education and full-time accommodation to at-risk children in order to prevent them from being trafficked into the sex industry or other types of forced labor. The program offers alternatives through education and life-skills training, as well as by strengthening families and communities. Human sex trafficking is a worldwide problem, but it is especially tenacious in Thailand. Victims can be Thai women and children, ethnic hill tribe minorities, and women who migrate illegally from Burma, China and Laos. Without citizenship or land tenure, the majority of northern Thailand's hill tribe people live in poverty without access to education, health care or legitimate work opportunities. Drug addiction and HIV/AIDS infection are also pervasive problems in the region. Brothel owners have networks of agents who comb villages and seek out troubled families. The traffickers offer to exchange the families' young daughters for money. The problem consists of a complicated web involving relatives, village and city authorities, police, government officials and business people who all profit from the girls' labor.

Every year, in conjunction with teachers, village leaders and monks, DEPDC identifies children most at risk. They may be orphans or have parents who are drug addicts. Many have older sisters or other relatives already working as prostitutes. Jantraka hopes that the schooling and vocational training these children receive through DEPDC offers a viable alternative to the sex industry, providing them with a good start to leading a healthy life.