There is little awareness in the developed world of the vast network of child slaves, some 200,000 in Thailand alone. ‘To see girls enslaved in brothels, it hurts,’ says Sompop Jantraka. ‘If you can protect one child, you protect future generations.'”

With few resources, Jantraka Sompop has assembled a network of volunteers who identify children at risk, according to Time,: “Then he persuades, pleads, begs or berates parents into allowing them to attend his school for free. Once there, the girls are taught vocational skills, then given help finding jobs or scholarships for higher education. If they are in danger, he will shelter them. The school, which depends on donations for survival, now also includes counseling services, a library and a legal aid center.

For more on this story visit Changemakers. For further perspective on the problem in the United States see recent comment by Susan Stabile drawing attention to a recent New York Times op-ed piece by Bob Herbert.