High in the hills of Thailand are villages where selling children for profit—not for survival—is commonplace. While the government would prefer to say that no such problem exists—one organization stands in their way. The Children's Organization of Southeast Asia (COSA) is working on a new method to stem the tide of child sex trafficking in northern Thailand. While most other organizations 'rescue' children who have already been sold and been victimized. In villages where satellite dishes and other amenities have taken the place of sold children, COSA is working to educate villagers on the benefits of not selling children—they are working on an individual basis to solve the problem for each child before it happens.
MEET: Kyle Thiermann, Founder of Surfing for Change
Kyle Theirmann, 21, is a pro surfer with a passion to systemically effect change. Combining surfing great waves around the world with making a series of short films about current issues, Thiermann focuses on the power we have to create a better world through everyday actions that we take. Through his Internet series, Surfing For Change, Kyle inspired viewers to move over 340 million dollars of lending power out of multi-national coal funding banks, and into local banks around the country.