By Jennifer Adelman Barr ’94

In 2005 Kara Beardsell made a trip that would change her life. An enthusiastic Shippensburg University student, she was anxious to assist the clean-up efforts of the Tsunami-devastated regions of Thailand.

Along with the chair of the social work department, Kara headed for what she looks back on as a trip that gave her clarity and purpose. “I was just there with Denise Anderson to visit different humanitarian relief projects. Had someone told me then that this is what would come from that first trip, I am not sure I’d believe them!”

The ravaged tsunami region was something that she could not have read in a book or seen in a television report. But even beyond the flood damage and community ruin, what most shocked her was the potential for buying and selling of children in the devastated region. According to Kara, natural disasters become a hotbed for human trafficking. From the Tsunami of 2005 to as recently as the last cyclone, a natural disaster promotes large amounts of misplaced, unaccounted for children and ease in which to take them.

Together, Kara and her professor visited an AIDS orphanage and other regional centers, but it was the Maetang Tribal Children’s Home where Kara saw a way to help. A filthy home with no plumbing and no privacy, the children shared all items — including clothes and toothbrushes. But no matter the conditions, these were children targeted for human trafficking and this home was a safe-haven. It was still a better alternative than slavery. Without this home, a majority of these children would be sold into forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Kara was determined to return, and in 2006 arrived back in Thailand with her family, 450 pounds of school supplies, and $2,000 for the children’s home. It was on this trip she had the opportunity to study the conditions in more detail and realized the magnitude of need.

The school required plumbing, and Kara was determined to raise the $5,000 needed. With this kind of fundraising need she decided to form a not-for-profit foundation, but with a full-time job as a support coordinator with the Lenape Valley Foundation—and 40 people with developmental disabilities on her caseload—she realized that she needed some help. She enlisted the assistance of a friend, Diane Casey, from the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Yardley. Together they formed the Be the Change Foundation. According to Diane, when Kara first approached her, she knew immediately it was the right thing to do, “I was very touched by the issue. You see these children are at risk—if they didn’t live in these homes we support, they would most likely be trafficked. The idea that children could be bought and sold...” The focus of the foundation is to raise money that will directly assist people affected by human trafficking, and to support organizations that take measures to prevent it.

Ninety percent of the monies raised go directly to projects that aid survivors or help prevention. This includes putting five percent in a savings account for their long-term goal to open their own “Be the Change” home for human trafficking survivors. Only 10 percent of their funding is used for expenses and the Board of Directors, including Kara and Diane, are all volunteers.

One organization the foundation funds is “Buddies along the Roadside” in Thailand. It’s director, Kru Nam, is devoted to building a village for children who are in danger of being sold into trafficking. She has even intervened in the actual sale of children, buying them from parents who would otherwise sell them into slavery. This year alone she has purchased ten children for only three dollars a piece—an unbelievably low sum to prevent a lifetime of slavery. To date, Kru Nam has 127 children in her care.

The foundation also provides funding to international organizations other than those in Thailand. Human trafficking is a problem around the world, according to Kara “wherever there is poverty, trafficking can thrive.” Be the Change has sent funds or supplies to organizations in Haiti, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, and will soon be working with an organization in South Africa. It has begun funding organizations in some European countries, such as Italy, considered ‘destination’ trafficking areas where “women are usually lured from countries such as Moldova, or poor Eastern European countries...and sold in bars or brothels.”

The photographs are some of the children Kara Beardsell ’05 has been able to help through her work through her non-profit organization, Be the Change. She has found human trafficking takes places almost anywhere in the world and that areas hit by natural disasters are frequent targets. Future plans are for a Be the Change Home for women and children rescued from traffickers.

It is clear that Kara and Diane are well educated on the subject and have a true understanding of the situation. They emphasize the importance of a grassroots effort, and funding groups with direct contact in hotbed areas—such as the “Golden Triangle” in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar —is the best use of their time. But the difficulties and seemingly impossible uphill battle does not deter them. Seeing results has helped Kara to keep pushing, “We see the numbers and we know 27 million people are enslaved, but we also know that every year 300 children have a Christmas because of Be the Change. There are about 30 children in Thailand who are the children of formerly trafficked women. Last year they all went to school because of Be the Change. There are children in an after-school project in the Dominican Republic who now have well-balanced meals every afternoon thanks to a stove and refrigerator from Be the Change.”

Kara and Diane have found a tremendous amount of support from groups and organizations at local colleges. Aside from the connection to Shippensburg University, they have been invited to speak at La Salle University, Kutztown University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, in churches, and private homes. They have been sponsored by sororities, community-oriented campus groups, and individuals who take on the mission without group support.

The Be the Change Foundation has sponsored several events, including a jewelry party that sold items made by rescued women. And in one of their most grassroot fundraising efforts, the “Give your Change to Be the Change” campaign has raised over $1,500 with pocket change alone. Since its inception, the Be the Change Foundation has raised over $25,000, five times their original goal. They have helped disadvantaged families achieve financial stability, promoted education for women, purchased refrigerators, blankets, and countless other supplies for various facilities around the world.

After her first trip to Thailand, Kara said helping to prevent human trafficking “wasn’t a choice.” It is a formidable task, but seeing change has kept her focused, “When we hear stories from Hagar in Cambodia where children are thriving after being trafficked, we don’t even think of the difficulties of the task. And, next month when we meet to make blankets for child slaves in Haiti, we won’t be thinking of the statistics. Because it just doesn’t matter then, since it made a difference to that one. So yes, even the smallest triumph makes me pretty much forget for a moment of how difficult and daunting a task it is.”

Kara has facilitated a tremendous amount of change since graduating from Shippensburg in 2005, and her continued work is supported by a devoted group of volunteers and a positive attitude, “I truly believe love is stronger than hate and eventually we’ll see a day where that wins.” The Be the Change foundation is currently planning education and fundraising events for 2009; they can be found at www.bethechangefoundation.org.

Jennifer (Adelman) Barr ’94 is a freelance writer and author and is the assistant director of the Haverford College Career Development Office.