Brick Awards continued...

Ruth DeGolia

Image courtesy Joe Santa Winner in the Global Impact Category

Ruth DeGolia had no intention of becoming a businesswoman. She was a political activist, someone who works in the non-profit sector. Her area of interest was Latin America, specifically working with economically disadvantaged women's cooperatives in Guatemala. For her, it wasn't about money, it was about people. Then she and her partner had an idea. What if there was a way to help these women earn a sustainable income? What if there was a way, using fair trade practices, to get their fabulous jewelry and handicrafts to U.S. markets? And just like that, Mercado Global was born.

Today, Mercado Global's sales, on behalf of its partner cooperatives, provide fair wages to more than 170 artisans in 15 cooperatives across Guatemala, with plans to expand into southern Mexico and Ecuador, and eventually into African countries, too. They were on the cover of Newsweek last year, and are working to create lines with major companies over the next few months. But for Ruth, the best sign of success is when she returns to the partner cooperatives in Guatemala and sees the women beam with pride at the ability to buy meat for their family, or shoes for their children. In the end, that's what Mercado Global is all about -- the people.

Kimmie Weeks

Image courtesy Joe Santa Winner in the Global Impact Category

When civil war broke out in the African nation of Liberia in 1989, 9-year-old Kimmie Weeks was just another child caught in the middle. But after a near-death experience at the age of 10, he committed himself to ensuring that no child would ever again have to live as he did, facing malnutrition, disease and poverty. He started Liberia's first child rights advocacy and humanitarian organization run by young people, worked to end the Liberian civil war and disarm the country's 15,000 armed children, and founded Liberia's first children's information service aimed at reintegrating former child soldiers into the community.

In 1998, Kimmie wrote and published a report on the training of children by the Liberian military; as a result, several attempts were made on his life. He was forced to flee Liberia under a false name and seek political asylum in the U.S. But his work as a children's rights advocate has never ceased. In 2002, Kimmie started Youth Action International, which currently runs humanitarian programs –building schools and orphanages and providing emergency medical care -- in a number of African nations, with hopes to expand into every post-war country on the continent. As much as Kimmie has accomplished, he just feels he's on the path of "you gotta do what you gotta do." Someday, he hopes to take that path all the way to the Presidency of Liberia.

Cheryl Perera

Image courtesy Joe Santa Winner in the Global Impact Category

How far would you go for your cause? Cheryl Perera began speaking about the horrors of child sexual exploitation and sexual tourism in high school, after reading about it for a school project. How far did she go? Cheryl traveled to Sri Lanka, where she worked undercover as a decoy to catch a pedophile. While she was there, she also met with exploited children who were living lives too horrible to imagine. She asked them what she could do to help, and they answered, "Tell our story." Cheryl vowed to do just that. She mobilized the Canadian Travel and Tourism Industry to get involved in the fight against Child Sex Tourism, and started OneChild Network and Support Systems Inc. The initial goal was to get young people involved in the struggle. They made an in-flight video for Air Canada, using a home video camera, and friends and family as the actors. The video warns passengers about the dangers of sexual tourism.

What makes OneChild special is that it's youth-driven and youth-run. Eventually, Cheryl hopes to expand OneChild into other countries. The problem is worldwide. If young people around the globe -- using the model Cheryl created with OneChild -- get involved in working to end child sex trafficking and tourism, they can make a difference.