[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING SOMPOP JANTRAKA AND HIS SCHOOL DEPDC

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2009

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the 
extraordinary vision and compelling work for peace of Sompop Jantraka 
and his school, DEPDC--the Development and Education Programme for 
Daughters and Communities.
  Mr. Jantraka understands the necessity for caring intervention in 
order to save the young, innocent, poverty-stricken masses of the 
world. He has toiled tirelessly and fearlessly, in the face of danger, 
organized crime and desperation and oftentimes abandonment by parents 
of their offspring, to prevent child trafficking in the Mekong sub-
region of Thailand's ``Golden Triangle.'' He has made this cause, above 
many others, one of the main purposes of his life.
  DEPDC is Thailand's first pro-active center for the prevention of 
child trafficking. It began with modest beginnings, nineteen 
``daughters'' in a small house. And because of the incessant commitment 
to the preservation of children's futures, DEPDC has to-date prevented 
over 3,000 ``daughters'' and ``sons'' from being sold and from other 
forms of child exploitation. DEPDC has achieved this colossal feat by 
helping children gain access to adequate schooling and protective, safe 
sheltering.
  Being a man of great humility, Mr. Jantraka has not sought 
acknowledgement but yet stands as a giant amongst many because of the 
success of his passion. In September 2008, Mr. Jantraka received a 
Rockefeller travel grant to participate as a panelist at the ``Clinton 
Global Initiative'' Annual Meeting in New York City in order to provide 
his expertise and insight. In March 2008, the University of Michigan 
awarded Mr. Jantraka its ``Wallenberg Medal'' for humanitarian service. 
It is my hope that Mr. Jantraka's work will continue to bring light to 
this severe, international pandemic that is encroaching upon and 
threatening the human rights of children across the globe.
  It has been said of Mr. Jantraka that, with few resources and many 
enemies, he has been a strong force in the fight against human 
trafficking. Sompop Jantraka is not only a living example of passion 
and concern manifesting into tangible humanitarian works, but he also 
serves an inspiration to the world, reminding us of the great fellow 
citizens we can be and invoking the compulsion to be the great fellow 
citizens we should be.

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