Once a Teacher, Now Fighting Human Trafficking in Asia

A chance encounter with some Vietnamese youths eager to learn English altered Michael Browsowski’s life forever.

The Australian moved to the Asian country eight years ago and set up Blue Dragon, a charity that now assists more than 1,200 children. CNN named Browsowski one of its “Heroes of 2011.” He tells Arabic Knowledge@Wharton that awareness programs make little difference to the impoverished villagers he seeks to help. Demonstrating other ways to earn income, he says, is much more effective in combating issues such as human trafficking.

“We’ve stopped trafficking from certain villages, so we figure if we can do that in a couple of small spots, why not across a province?” Browsowski said, “so that’s our current mission. But NGO’s (non-government organizations) don’t think enough like that: looking toward the end point, how do we stop this altogether. It’s all airy-fairy ‘let’s raise awareness.’

“I’m just tired to death of awareness-raising programs. They don’t work, even when it’s on MTV. You have to go to villages and talk to them, and offer another form of income.”

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Fareed Zakaria On Afghanistan, China’s Middle East Plans, and Turkey’s Fight With Iran for Influence

A year ago, the Middle East was shaken by the Arab Spring and the subsequent fall of three of its most enduring autocrats. Then in the midst of the upheaval came news about the death of elusive terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden. But these endings have not yet brought about new beginnings; instead they have brought new challenges, says prominent foreign policy commentator Fareed Zakaria.

Though Afghanistan will see most of its foreign troop presence dwindle, Zakaria says there will have to be a continuation of foreign aid to the nation to keep it from falling into chaos again.

China has been aggressive in pursuing natural resources in the region, he notes, “but they seem unwilling to take on a larger, more political role, [or articulate a] political vision of what that means in terms of the politics of the Middle East.”

There is meanwhile a battle for regional political influence between Turkey and Iran, he adds, a battle that Turkey is winning. “When I was in Cairo, the people I talked to all looked to Turkey as a model, because they viewed it as democratic, powerful economic model, capitalist, a great trading country, able to deal with the west and the east, confident, assertive,” he says.

Zakaria is host of CNN’s flagship international affairs program,Fareed Zakaria GPS, is also editor-at-large of TIME magazine, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a New York Times-bestselling author.

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