Global National’s Everyday Hero

This week’s “Everyday Hero” is a young university student fighting against child prostitution happening halfway around the world.

TORONTO — For many university undergrads, life revolves around friends and having fun.

Campus life and college parties certainly have a place in 21-year old Cheryl Perera’s life, but much of her time and energy is devoted to dark places a world away in the seedy underworld of child prostitution.

About 2-million children are estimated to be trapped in the global sex trade. UNICEF says that there are hundreds of thousands of children involved in prostitution in Southeast Asia alone, accounting for about one-third of all sex trade workers there.

When Perera was just 17, she travelled to Sri Lanka to visit her parent’s homeland. There she saw children not much younger than herself, on the street and involved in the sex trade.

“I thought about my life,” says Perera. “And I contrasted my life to the lives of these children. I thought about how I had a chance to go to school; how I had a family that loves and cares for me. And I thought about these children whose lives are the polar opposite.

“I decided I was going to do something – I didn’t know what I was going to do – but I was going to do something.”

Moved by the plight of children, Perera ventured deeper and deeper into impoverished areas, talking to child prostitutes to learn about them and find ways to help. Eventually, Perera contacted Sri Lankan authorities and ended up posing as a child prostitute to help catch a 40-year-old pedophile.

Perera remembers how the man told her – in graphic terms – what he wanted her to do.

Afterwards, she says, “I thought about how dirty I felt just from speaking to him. (Then I thought) okay, if this is how I feel just from talking to him, imagine how children in Thailand feel after servicing 26 clients a day.”

So, when Perera got back to Canada, she launched an organization, One Child, dedicated to combating the global child sex trade.

Her first major project was a public service announcement shown on Air Canada flights. Produced with the help of family and friends in Toronto, the ad warns viewers that child sex tourism is illegal, and that people who engage in the sexual abuse of children abroad can be prosecuted in Canada. It also asks people to report suspicious activity to authorities. About 400,000 passengers a month see the ad, and now Perera is working to get it on other airlines.

The young advocate speaks to thousands of people every year about the issue of child sex tourism. Her audiences include everyone from high schoolers to politicians and travel industry officials. It’s enormously time-consuming, and all volunteer work.

She admits there “are days when it definitely feels overwhelming.”

But Perera says this is her life’s work, and she’s committed to keeping the cause alive.

And for that commitment to children a world away, Cheryl Perera is this week’s Everyday Hero.