In 1980, electrical engineer Kailash Satyarthi founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), a grassroots organization dedicated to stopping child labor and child trafficking in India.

Last month, Satyarthi was awarded with the 2007 US State Department’s Heroes Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award for his endless work to stop child slavery. In fact, Satyarthi is credited to have freed over 75,000 bonded and child laborers since he began his organization over 25 years ago!

It is amazing what one person’s efforts can accomplish! That’s 75,000 children who are now free from the shackles of hazardous environments; free from a life confined to a factory or a construction site or as someone’s servant; free from a life of no education.

We may not all have the time, the means or the will power to follow exactly in Satyarthi’s footsteps. But he certainly serves as an inspiration that each of us can play a part – big or small – in making sure that kids do stay in schools and not on the streets or serve as someone’s laborer.