Franz Gastler's Passage to India

It didn't take long for Minnesotan Franz Gastler to grow tired of his desk job at the Confederation of Indian Industry. He was acting as a consultant to companies interested in corporate responsibility, but "after six months of wearing a suit and tie in 120-degree weather," he says of the Delhi climate, Gastler was ready to leave office life behind. In 2008, the Boston University graduate, now 29, took a job at Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on the economic development of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, which is considered to be a top source of human trafficking for forced labor and sexual exploitation.

After starting at KGVK, Gastler was living in a farmer's mud hut when a young girl told him she wanted to learn to play soccer. He agreed to teach her if she could gather enough girls. Teamwork, Gastler thought, could be a grass-roots way to forge gender equality, confidence, and opportunity. Soon he had a makeshift soccer league up and running. He saw so much enthusiasm that he persuaded KGVK to let him build the program and pay his salary. So in 2009, with $6,000 of his savings and his $2,000 monthly stipend, he launched Yuwa, the Hindi word for Youth. A friend matched his $6,000, allowing the team to buy uniforms and equipment and to travel for matches.