Patty Loew:
But first a follow up to a report that "In Wisconsin" first brought you last may. It is about two college students who believe they can change the world. Joseph Quinnell and Susan Perri are on a quest to help two women from a far away land get a college education. As Liz Koerner shows you, success comes with a price in Stevens Point.

Liz Koerner:
The scent of ingredients like lemon grass and hot peppers fill the air at this campus gathering. Fongtip and Aor have prepared food from their home, Thailand. They're attending UW Stevens Point because two undergrads fought a battle that most said was impossible to win.

Jeff Morin:
I would describe them as a force to be reckoned with or a juggernaut. Something on some level unstoppable.

Liz Koerner:
Joseph Quinnell and Susan Perri took on impossible odds to bring these two women to Wisconsin to get them a college education. Even though they were born in Thailand the Thai government wouldn't grant them citizenship. Their parents immigrated from Myanmar.

Srinuan Saokumnuan Aor:
My mom came to Thailand and I was born in Thailand but I can't be a Thai citizen.

Liz Koerner:
Without citizenship they have very few rights. A college education and a good job are out of the question and travel is extremely limited. They're considered stateless.

Joseph Quinnell:
In Thailand, statelessness is the highest risk to being trafficked. Human trafficking is a nice word for what it is, you know, it's modern-day slavery. For academic growth, new program, things like that.

Liz Koerner:
Quinnell and Perri are both art students. Quinnell is studying photography. In 2005 he decided to shed the light on the problem of human trafficking by putting his photography skills to work in Thailand.

Joseph Quinnell:
My first week in Thailand I was offered a 12-year-old girl and you can read about that all you want or watch documentaries and do the research, but you can't understand how awful it is until you are looking into the eyes of a 12-year-old girl, you know, who is smiling up at you, a genuine child smile, as her price is being quoted.

Liz Koerner:
Quinnell’s quest is personal.

Joseph Quinnell:
I'm really open about my past. My childhood. I was physically abused for over ten years. And I started to, I started to use art to actually talk about some of these stories.

Liz Koerner:
Quinnell's past made him want to help other kids at risk for abuse. He met hundreds of them at a school for stateless children in northern Thailand. The school is run by Sompop Jantraka who has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Fongtip and Aor are graduates of this school, but because they didn’t have citizenship they couldn't go to college. Quinnell came up with what most considered an impossible dream.

Joseph Quinnell:
The one person who believed from the get-go was Sompop.

Liz Koerner:
When he got home, Quinnell convinced Perri to work with him to do what has never been done before. They petitioned the Thai government to allow these young women to travel to Wisconsin to attend the university. It took three years and the assistance of the state department and many other people in the US and Thailand but Quinnell and Perri's persistence made this impossible dream come true.

Joseph Quinnell:
The day that we had that travel document in hand, the day that the Thai government allowed a stateless person to travel to that extent, I took it and I went off by myself for a little while. It was so emotional to hold this thing in my hand. Something that we had worked for for more than three years.

Liz Koerner:
It is called the Thailand project.

Fongtip Boonsri:
And Thailand Project make me have a good dream and I can do it. Yes.

Liz Koerner:
Even before securing the travel documents, Perri and Quinnell took on another seemingly impossible task. They began to raise money for the students' first year of classes and living expenses. To raise awareness Quinnell put up a campus-wide photography exhibit. Images of the red light district in Thailand.

Joseph Quinnell:
I really believe that a photograph, you know, can change things.

Liz Koerner:
Perri designed a fundraising campaign urging students to “see red.” They raised more than $14,000 in one week. With additional funds from a local church, dental office and other individuals, they met their first year goal.

Susan Perri:
And I've loved, you know, working on different problem solving through different issues like the fundraising issue.         

Liz Koerner:
The battle to fund the rest of Fongtip and Aor's education needs more.

Joseph Quinnell:
We’ve come so far. If it ends now, that would be tragic.

Patty Loew:
That did not happen, we’re happy to report. Fongtip, one of the women featured in our report, has been granted Thai citizenship, work is underway to achieve the same status for Aor. Quinnell and Perri traveled back to Thailand with the women last summer and successfully renewed Aor's travel document. Another first in Thai history and both got new US student visas. These photos show the women's outreach sharing their experiences with stateless children. They challenged the children to see education as the answer. Both are now in their second year at UW Stevens Point and they've raised enough money for this year's tuition. Efforts are still underway to raise money for years three and four. UW Stevens Point officials say the Thai Project is funded entirely by private donations. If you'd like to learn more, just go to our website wpt.org and click on “In Wisconsin.”