Our Story
There are things you cannot unsee.
For Dr. George Gauthier, Global Youth Guardians did not begin as an abstract idea. It grew from things he has witnessed firsthand.
Kenya
During humanitarian work in Kenya, Dr. George visited a large internally displaced persons camp where thousands of families were living in temporary shelters under extraordinarily difficult conditions.
What affected him most were the children. He remembers seeing children suffering from extreme starvation, desperately trying to ease the pain in their stomachs. Families depended on outside deliveries for food, water, and medical supplies, never knowing with certainty when the next would arrive.
And yet the children did something Dr. George has never forgotten. They put on a performance for their visitors. They were not asking for anything in return. They simply wanted to sing, perform, and show that despite everything surrounding them, they were still children — and could spread joy.
Dr. George had brought roughly two weeks of food and supplies for his own trip. He gave them away immediately. As the food was distributed, the children formed a line that stretched an extraordinary distance.
Eventually it was time to leave. As he walked toward the vehicle, a little girl of about three took one of his hands. A little boy about the same age took the other.
He wanted desperately to pick them up, carry them to the car, and take them somewhere safe. But they belonged to a community, a culture, and a system of care he could not simply remove them from.
Eventually he had to let go of their hands. It was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do.
That moment stayed with him. There are things, he says, that once you have seen and experienced them, you cannot undo. The suffering of children became one of those things.
When we know children are suffering and we have the ability to do something about it, looking away is no longer acceptable.
A history of service
Dr. George's involvement in humanitarian work extends beyond Global Youth Guardians. Over the years his projects have included humanitarian and medical efforts with professionals in America, Africa, Kenya, India, and elsewhere.
He has supported efforts to provide and maintain access to clean water in Africa, including mobilizing engineering assistance when wells failed and communities lost reliable water.
He created Get Them Healthy, a project supplying sporting and physical-education equipment to schools so children could have opportunities for physical activity where no resources otherwise existed.
He is also an originator of a planned Hollywood–Bollywood feature-film collaboration centered on human trafficking and modern slavery — developed both as a dramatic film and as a vehicle for raising worldwide awareness of trafficking and the ways people in danger can signal for help.
