A calling, vocation, and award-winning dissertation

When Carl Ralston ’92 went on a mission trip to Thailand in 2003, he felt God calling him to help bring an end to child sex slavery after he learned about a girl named Nhu, who was sold at age 13 into the sex trade. This experience shaped the course of his life and prompted him to launch “Remember Nhu,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child sex slavery through prevention.

Remember Nhu identifies children who are at risk of being sold in the sex trade and provides them with homes where their physical, educational, emotional, and spiritual needs are met. This gives them supportive environments where they can grow and lowers the risk of them joining the sex trade later in life. Currently, Remember Nhu has 109 homes in 16 countries. 

Ralston recently received a Doctorate of Ministry in Global Leadership from Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, New York. His dissertation, “Ending Sex Slavery through Prevention: How Remember Nhu Prevented Children from Entering the Sex Trade from 2007 to 2018” was awarded Dissertation of the Year. 

“My hope is that the award will lead more people to read my dissertation and be inspired to join our efforts to end child sex slavery,” Ralston said. 

Through his dissertation research, Ralston realized that Remember Nhu has prevented about 15,000 children from entering the sex trade during the last 12 years. He credits a portion of that success to his experience at Malone, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. 

“My experience at Malone helped me with expanding my business skills. My thesis focused on lowering business expenses, and that knowledge helps us to keep our expenses down at Remember Nhu. This leaves us with more resources to save more children.”

Malone also holds a special place in Ralston's heart, because it was as a Malone student that he become a follower of Jesus in his Worldview Thinking course taught by Professor John Geib. He reconnected with Malone in 2015 and 2016 when a team of students traveled to Thailand and were able to witness the work Remember Nhu does first-hand. You can read more about that trip here. 

A copy of Ralston’s dissertation will be featured in the Everett L. Cattell Library as part of the University’s emphasis on vocation and calling. To learn more about Remember Nhu, click here.