Fairfax High School junior Adan Eftekhari has been a committed human rights activist for the last five years, working locally and regionally to end child trafficking and exploitation in northern Virginia and around the globe.
Since becoming active in eighth grade, Adan has devoted over 500 volunteer hours and engaged in frequent outreach as part of the student-led Touch of Life Foundation. TOLF is a Vienna, Virginia-based non-profit organization that provides active assistance to child trafficking victims sheltered at the Bal Ashram orphanage in Rajasthan, India. It also conducts education and advocacy focused on stopping child exploitation in the metropolitan Washington region, across the US, and around the globe.
Adan is a member of TOLF’s student board of directors and serves as its international marketing and outreach director, a position he expects to hold through his senior year.
His wide-ranging efforts to stop child trafficking include frequent writing for TOLF’s newsletter and blog; organizing online webinars with national and international participants; speaking at local and regional conferences; briefing Rep. Gerry Connally’s staff about the child trafficking provisions of the Affordable Care Act and solidifying his support for the bill; and briefing Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on the issue.
In March of 2022, Adan participated in the PeaceJam Mid-Atlantic conference held in Silver Spring, Maryland. PeaceJam is a global youth organization led by 14 Nobel Peace Laureates. Adan and other regional student peace activists made presentations about their work alongside human rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
In his combined roles as TOLF board member and marketing/outreach director, Adan has helped raise approximately $40,000 in support of the Bal Ashram orphanage and other anti-trafficking activities through community fundraisers and outreach to local businesses. He and fellow board members are currently working to collaborate with other area schools and student clubs to broaden support for their work.
Adan is passionate about social justice. “I feel it is my duty to bring awareness to human trafficking and help rehabilitate victims that have lived through the unimaginable,” he said.