By Stephanie Hashie
Craig Kielburger was your average 12-year-old boy from Thornhill, Ontario. He and his family had family routines and one of them was to make it a habit to eat breakfast together each morning. It was on a morning unlike any other that brought about a dream so big, it has warmed the hearts of people globally.
A STORY OVER CEREAL
While looking for his favourite comic strip over his morning cereal, Craig caught a small article describing the life and death of a 12-year-old Pakistani boy named Iqbal Masih, who had been sold into child slavery. Forced to work at a carpet factory since the age of 4, he had never been to school or done any “ordinary” things we take for granted, such as learning to ride a bike. Once free of the factory, where he sometimes worked 12 to14 hour days, he decided he wanted to make a difference and spoke out against child labour to journalists. Iqbal was murdered shortly after that and his case remains unsolved. Craig was left shaken and angry by Iqbal’s story, and he wasted no time in setting out on what turned out to be a life long quest to end child slavery.
FREE THE CHILDREN
Free the Children is a foundation with the sole purpose of encouraging youth to help other youth through education. It has been funded continuously by garage sales, pop sales, car washes and bake sales run and created by young people. Craig, along with several of his classmates and friends, wrote letters and signed petitions that were sent to world leaders and diplomats. They wanted young people and adults alike to realize the exact conditions 4- and 5-year-old children were faced with while being enslaved.
A WORLDWIDE MISSION
Many looked down on Craig, citing the fact that he was just a kid himself, but it’s because he was young that the world stopped to listen. Craig met with some of the world’s most inspirational people, from Mother Theresa to the Dalai Lama, all who encouraged him and believed in him and his dream to end children’s suffering. Thousands of volunteers in North America and around the world have helped the Free the Children foundation build over 450 primary schools, providing more then 40,000 children with the gift of education.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Although the battle to end child labour has been an uphill one since the very beginning, the most important message has always been never to give. While you may not be able to travel to Africa and Ecuador to help build schools, small things can be done by you and your friends or classmates to make a difference in the lives of young people who have more or less given up. Talk to your teacher about having a bake sale and send the money to buy health kits and school supplies to students around the world. Write to companies that use child labour and demand that they stop. There are lots of ways that you can help banish child labour. Remember, the Free the Children foundation started with a 12-year-old boy from Ontario who just wanted to make a difference.
For more information, visit freethechildren.com today!