Jennifer Page

12-Year-Old Takes On Child Labor

[Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles on empowered children that will appear here periodically.]

When Margaret Mead said, "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have," she could have been talking about Craig Kielburger and the organization he co-founded, Free The Children.

Born December 17, 1982 in Toronto, Canada, Craig discovered his calling one day while reading the newspaper. At the time he was only twelve years old, the same age as Iqbal Masih, the boy in the article. Iqbal had been sold into slavery at the age of four but managed to gain his freedom and speak out against the conditions he and thousands of other children in Pakistan worked in. Because of this he was murdered.

The story touched Craig and he started to look for a way to help. By contacting human rights organizations and getting his friends involved, Craig soon had a group of people committed to helping children. The group founded Free The Children in 1995 and set out to tell people about their cause. To spread the word they started a letter-writing campaign to world leaders, a petition to end child labor and child exploitation, and began educating the public about child labor problems.

Craig and his friends began to get the attention of the public. People started requesting that he speak at events. In November of 1995, Craig was invited to the Federation of Labor Convention in Toronto, Canada. His presentation earned him a standing ovation and $150,000 in donations. After receiving this support Craig traveled alone to Dhaka, Bangladesh in December to see firsthand the children he was defending. Alam Rahman, another Canadian who had been helping Craig understand child labor from the beginning, met him there. Together they set out for a seven-week tour of Southeast Asia. Although Craig had read about the conditions in Southeast Asia, meeting the children affected him deeply.

While in Pakistan, Craig learned he would have the opportunity to meet with Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister of Canada. Their paths had crossed several times already but after Craig and several formerly enslaved children called a press conference, the Prime Minister decided to make time to meet with him. Craig pushed to have Canada forbid the purchase of products made by child labor and the prime minister agreed to bring up the issue.

Meeting with the prime minister brought additional exposure to Craig and people began to applaud him not only for his cause but also for his motivation. In 1997 he received the State of the World Forum Award; in 1998 he was inducted as a Global Leader of Tomorrow in Switzerland and received the Roosevelt Freedom Medal along with his organization, Free the Children; and in 2001 he was the co-recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Peace Leadership Award from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Instead of sitting back and enjoying the success of Free The Children, Craig was thinking of new ways to spread information about child slavery. In 1998 he teamed up with Kevin Major to write Free the Children: A Young Man's Personal Crusade Against Child Labor. The book chronicled Craig's transformation from an average Canadian kid into a man with a mission. In 2002 he and his brother, Marc Kielburger, co-wrote Take Action: A Guide to Active Citizenship.

In 1999 Craig first appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah was so impressed with his determination that she pledged to help his organization. By the time Craig returned to the show in February of 2002, he and Oprah's Angel Network had built 34 schools in 9 countries helping nearly 2000 children get an education. Craig also appeared in 1999 on 60 Minutes where he talked with Ed Bradley about his organization and plans for the future.

During his travels Craig came into contact with many famous people, but he remains most impressed with the children he's trying to help. "Street kids have something to teach us all. Street kids take care of one another. These children don't have very much in terms of material possessions, but they do have their friends. If a child in India is crippled or has no legs, other street kids will carry him around from place to place. When I gave a street girl in Thailand an orange to eat, she immediately broke it into several pieces and shared it with her friends."

It's this dignity that inspires Craig to push harder to end child labor. He says, "We must not turn our eyes away from the millions of children working in abusive and hazardous conditions. As citizens of the world, we are all responsible for one another."

For more information about Kids Can Free The Children visit their website at: www.freethechildren.org .

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Copyright © 2002 Jennifer Page. All rights reserved.