Who is Craig Kielburger?

Craig Kielburger is a humanitarian, New-York Time’s best-selling author, columnist, speaker and the co-founder of Free the Children. As a 12 year old boy, Craig along with his brother and a group of classmates founded Free the Children in 1995. Free the Children is now the world largest network of children helping children through education. Originally founded to combat child slavery, Free the Children works now towards this through its holistic five pillar model that targets the root causes of slavery. Craig is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Me to We, a social enterprise that partners with Free the Children. Described as a “business for good” Me to We sells ethical products and donates half of its net profit to Free the Children.

The Inspiration

Every morning when Craig was 12 years old, he woke up and had breakfast reading the comics in the newspaper. But one morning Craig never reached the comics section; he stopped on the first page of the newspaper. There he saw a picture of a boy, similar to Craig’s age, holding up a pencil. His name was Iqbal Masih. The article told of how Iqbal, a former child slave, was shot in front of his uncle’s house because of his activism against child labour.

Iqbal's Story

Iqbal was born in 1983 in the small town of Muridke, Pakistan. When he was just four years old his parents borrowed 600 rupees from the owner of a carpet factory to pay for the wedding of their eldest son. To repay the debt, which was the equivalent of only sixteen Canadian dollars, Iqbal was forced to work for the carpet factory. Chained to a loom Iqbal worked 12 hours a day, six days a week and was only granted a 30 minute break. As was the case for many children in Pakistan, the interest on his parent’s loan made it nearly impossible to pay off. When Iqbal reached the age of 10 his family’s debt had grown to 1300 rupees. He realized that his parents would never be able to pay off the debt with the rising interest rates. Iqbal escaped his bondage but due to the corruption of authorities in Pakistan, a bribe by the factory owner to the police soon brought Iqbal back to the factory where he was once again chained to a loom. Iqbal escaped again a short time after and joined the Bonded Labour Liberation Front where he became one of the most renowned speakers on child labour across the globe. Iqbal spoke holding a carpet tool in one hand and a pencil in the other. He told of his bondage and the power that education held. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1995 Iqbal went to visit his uncle who he had not seen in some time. Along the path leading to the fields that his uncle was working in he was shot dead. His assassins thought that the voice of child labour had been terminated but in the words of a young child slave named Shenaz, “The day Iqbal died, a thousand new Iqbals were born.”

Child Labour in Pakistan

In Pakistan many children are sold into bondage at a young age, when their families take out loans. In some of these cases, illiterate parents are tricked into deals with businessmen (mainly factory owners) who then not only have the right to the child’s labour, but also the right to sell the child to any other factory owner. High interest rates on these loans made it hard for these loans to be paid off. On top of that, mistakes made by the child results in a sum being added to the amount of money the parents owed. The factory owners also charge families for the bowl of rice that the child slaves are fed each day. More often than not, debts of families only increase after years of having their children chained to a loom.

Beatings in these factories are not uncommon. Most children exhibit scars on their hands and feet because of whippings. Sometimes children are hung upside down by their ankles. By working with carpet knives the children often cut themselves, especially when they are first introduced into the trade. Factory owners pour hot wax or fill them with matchstick powder and set them alight to stop the bleeding allowing the children to keep on working.

Although bonded labour has been made illegal through a series of laws dating back to 1934, the corruption of the justice system and the authorities fails to stop this harmful practice. Factory owners are known to bribe officials and police are even known to capture escaped slaves and return them to factories.

The Impact

Craig couldn't believe that a boy, the same age as him had not only lost his life, but had lost it for a cause that had robbed him of six years of freedom. Child Slavery was an intolerable barrier to the freedoms that every child was entitled to. It was also an issue that Craig hadn’t yet heard about. He wondered why this issue had not been spoken about more.

"Child labour is an issue of grave importance. It must become a top priority for all governments of the world. How can the world move into the twenty-first century with children still being exploited for their labour and denied their basic right to an education?"

-          Craig Kielburger

Craig believed that not only should these children be free from the oppressive conditions of their labour but that every child should have the right to an education.

"The change starts within each one of us. And ends only when all children are free to be children"

-          Craig Kielburger

 Craig wanted to become involved in this issue and he began calling Canadian Charities.

Hi. My name is Craig and I am 12 years old. I have recently been learning about child labour and I want to do something to help.

That is really great of you, Craig. Do you happen to know where your parents keep their credit cards?

Well, no. Isn’t there something else I can do?

Do you know where they keep their cash?

Craig realized that he not only believed that children in countries like Pakistan should have the opportunity to go to school but children in Canada should have more opportunities to help them. Craig strongly believes that if young people are given the inspiration and the tools that they need to make a difference they can change the world and change their own lives in the process.

What has Craig Done?

After reading the newspaper that Wednesday morning when he was twelve years old, Craig asked his classmates to join his cause. That same year, Craig travelled to South Asia. He visited the countries of India, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal to talk to children involved in slave labour and film his findings.

As Free the Children grew, the organization of youth gained media attention. Craig spoke at conferences across the world and was featured on many television programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show. Free the Children became an organization that, true to its name, freed children from slave labour by organizing raids. However as these raids continued, they began to notice that they were rescuing some of the children for the second time. Instead of simply continuing to break children out of bondage, Free the Children investigated the root causes of child labour and introduced the Adopt a Village Holistic Model. 

This model has been implemented in over 45 countries. Free the Children has built over 650 schools which educate 55 000 children each day. They have provided over a million people with access to clean water and sanitation and over 30 000 women with economic self-sufficiency. Since Me to We was started to engage youth and provide people with better choices for a better world, 2 300 000 youth have engaged in Me to We programming. The We Movement has been named “the movement of our time” and it all started with a 12 year old boy.

The Power of One and the Power of We

Craig Kielburger believes that each person has a responsibility to live a socially conscious life and to be active citizens.

"It's easier to be ignorant and say I don't know about the problem. But once you know, once you've seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable."

-          Craig Kielburger

Craig has written numerous books to inspire youth (Me to We, Living Me to We, Take Action, The Power of We Day) and also books for parents (The World Needs your Kid). Craig stresses the three C’s: Compassion, Courage and Commitment to create impactful citizens.

"The struggle began several years ago in communities and in cities in South America and Africa, where children were sold, tricked or forced into bondage as carpet weavers, domestic servants and child prostitutes. Now, children and adults march in the streets of Calcutta to protest. North Americans are not saving these children; we are supporting them in their struggle."

-          Craig Kielburger

       Through his books as well as his weekly column, Craig write about numerous  people he has met that have stood up in the face of conflict. A big focus of Craig’s is the power of one. He believes that with courage, one person can make a world of difference. He often writes about heroes who have taken it upon themselves to change prominent issues facing our world. These are people like Iqbal Masih, Malala Yousafzai, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. And when one of these amazing people has the courage to take a stance it is the job of others, even if they live across the globe, to aid in their struggle.