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Volume CXXXII, Number 19 |
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Teenage activist speaks to Bowdoin community
TODD JOHNSTON
STAFF WRITER
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| Nineteen-year-old Craig Kielburger spoke at Pickerd Theater Thursday evening for approximately two hours. Kielburger founded an international organization for children at the age of 12. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
Nineteen-year-old Craig Kielburger wowed the Bowdoin College crowd last night in a packed Pickard Theater by calling on students for social activism and saying that we all have gifts to share with the world, no matter how large or small.
Craig's story is testimony to that. At the age of 12, he founded the non-profit organization, Kids Can Free the Children, which focuses on freeing children from poverty, exploitation and violence. Kielburger was flipping through the newspaper and, while in search of the comics, he came across a front-page headline of the newspaper that read, "Battled Child Laborer Boy, 12, Murdered." The Pakistani boy was murdered because he spoke out against child labor.
"The one thing that linked us was our age-we were both 12," says Kielburger. Kielburger says that he didn't know what to do, but that he needed to do something. A meeting with his group of friends evolved into his organization, Kids Can Free the Children, an entirely youth-run organization that now has over 100,000 members (all below the age of 18) in 35 different countries. He and his organization have won numerous international peace awards for their service.
In his talk and slide presentation to Bowdoin, Kielburger -showed images from his travels while telling stories about some of his worldwide experiences.
One story concerned the war in Kosovo. Kielburger met a 13-year-old Bosnian boy whose family had fled during the Bosnian war to Kosovo for safety, only to have his parents killed in Kosovo. As Kielburger movingly recalls, "He hadn't known a single day of peace." Kielburger often asks the children he comes in contact with, "What's your dream?"
The boy returned Craig's question with a blank stare. Craig said to the boy that he wanted to become a doctor. The boy replied, "It would be nice if we didn't need the doctors because that means that the bombs have stopped." Kielburger says, "The boy could not imagine what a future would bring to him. Children suffer the most when it comes to war."
Many statistics were featured in Kielburger's speech. Europe spends $10 billion on ice cream each year, while the U.S. spends the same annual amount on cosmetics. According to Kielburger, "It would take $10 billion to put every child in the world into school. We have the resources, the know-how and the skill to eliminate poverty. But do we have the will?" And do we have the right priorities?
The war with Iraq was also mentioned and the grave concern in providing needed post-conflict humanitarian assistance. Kielburger says the U.N. estimates that one-third of Iraqi children will die as a result of the war not because of bombs, but because of malnutrition.
At the end of his talk Kielburger spoke of a 14-year-old street boy named Jose he met in Brazil. Jose had virtually no possessions and he had lived on the street his whole life. He wanted to give Craig a gift, his only possession-the shirt off his back. Craig urged the boy to keep his shirt, but the boy insisted and was filled with such pride that he had something to offer Craig. Craig returned the favor by taking off his shirt and presenting it as a gift to Jose. Kielburger says, "It's the power of sharing what we have when we don't even realize what we have."
He challenged the Bowdoin community to build the next Bowdoin College building half a world away by diverting one-quarter of one student's tuition to such a cause. "Free the Children" has already built 350 schools worldwide. "All it takes is a group of students willing to spearhead it," says Kielburger.
During a trip to Calcutta, India, Craig Kielburger met with Mother Theresa before she passed away. Her words encapsulate Kielburger's message. He asked her, "How do you do it-day in and day out, working with people who are suffering and dying?" He retells the story like this: "She took my hands, looked into my eyes and said, 'But you must realize. We cannot do great things-only small things with great love.'"
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