The Story of Craig Keilburger

[Music] many years ago Holocaust victim and Frank once wrote how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world Craig Kielburger started at the age of 12 his work stretched a world away inspired thousands of children and thrust him into a perpetual limelight well he is a child no more today Craig is a young man with a mission in fact it's the very same mission and here on the shores of Lake Ontario that mission continues to unite thousands of children oceans apart [Music] India home to over a billion people home to the highest concentration of child laborers in the world the numbers are staggering most recently pointing at over 70 million children who spend their days working throughout India's carpet belt or their days collecting and sorting garbage but ten years ago and thousands of miles away a young boy growing in Thornhill Ontario would open eyes around the world to an expanding and desperate plague born in 1984 to a family of teachers Craig lived the typical suburban middle-class life Boy Scouts summer camp hanging out with friends and his older brother mark but one morning at the age of 12 everything would suddenly change he would read a newspaper story about a young Pakistani boy who at the age of four would be sold into slavery by his parents for less than 16 dollars for six years he would be shackled to a carpet weaving loom where he would tie tiny knots each day for hours at it was a Wednesday morning I still remember that it was like any regular morning I remember that I was thinking about the track and field tryouts were taking place that was the big thing in my mind and grabbed a bowl of cereal looked at the newspaper it was the Toronto Star and I was searching for the comic section and there was this picture I was on the front page of this boy with a bright red vest and his fist was clenched and was in the air and I stopped when I saw the title the headline because it said battle child labor boy 12 that's what caught my attention murdered and I started reading the lettuce story of the life of a pharmacy this young boy in Pakistan who was a former child slave who was sold into bondage when he was four years old who escaped and he started traveling around the world and came back to Pakistan as this activist speaking out against child labor against child slavery and was killed at the age of 12 and I looked at my life and I looked at his life and I remember when I finished reading this article I felt so angry about it that I actually tore it off the front page of the newspaper I actually just ripped it off and I shoved it in my backpack and I was riding the bus to school later on that day and I kept thinking you know what can I do what can I do 12 but then I got in for my grade 7 class and I'm crumpled this article and held it up and said I need your help I don't know what we can do but we have to do something who'll join me and about 11 hands went up and we became known if you count me as the group of 12 12 year olds that is a youth group dedicated to the elimination of child labor and the exploitation of children Greg and his friends were about to embark on a mission that would forever change their lives and the lives of the children who would join them he slowly emerged onto the world stage as a leader a child prodigy a Pied Piper of sorts who would preach against the perils facing children around the world a young boy who would dare venture out and educate the world about child labor the accidental activist was born but there is evidence says Craig but the activist inside of him was really born at an earlier age I remember when I was six years old Mark my older brother was 12 at that time and there was a grade 7 science fair project and it heated under environmentally friendly home cleaners and so as part of this he created this crazy experiment contraption in our kitchen mixing vinegar and baking soda and all these things improved basically that was safer in the environment and better to use these homemade mixtures than the branded products and sort of petition to challenge the Canadian government on this and so I was 6 and I would kind of follow him along holding this petition going high school to high school and he would send me out to go get signatures and I would run through the spiel and I'd practiced with him and collect the signatures and it was only years later did he actually tell me the reason he sent me out is because I was six and he thought I was so cute at that age that no one would say no they'd sign the petition when most twelve-year-old boys were busy playing on the soccer team are beginning to notice girls Craig was busy educating himself about the exploitation of children around the world his personal mission would start a movement a movement that saw children take the lead in what many adults had not been able to do before them Craig and his newly formed team would begin meeting on a regular basis planning strategizing raising money for a cause many of them were only beginning to understand fundraisers would lead to more fundraisers and slowly as we began this organization and it grew into an organization people started asking have you met these kids and have you seen the reality do you know this is what they want and I was saying no and they said well you know I thought to myself maybe I should go to Asia maybe I should meet these children myself and that's really was the turning point when I went to my parents we went from being a small club that it was just you know we'd meet on Saturday afternoons to an organization and I walked up to my mom and I knew if I got my mom and dad would say yes so I walked up to my mom and I said you know I've been doing this human rights and anti child labor thing for you know five months now I want to go to Asia I wanna I want I want you to let me take a two weeks off school first it was two weeks go to seven weeks the first was two weeks off school and I want to go to India and Pakistan and Bangladesh and Thailand and Nepal and I don't want you to come with me I want to go by myself and my parents they looked at me and they smiled and my mom said Craig we love you very much which is always a bad sign because you're not gonna get you want mr. Craig we love you very much but you're 12 and you can't take the subway downtown Toronto by yourself you can't go to Asia and after eight months of pleading and begging and I raised half the money myself and contacted local organizations and found a 25 year old chaperone who's from Bangladesh and spoke the language and put together this elaborate schedule finally my parents said yes and went on that trip that changed the course of for the children and it forever changed my life I still divide my life into pre Asia and post Asia meeting those kids seeing the reality on the ground [Music] to cut off Quixote is the chairman the South Asian coalition and child servitude sacs one of sacks rules is to organize raids to free children from bondage often children are working in factories under almost inhumane conditions that rival those of slavery we have guarantee free and compulsory primary education for all the children up to the age of 14 we are also guarantees that no child up to the age of 14 would be against any sort of hazardous work Kanaka come to do something where I can attend to Polly Parker all of us belong in the negative [Music] very few people are willing to conduct raids on these factories because the carpet mafia is notorious for its violence two of Keisha's colleagues have been killed while conducting raids on factories I was not able to attend the rain because it was white and therefore I would draw too much attention to the crowd the children had beheld as virtual slaves away from their families friends and childhood many of the children had been given by their parents used as collateral for loans others had never even received a penny for their labor so what's the master plan now the children have been freed and we want to reunite them with the parents far away in many ways my brother mark is the reason why I got involved and you know I'd like you to have him [Music] when he was younger he was involved environmental issues and I still remember when I was eight years old going to a school with him and he'd give me the petition he'd explained it all to me and I'd have to repeat what he said he was the first one that opened my eyes to human rights issues [Music] the children that Kalish rescued were going home they seem traumatized and anxious to be reunited with their families who they hadn't seen for three years families who had been tricked into sending their children into bondage they described the abuse they faced how when they made a simple error they were being humiliated and beaten of course you suffering from malnutrition and most of these children suffer from lung diseases because of continuous inhaling of guellen-- then we went to rescue these children yesterday we found that the entire place was full of bull and us there was no proper ventilation it was extremely unhygenic to the children there was no even proper lighting but these children have worked since morning till late evening and they were given only just one square metre big in the train ride back to the village subtree drive back to the village you're supposed to take a train hatching work out [Music] I think I have given back like this under tiny children in total have you returned to their families relatives well so far we have submitted about 30,000 jiggle in all these 15 years of time by the time we arrived at Manila's village it was already dark so now we are in the village of Ramadan these are the villages which don't have any lights no electricity at all many of them have never seen the tube light or evolved in their life there's no question of telephone most of them have no idea of telephones most of them have never been to any hospital there is no hospital there is no approach you know it was sad saying goodbye to moon ela a new friend I was happy to again see him with his parents and his siblings in their brace of his mother through their desperate poverty they had been forced to send him into a life of slavery but I knew now they would never again make that mistake about this little lake the death so we developed an article on another bathroom it is that it was very bad and I saw my mother in dreams and she also said the same thing that has higher human brain [Music] I wonder if any the children ever be dropped off couple days ago arrived serious after they've met their families again the rescued bonded laborers come here for up to six months of vocational training and psychological counseling the training gives them a chance at a future so he is that unfortunate boy who has been blended with red-hot iron rods by his master on first of November night because he helped freeing his younger brother and another friend of him he was caught his hands and legs were bound with rope and blended with red-hot iron rod several places can see pulse in the neck he was in such a severe trauma he was not speaking a single word not crying not smiling no emotions no feelings but only after three weeks of continuous psychotherapy he was able to speak pose his first word uh first was he started somebody somebody saw that he is singing a song sitting sitting there in the middle of it could he sing a song yeah yeah well Ghana Ghana thundera we just gotta go my door as a kid you little man if you wanted to live live me this my bit long don't cry don't set your tears there are storms there are disasters in the life they are ups and downs but don't shed you appear spy what we saw on that trip was everything from children who were literally bought and sold in in situations of slavery in parts of Pakistan where parents were paying off debts taken by their parents and then their children in turn were sold into slavery we when of the pact pong districts of Thailand the children who were being sexually abused by foreigners who are coming through we went on raids in India and Varanasi helping to literally kick down the doors and bring children out of the factories bring them to their families and to see them reunited to seeing alternatives you know being in Kerala region that's almost completely eliminated child labor mother Teresa meeting with her at the orphanage seeing the home for the sick and the dying and the homes for the children to meeting the prime minister who was with a Team Canada trade delegation at the time and was talking about money and commerce and signing trade deals but not about human rights or child rights or child labor and holding a press conference with two free former child slaves who told their stories to the Canadian press corps who was there at the time and put it on the front page of the newspapers across Canada and put it in the front page in front of the prime minister and sitting down with him and meeting with him after that and saying while you're here you know what Canada wants isn't just trade it isn't more money there are certain values that are universal and they're also close to us as Canadians and those include the rights of children Society [Music] it's craft line cutting a meter of sugarcane to receive only one cent so all three eventually in the world will see children who do not work but at this point they have to work to help their family in many cases survive child labor a child abuse can not be tolerated if it's crossed that line if it's become exploitation and if it's become abuse it must be stopped in 1990 leaders from around the world gathered together and they drew up the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which lists the most basic rights of children including the right to an education the right to be protected from abuse and exploitation the right to be treated with dignity seven years have passed and yet this child abuse still continues these children have little faith in politicians and fancy laws and conventions drawn up on their behalf as children you simply do not want to be the passive recipients of kindness there are sometimes the media I do get a bit frustrated and sometimes I would just like to kind of go off and do my own thing and just meet the kids have any of their friends ever been seriously hurt by the police or even killed it doesn't work but I do realize that you know for every speech that I give I can reach 100 200 thousand people well through the media we can reach enormous numbers of people we were shot or something by the police does you think oh by who first talking the result we have is working with the law you mentioned regional disrupt thanks to this law was passed in Canada and eleven other countries but here in Italy this law does not exist and when I met with various senators this is one of the points that I wanted to bring up to try to bring it here also Canadian authorities Italian citizens have to say they will definitely look into it and I hope that means that when they look into it they will definitely ensure that comes to be [Music] if no change was coming about or if I was not doing this for a good issue what I continue to do this no I am doing this friendship which I love and I am doing this for an issue which I care strongly about and that's the reason why I do it that's what makes it all as long as the media to get the facts truthfully as long as they act responsibly then I think the media is doing a wonderful job and they will present the issue and that will challenge people to take action how much are you paid per day on average working here [Music] we at Murray the children are receiving thousands of letters from children around the world saying tell me what I can do to get involved I want to help to change the world what we have to do is take that money invested in education invested in job training skills to have these street children everybody knows that but nobody doesn't do nothing here in real what's profession taking steps [Music] meeting these children I learned that you know that's that's their gift to me and then I turn point with media and taking their voice and it's repeating what they say I think as a funnel one for what they say that's my gift bid I [Music] want to be able to give them something and I can't always promise them that will create a project in the neighborhood I can't always promising that their government will bring about a change but leasts a little [ __ ] I your holiness over the past two years have had the opportunity to meet children who work in exploitative and abusive conditions how can these children grow up to be peaceful when all they've ever known is violence there is an impossibility to change this society mustardseed accept this part of our society and must have been in the society which sense of caring thank you taken can we have a quick photo your little thank you sir [Music] would be different it would be different for everyone in Brazil [Music] when I stepped off the plane after that trip from Asia everything changed at that point there was press at the doors we had hundreds of people who had gathered to greet us who heard about our story kids came boy scout groups parents brought their kids at a school they all wanted to learn more about how they can help we started getting letters and emails and phone calls and just this deluge of press from all around the world chapters started in Japan in Germany we had groups spring up in Australia we started helping support projects we've known 45 countries around the world but requests for aid from kids and parts of Africa who heard about our activities and asked if they can get involved it started to speak in schools not just one and two at a time but they would gather school groups together to hear about our mission we would talk to kids who in turn they would go out and spread it even further web sites popped up kids who set up their own versions chapters of the organization started to fundraise government leaders who invited us to sit down with them changing laws in Canada Italy Mexico to better defend children rights fundraising activities kids who had mail us at a time quarters to postcards that they had collected in you know pop bottle drives literally almost overnight a movement was born on people who heard about what we were doing and especially kids who wanted to help they knew that there was poverty and suffering and they knew this existed in the world but for the first time they saw that as kids they don't have to wait until they were adults they could do something right now we're the first generation they grew up with the Internet you know I can't remember the Berlin Wall falling you know I don't remember a world beyond chat rooms or CNN and 24 hour connection kids they know the part of a global world the global citizens and with that comes a certain responsibility kids want to help and I think parents have a choice because they could either they can either keep treating young people the way they have in the past and telling them they're too young to make a difference and to close their eyes and if you can't close their eyes they'll close their hearts to the suffering of others because they see it anyways or you can tell young people to open their eyes to open their hearts to care to act and more than just act to be empowered by acting kids want to get involved it's a choice of schools it's a choice of parents a choice of media and educators whether they're ready to respond to this idea that kids should be seen and heard when public life returns who is the young man behind the mission and what makes him tick [Music] [Music] it's a typical Tuesday afternoon a short drive away from his classes at the University of Toronto Craig is back at the free the children offices on College Street nestled comfortably in front of his colleagues as they plan their next project founded by Craig in 1995 Free The Children is the largest international network of children helping children around the world more than a hundred thousand youth are involved in 35 countries the organisation to date has built four hundred three the children schools around the world delivered two hundred thousand school and health kits to impoverished children ship more than nine million dollars in essential medical supplies provided health care centers and community funding and help a hundred and twenty three thousand people by providing access to clean water and improve sanitation today is different though today celebration is in the air as one of the staff marks of birthday here life is openly celebrated and special occasions are fodder for fun looking at words the power works the power of labels at 22 Craig has grown into a young man with the same driving force he had at the age of 12 he is a full-time student at the University of Toronto where he is studying Peace and Conflict his new goal is to pursue his PhD then eventually to pursue a career with the United Nations he's been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize three times in 1997 he received the state of the world forum award and in 1998 was awarded the Roosevelt freedom medal despite an intensive academic schedule he maintains his heavy involvement with free the children but is moving away from his role of spokesperson in pursuit of higher learning dr. dan dole Herrmann or dr. Dan as he's known first met Craig last year Craig ironically and most appropriately was a student in dr. Dan's positive psychology class while dr. Dan had heard of Craig long before he didn't make the connection immediately there was a Nobel Peace Prize nomination process that I actually stumbled across on the internet and honestly I don't remember when this was a couple of years ago where people could vote on the person that they thought should be given the Nobel Peace Prize and and so I read the BIOS in there whatever the little excerpts on a on each person and that's how I discovered Craig as the days went on at the University of Toronto campus dr. Dan began to realize who Craig wants Craig didn't save that much in class which was kind of interesting given his background but he I guess he chose his questions carefully he probably said 5 or 6 things the entire semester which were excellent questions and I would say elevated the Congress having in class but as a result I mean it wasn't a it certainly wasn't a dominating dominating personality in the class or anything like that so it was a while before I I became more and more aware of episode it understandably was thank you for the great honor first impressions for dr. Dan were quick and positive it didn't take long for the professor to realize the confident flamboyant speaker was prone to reflective thought choosing to observe and weigh in before contributing thoughts and asking questions completely Sisir he is completely sincere and passionate and I don't have the words but Craig Craig is a very intense individual and he pursues his studies the same way so I mean he would have in somehow with the schedule that he has he would he would have done the readings he would have thought you know about the at least certainly the superficial level of conversations we were having in class and then he would have gone very deep and thought about amazing amazing extensions of the kinds of things that we were thinking about and that's what he would generally bring up in class and it would be every you know two or three weeks he would just sort of raise his hand ask a question and it would be amazing the question we reserved the hardest library he's gonna hang out to the quiet observer Craig is popular well-spoken Jean teal man his impact on others becomes quickly evident what kind of impact does he have on people around him including you Craig's inspiring what else can he say he's an inspiring individual Craig embodies qualities that I think make people better people and so when you see someone especially someone that's a few years younger that I am living the life that he lives with the intensity and passion and caring that he has it's it's inspirational that shows you what's possible not to elevate Craig on some sort of you know unattainable pedestal and in fact we're trying to do the opposite because it's not that he I don't think belongs on a pedestal Craig I don't know how to say this the right way but you know Craig doesn't have qualities that are out of reach of the average person right I think he embodies qualities that are within all of our grasp and so he shows everybody how they how caring they could be if they only sort of tapped into that caring and how dedicated they could be if they only tapped into their sources of commitment and the things that drive them and that they're passionate about but really says dr. Dan the ability to lead people is to show them the road to their own potential is that not true of most people that we would think are great you know when you when you look at some of the truly well great figures of the past and you think about who they were many of them come from fairly humble backgrounds many of them are very normal individuals maybe they were thrust into extraordinary circumstances like Terry Fox leaps to mind because you know Terry Fox is on people's minds spring right around now this year or at this time of the year but he was just a normal person thrust into extraordinary circumstances rose above their circumstances and inspired millions of people right so Craig is a normal individual with a normal background who at some point started thinking maybe a little differently or acting maybe a little differently and it's snowballed into the life that it leads now and it shows people what they can do with their lives over time it was so interesting seeing him be so passionate about a subject and you know regular household create seven students he was somebody who was just a you know a regular kid in 12 years old and then when I remember very distinctly when he read the article and I never actually quite seen him mad before and he was he was visibly upset about what was happening and about the situation and not knowing it what situation so it was it was in one end it was very just fascinating to see him become so passionate about a subject which was great and then it was also really curious to see what he would do with it thoughts were free the children surged which I asked you for and leaders day brochures as well okay Kim flew as first learned about free the children herself at the age of 12 at 19 she is one of the organization's key players as program facilitator for volunteer now an arm free the children her role is to educate children the world about the importance of volunteering for our social cops tonight she is preparing for a presentation she'll make at a school in Connecticut about free the children and how the children there can join the movement Craig is an amazing friend he is someone that is one of the only people my life that challenges me on my thoughts and ideas but beyond that he would be the reason as to why I am where I am today it was by one simple choice that he decided to start free the children but it's the movement that happens since then that has just swept millions of people up and one of them with me and I think all the time if I didn't have free children where would I be right now would I be like my peers in Oakville and that happened because of him because of the dedication and the passion he had to help stop child labor and then from there to encourage youth empowerment and the opportunities that he himself but for the chi'lan as well has been able to give me by being to work here now and you will offer that same programming to more youth has literally been the thing in my life that has changed it and become an amazing positive role that is made my life something that I love living everyone those things like his or two kids shouldn't be taken seriously for a lot of the issues he stands up for and he just kind of risen above that and said like even our people who can just be cast away and said no you're too young or wait till you're older they have to be involved or however old they're and when you hear people say that can't make a difference what do you think I just refer to like he's such a great example of someone who has and he was called like the most powerful kid in the world I thought that was really interesting because some like the amount he's done in such a short time and so she had the age he started doing it creates an interesting friend he's got the type of personality where you can just hang out with him you can just have a great time you can go see a movie and also you can also discuss about world issues you can really help you out with some of the work that you do so he's got that great mix of a type of character that you can really be yourself with and you can still get your work done he could teach you things and it's great you see an average kind of guy he's that rich type of guy yet he still has to do what what regular young people do we still have time to go out and go catch a catch a movie go out dancing do many things and he's still like same type of things that all of us do yet he's still also that person with who has depth of character and who really is dedicated to what he does and which really inspires us being his friends it's still pretty inspirational having him around if you could describe him in five words just five words what would you say intelligent a great role model a huge heart dedicated and passionate I don't think Greg ever has a bad day because he makes the best out of everything whether he's just it's just him laughing falls down the stairs he's laughing it's just anything anything he whenever if something does go back he makes the best of it he just channels all any negative energy anything and he'll just channel that into something positive making the best of everything how do you think he does everybody has been dating Craig Craig is he's he's something else he's there there aren't really words to describe Tim person he is but he's just able he's so passionate about what he does every day he lives it from day to day and he can get over anything really can we dissect Craig or an individual such as Crick wow that's a really good question um dissect I mean know basically like I know you probably want a different answer than that but I think we can identify broad factors that have a fairly reliable and predictable influence on people's behavior and things like that but for any individual to say exactly what makes them tick exactly what was the turning point in their lives or what is the quality that leads to whatever I become you're interested in I don't think you can do that over over you know a broad class of individuals you can say the kinds of things that lead to certain outcomes so we could do that okay let's try that okay sure will if I okay so if I had to identify two characteristics of Greg that have led him to where he is right now I mean you could carve this up in a number of different ways but if I do identify two he's caring Craig is extraordinarily caring he's confident right Craig has the confidence to be the twelve-year-old kid standing up in front of his class or a school or whatever and starting to get people involved in something those qualities having that confidence that sense of efficacy or or whatever you might want to call it and having that that compassion or that caring or that empathy those qualities you know are somewhat mysterious and where do they come from who knows right but they reliably do come from stable caring backgrounds where people were raised in certain ways so there is a certain nod I think one should make to Craig's parents they did a great job producing Greg and Mark obviously as individuals who have that sense of confidence to begin with and have the the perspective I guess to look at side of themselves right to look at what's going on with other people and to be willing to care about them [Applause] thank you [Applause] thank you for the great honor thank you for the kind words and thank you for the very warm welcome we who have a voice must be the voice for the voiceless those are the words of Archbishop Romero spoke in two days before he was assassinated for working on behalf of the poor of Latin America and his call to action was brought to mind when I read tonight's reading from Proverbs the scripture that we heard a little bit earlier speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves protect the rights of all who are helpless speak for them and be a righteous judge protect the rights of the poor and the needy the International Peace Award carries with it a similar challenge and on behalf of free the children and our youth members I wish to express our deepest appreciation and gratitude for this great honor I thanks especially to President Stephen BZ for believing in the power of young people the Clyde Wendell for your gracious support to andrew Bolton for your warmth and your generosity is abuse see the humble jewel a to the monkey boy AG and play along this don't forget the co Chaudhary he completely delegate the lap polynésie from safe the noob and Caledonia a BAC of MU P La Canada it is an honor to receive this commendation from an organization with such a long and acclaimed history as champions for international peace and social justice around the world the community of Christ since its earliest days has been an advocate since the 1830s on the frontier your organization was started by young people Joseph Smith Jr was only 14 years old when he experienced his first vision only 24 years old when he helped to found this church today 50 years later you continue in that tradition of being an advocate for children's rights of supporting those who are conscious objectors to war and speaking out for those who have no one else to speak for them drawing attention to the plight of people particularly right now in Darfur in Sudan and accepting this recognition were privileged to follow in the footsteps of distinguished civil rights leaders and peace builders some of whom were mentioned this evening many of whom our life mentors for me role models and I'm honored to call them friends Craig has an amazing ability to focus his concentration and I think that's I don't know if he did when he was 12 I have no idea but he does now and maybe that has something to do with the life he's led over the last 10 years I mean if you if you spend any time with him in a normal day his days are crazy and the BlackBerry and you know having conversation with somebody and then you know having to make decisions about something else and knowing that he has to catch a plane in 20 minutes and and somehow study for you know his exam 2 days 2 days later because he's a student and somehow he holds that all together and holds it all together by being we focused on what he's doing so again where does that come from right that's another one of those qualities Craig is somebody who is an amazing passionate leader number one he is somebody who is deeply committed about the mission but he also internalize it it's not a situation whereby it's just you know to the sake of doing the mission it's something that he basically and very much cares about and I have the privilege of seeing the different circumstances I have the chance of seeing him backstage when he's coaching the kids before they go in front of the benefit concert they're so nervous and he acts as that mentor I had the chance to see him when we're in Kenya together and he is buying bread for the street kids that nobody else can see but he's buying bread for them just before we leave and we drive off to our place that we're staying in I Roby and of course he just doesn't want to have him to have a chance just have eat that night he wants to make sure that everybody has a chance to eat he's very personable it's very approachable and he's very human and he just cares he just somebody who deeply cares and I have the privilege of seeing him putting the karent action on yes a global level international on the Canadian level but also on a one-to-one level and one day a very senior person the government called me over and he said hey Mark what type of legacy do you want to leave and the senior government officials said I think you should go volunteer in the slums of Thailand but for a street child in slum - Thailand something as simple as knowing your birthday is a luxury and so a lot of these kids simply did not know when their birthday was so for me and for leadership and one of my sparks was a very special day and I asked them I said so how do you celebrate your birthday's and the people at the center and the street kids told me we choose one day as all our birthdays and we have one big birthday party we've heard about a lot of the world's problems and sometimes ladies and gentlemen we need to put these into perspective because we see these things and sometimes we feel overwhelmed we might be all geared up ready to go but once we leave this collective hub of intellectual ideas what happens well we want to tell you if you remember nothing else after these next three days that change is possible that's how it starts it starts with a single commitment a single promise sometimes a single spark that's why we're up here today I think that the challenge facing our generation is the most ambitious and the most urgent in human history because for the first time ever we have the means we have the ability to end absolute poverty within our lifetime I'd like to commit to building a hundred schools around the world a hundred schools we were building schools primary schools and we were having a problem we were running late on construction and we went to the elder of the community this tiny woman and we said we have a problem what are we gonna do and she said no problem I'll call a mingi I was at a what she said I'll call a mingun she walks out of her house it's tiny hot and she shouts at the top of her lungs tomorrow there will be a mingi no idea what was taking place but the next day hundreds of people started pouring in from all the neighboring villages you had men who left their fields and harvest season the women with babies strapped to their back and children who'd never go to the school because it was too far for them to walk every day they just came out in the hundreds they asked for nothing in return no payment they volunteered their labor they built the school and they even brought food to share with the community and then they laughed we're amazed we never imagined that 10 years later our projects would impact the lives of more than 1 million children all around the world building over 400 primary schools clean water projects medical clinics in 21 developing countries here in North America working with student leaders time for action is now we are not apathetic there are many battles left to be fought in our organization we have a slogan that we are the generation that we have been waiting for it means that we cannot wait to be leaders of tomorrow that we as young people are called right now to be leaders of today what do you get out of it unbelievable in that I'm the luckiest kid in the world and I still believe that I'm from you know who else growing up would have had the chance to sit down and learn from the Dalai Lama or the Pope or mother Teresa or some great human rights leaders and kids to travel the world to have a chance to really do something at the end of the day that you can be proud of and you can smile they made a difference in the world you know I'm a big believer that out of everything that we've given we've received so much back in return and anyone who volunteers will say the same thing everyone knows that to be life's greatest secret that when you get involved helping others it helps you you know there's a there's a book that we wrote called me to we turning self-help on his head the whole message is how helping others helps you and I look back in my life and I think for example how I have an older brother who's six years older but I was 12 he already moved out of the house by that point you know that's what brought us together brought her family together in many cases was by getting involved in doing for the children mark and I traveling together through parts of Africa he taught me how to drive in Kenya when I was 14 years old or we were backpacking India you know talking about we want to do enrolled or you know or the fact that our parents are still involved with volunteer is helping out an organization or you know life opportunities you know I'm here at the University of Toronto studying Peace and Conflict Studies what I hear in my class makes because I've actually seen it on the ground you know in so many ways when you do get involved it builds from families you know the statistics that we see about health about living a longer life a higher quality of life you know I can't help but doing a plug for people who are listening get involved volunteer is one of the greatest things in the world you know I'm a big believer that all of us in life have a calling of some sort and it's set before us and it can be big or small for some it's being a teacher others it's being a great parents for some it's working internationally in human rights so what I love to do are you changing the world well I happen to believe we all change the world and we forget that often because when we act or when we fail to act we're still changing the world if we turn the paper and we ignore the story that 12-year old boy who is killed in Pakistan we're still changing the world with that act or if we decide to help with one person it does change the world [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Sherine Mansour

Views: 62,135

Rating: 4.6716418 out of 5

Keywords: CraigKeilberger, Public Life, child labour, India, Pakistan, Free the Children, Sherine, Mansour

Id: wRYW1Ic-jsU

Length: 58min 43sec (3523 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 08 2011