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Freedom Fighter

By Andrea Delbanco

When TFK first met Craig Kielburger 10 years ago, he was 13 years old and already active in the fight for kids' rights. At that time, Kielburger told TFK: "Kids can make a difference." He sure proved that right.

In seventh grade, Kielburger learned that children around the world were being forced to do dangerous, difficult work. He became outraged. To raise awareness about child labor, he and a few school friends in Thornhill, Canada, began an organization called Free the Children. They wanted to free poor children from cruel working and living conditions, but they knew they needed a realistic plan. So they raised money to build schools and promote education, hoping that learning would help kids to live a better life.

From there, Free the Chil-dren grew quickly. Kielbur-ger's children's charity now includes a network of more than 1 million young members in 45 countries. The money they have raised has been used to build more than 420 schools and to pay for medical programs in poor communities. On March 4, the group plans to open a new school and job-skills training center in Sri Lanka. They worked with Oprah Winfrey to pay for the project.

Even after so much success, Kielburger, now 23, remembers his tough start in seventh grade. "We got teased by other kids, who said you can't change things," he told TFK. But he kept at it. Now, he wants today's kids to join the fight. "The first step is the hardest. Go to freethechildren.org. Bring it to your teachers," he said. "As you gain more confidence and get more committed to the issue, friends will join you, adults will join you. It just gets easier."

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