MDG #2 Achieve Universal Primary Education

At the age of 12, Craig Kielburger read an article in the local paper about the murder of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child labourer turned child rights activist who had been sold into child labour at the age of four as a carpet weaver. For six years, Iqbal worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, tying tiny knots to make carpets. After he escaped at the age of 10, Iqbal began speaking out against child labour to try to free other child slaves. When Iqbal was 12, he was murdered, a crime that remains unsolved.

Iqbal had never been to school, never had the freedom of a normal child.

Craig was shocked by the differences between Iqbal’s life and his own. He soon discovered that there were 250 million child labourers in the world, one half of them working full-time; many in hazardous conditions. Craig knew that he had to help. In 1996, in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, he gathered a group of his friends, most of them 12 years old like himself and, together, they started Free The Children to help free children from poverty, exploitation and powerlessness.

Now 25 years old, Craig has traveled to more than 50 countries, visiting underprivileged children and speaking out in defence of children’s rights. He heads an organization that has changed the lives of more than one million young people around the world. Under his leadership, Free The Children has build more than 500 schools in Asia, Africa and Latin America, providing daily education to more than 50,000 children every day; earned four Nobel Peace Prize nominations; and built successful partnerships with leading school boards as well as the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network. Craig is also the co-founder of Leaders Today, an organization that empowers young people through leadership education, inspiration and action tools to take action and make a difference.

The power of one --- yes, one person can make a difference in the world. Small differences can mark the beginning of substantial change.