Greg Keilburger - An Uprising By Children Against Child Labor - 11/12/98

Craig Kielburger became aware of the problem of child labor and the exploitation of children after reading a newspaper article about the death of a 12-year-old boy from Pakistan. At age four, Iqbal Masih was sold into slavery and shackled to a loom to make carpets. When he was ten, he escaped, and at twelve, he was murdered. Shocked by the differences in their lives, Craig researched the issue of child labor, then organized his friends and classmates in Ontario, Canada, to form the children's organization Free The Children. Today, there are more than 100 chapters around the world, working with governmental leaders to make the education and protection of children a priority and raising funds to create alternatives for children who are abused and exploited.