Embedded Files
Iqbal Masih and Craig Kielburgerl
Iqbal Masih and Craig Kielburgerl
Did you know that 60 percent of children in Ethiopia are forced to work? Most of them work in mines, which can be really dangerous! Iqbal Masih and Craig Kielburger both made a huge difference in ending child labor, and I will be telling you their stories, and how YOU can help!
Iqbal’s Story
Iqbal’s Story
Iqbal Masih was born in Pakistan, and when he was 4 years old, his family sold him to a Carpet Business for $12. He was sold so he could make money to pay for his older brother’s wedding, but sadly, that never happened. He and many other children had to tie tiny knots in the carpets. They was chained to the loom, so they couldn’t get up and stretch or move around. They didn’t get food or water to keep them small, because the overseers thought the longer their fingers were small, the more work they could get out of them. There was no light, and if they made a single mistake, they would be beaten and put into torture chambers.
Iqbal was 10 years old when he ran away from the Carpet Business. He ran to the Bonded Labor Liberation Front who was lead by a man with no children, Ehsan Ullah Khan. Iqbal completed 6 years of school in 2 years. He wanted to be like Abraham Lincoln, and free all the children to let them have a chance to be a child and go to school. “Children should have pens in their hands not tools” (Masih).
He went around the country, declaring verbal war against Carpet Business. He stood up for children who didn’t have a voice, and people listened. He started sneaking out of Pakistan because he wanted people to know about what was happening. He spoke around the world, raising awareness about child labor. When he came to America, he told people about what was happening. The Carpet Business lost about $10 million worth of orders after Iqbal started speaking out. He was going finish what he started, but sadly, when he returned to Pakistan on a regular Easter Sunday of 1992, he was shot and killed in front of his grandmother’s house. It is not known who shot him.
Craig’s Story
Craig’s Story
Craig Kielburger was born on December 17, 1982, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the founder of WE Charity. When Craig was 12, he found out about Iqbal’s death. The article he read was about Iqbal’s life, and he looked at the similarities between their lives, them both being 12. Then it hit him. Craig imagined Iqbal having the same dreams as him. He knew that he had to do something about child labor and to free all those children. He started doing research and announced his plan to his school class. He planned on starting a group to help end child labor. His group started only with 20 people, but now they have groups all over the world. "It's easier to be ignorant and say I don't know about the problem. But once you know, once you've seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable." (Kielburger).
Adults didn’t think they were doing their research so they didn’t take them seriously, and when he was 14, he started the “Free The Children” organization. Craig traveled around the world, speaking out and visiting working children. Consumer pressure resulted in the Pakistan government building more than 1 thousand literacy centers! He appeared on TV and talked to politicians. One time he was doing and interview with someone named Cate Malek. They talked about “Free The Children” and child labor. Craig is still making a difference around the world today.
How YOU can help
How YOU can help
Did you know that most of Indonesia’s tobacco is produced by thousands of children as young as 8? Now YOU can help stop this by following these helpful tips. You can educate yourself about child labor. You can ask retail stores, manufacturers, or importers about where their products are coming from. Don’t buy anything that came from places that have child labor. You can volunteer to groups that are helping free children and donate to them. Some groups are The Global March Against Child Labor, or the International Initiative to End Child Labor. You can ask local, regional, or national legislators to make laws to no child labor products are used. There are laws that restrict kids from working in places that are bad for their health and to make sure kid’s main focus is on education.
Those aren’t the only ways, though. You can ask businesses in child labor areas to put pressure on officials to take appropriate action on child labor. You can write letters to governments in child labor areas to enforce their laws, and lastly you can educate other people about child labor so they can follow these tips to help end child labor, just like Iqbal and Craig. "I won't give up until the exploitation of all children has ended and all children have their rights." (Kielburger).
Iqbal and Craig both made a huge impact on child labor, but there is a lot different about them. Their stories are a huge deal, and I hope you learned ways to help. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next person to make a huge impact on child labor.
Glossary
Glossary
Knots: A fastening made by tying a piece of string, rope, or something similar.
Loom: An apparatus for making fabric by weaving yarn or thread.
Government: The governing body of a nation, state, or community.
Manufacturers: A person or company that makes goods for sale.
Laws: The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
Report abuse