In the News
April 19, 2013 –
Kielburger rippling with hope
In a rapid-fire delivery of barely suppressed energy, Craig Kielburger talked about ripples Friday.
The country’s most famous volunteer was addressing Friday morning’s appreciation breakfast for United Way volunteers at the Rogers K-Rock Centre, a frenetic talk so overflowing with passion and ideas you got the feeling he wished there could be two of him on stage, he had that much to say.
He said volunteers have a ripple-like effect on their communities “beyond what we ever could have imagined” and noted “how unexpected and how unaware we sometimes are of how things are set in motion.”
He said volunteers who raise money for an agency may never really know how that money helps a family in need.
“Those of you who mentor a student, you never really know the impact you will have in the life of that one student,” he said. “That’s the power of volunteerism. That’s the power of putting into motion events we never could imagine. We never know the true impact, the true ripple effect.”
He cited his own modest first foray into the world of volunteerism.
It was Apr. 19, 1995, exactly 18 years before he took the stage in Kingston, and a 12-year-old Craig Kielburger was leafing through the newspaper at the breakfast table in his Thornhill, Ont. home.
He came across a story that told of the murder of a Pakistani boy who had been championing the rights of child labourers. The boy, also 12, had been just four when he was pledged by his family as collateral against a loan. He was pressed into working in a carpet factory but got away and became a global cause-celebre against child labour. But on returning to Pakistan he was shot to death while riding his bicycle in apparent retaliation for the unwanted publicity he brought the industry.
That was Kielburger’s first exposure to the ripple effect.
A reporter the other side of the world had written a story that was about to change his life.
Furious at what had happened to the boy, he ripped the story from the paper and took it to his Grade 7 class at school, exhorting his classmates to join him in doing something, anything, to make things better.
He remembers standing alone at the front of the class, terrified it was all going to fall flat, mentally willing his friends to put up their hands to indicate they were behind him.
Back then, he said, volunteering for something was a good way to find yourself shoved into a locker. The only thing worse was being in the glee club. So he knew it wouldn’t be easy for the students to join in.
Finally his best friend put his hand up. Ten more hands followed.
They initially called their ad hoc group “Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds” but when one of their number turned 13 a couple of weeks later they changed it to Free The Children.
Their early days weren’t too successful. One agency they approached suggested the best way they could help the world was by getting hold of their parent’s credit cards. But they persevered and caught the attention of the world.
There are now more than 1.7 million young people in the various programs that evolved out of Free The Children. They have built more than 650 schools in developing countries and sponsor health and clean water initiatives around the world.
The 12 friends had no idea what they had set in motion that day in Thornhill, said Kielburger.
“We never imagined the ripple effect that would create.”
He told the story of a television anchorman on a Fox News station. The man had been suddenly called to a playground where a child had strangled on a piece of playground equipment and he was to cover the story.
It turned out it was his own son.
The man’s life fell apart. He lost his job and his wife. He fell into a deep depression.
One day he saw an Oprah Winfrey show on Free The Children and knew he had to help out somehow. He went to Africa to help build schools to honour his son and give himself some closure.
Then the ripples spread further.
On his return, he was in a store replacing the clothes he had given away in Africa when he met a young man whose legs had been amputated at the hips.
The man had been told he would never be a functioning member of society. But he had other ideas and led a life as full as his impaired mobility would allow.
The journalist convinced the young man to go to Africa himself to help in any way he could.
Again it was the ripple effect in play, said Kielburger.
He said it was important for volunteers to know they are not alone; there is an army of them across the country.
He encouraged young people to get more involved.
Kids who volunteer get better grades, stay in school longer and get into trouble less, he said. After leaving school they tend to keep up their volunteering and are more likely to vote than those who don’t volunteer.
He said the best thing a parent can do for their child is to get them involved in volunteering. Find out what they are interested in and if they can’t find some existing program, they can start one of their own.
Kielburger’s include collecting non-perishable food items at Halloween, collecting pennies and staying silent to honour those who have no power of their own to speak up against injustice.
There is no better feeling at end of day than knowing you have made the world a little bit better place, he said.
Source: Michael Lea, Kingston Whig-Standard
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