The differences in their lives shocked Craig. He began to research the issue and discovered that there are 250 million children around the world between the ages of 8 and 14 working in slave-like conditions like Iqbal. He went to his friends and asked for help and that's how Free the Children was born.

Free the Children is dedicated to ending exploitive child labor and empowering youth to become involved in social issues.

They believe that adult workers should be paid a living wage and have the right to decent working conditions so that they can provide for their children and send them to school, not to workshops.

In order to accomplish their goal, Free the Children:

• works with union members;
• organizes children to get involved in issues of social justice and helps them be informed and active;
• helps to make the public aware and challenges governments and corporations to meet their responsibilities to stop this abuse by organizing activities such as letter writing campaigns and marches against child labor.

It shouldn't be so amazing what motivated young people can do. Craig, who maintains a 90 average in school, has given more than 200 speeches in the last few years and traveled to Asia, Haiti, Brazil, Morocco, Sweden, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Kenya to meet street and working children; to speak at schools, youth rallies and special events; to address union leaders, educators, business executives and government representatives.

When asked if adults take children seriously, Craig responded, "As young people we have learned that knowledge is power. That is why we make an effort to read and to educate ourselves on children's issues to gain credibility and respect when we speak. We are called 'simplistic' only by those adults who have never spoken to us directly and who stereotype youth. With the Internet young people have access to as much information as any adult. I often sit on panels with professors, CEOs and government officials. Child labor is a very complex issue, but that is no excuse to ignore the problem. Young people have power and can help improve the lives of other children. Who best can feel and understand children than other children?"

A few more of the hundreds of advocates for Free the Children are:

Dianna English is 14 years old and an honors student at Windham High School in Connecticut. She is the founder of Free the Children in Connecticut. Dianna regularly speaks to schools and does media work on the issue of child labor and children's rights. Dianna has spoken at the Missouri Federation of Teachers Conference in Kansas City, at the Child Labor Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C. and was the keynote speaker at National Louis University Middle School Conference in Wheeling, Illinois. Dianna represented youth on panels at the 1997 Confratute, an international institute for teachers, and at the Connecticut Youth Forum. She attended the Council for Economic Priorities Corporate Conscience Awards on behalf of youth. Dianna also volunteers her time at the Children's Law Center in Willimantic, Connecticut.

Adam Carter is 15 years old from Falls Church, Virginia. He has spoken to school groups at the Child Labor Conference in Washington, D.C. and to a Congressional Committee on Child Labor in Washington, D.C. Adam petitioned his school board to draft and sign a resolution stating that it supported the movement against exploitive child labor, and to that end, the school board resolved that it would make every effort to find distributors that do not use products made by children who are being exploited. He has also spoken to many schools in his community, encouraging students to help exploited child laborers.

Angela Mooney, 13 years old, from Delhi, Ontario has spoken about child labor and children's rights to schools, to church congregations, and to her school board. She and her team have organized fundraisers for FTC projects, initiated letter writing campaigns, established contact with Heartlinks to become informed about children's issues in Peru, and has participated in Free the Children's Youth Leadership Conferences.

Brent Dickson, 13 years old is a grade 8 student in Whitehouse, Ohio. He is the founder of OCACS (Ohio Coalition Against Child Servitude), has organized fundraisers for Free the Children, and has spoken to students and community groups on exploitative child labor. Brent addressed more than 1,000 supporters of U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur, last fall.

To contact Free the Children:

Free the Children International

16 Thornbank Road

Thornhill, Ontario

Canada L4J 2A2

Phone: (905) 881-0863

Fax: (905) 881-1849

Email: freechild@clo.com

Web: www.freethechildren.org

Free the Children - USA

12 East 48th Street

New York, NY

USA 100117

Phone: 1-800-203-9091 (USA only)