wfn.org | "Just Help Us," Children's Network Organizer Tells Churches

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8-October-1996 
 
96384     "Just Help Us," Children's Network Organizer  
                          Tells Churches 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
GENEVA--Craig Kielburger, an innocent-looking adolescent from Toronto, 
Canada, knew nothing about child exploitation until he read a newspaper 
account about the murder in Pakistan of a 12-year-old carpet weaver who 
dared speak out about his own misery. 
 
     "He was the same age as me, and it was so terrible I just had to do 
something," Kielburger, now age 13, told members of the World Council of 
Churches Central Committee Sept. 19. 
 
     So with a group of about 20 friends in Toronto, he started a child 
advocacy organization, Free the Children, that in less than a year has 
spread "all across the world."  
 
     Ashtha Tuladhar, a 15-year-old from Nepal, was also ignorant of the 
dangers facing the world's children until she agreed to attend a United 
Nations-sponsored meeting that brought together children from her country. 
 
     "It was students and street kids and prostitutes -- we were all 
shocked at first," Tuladhar recounted.  "But then we began to understand 
each other and, once we did, we knew we had to get organized." 
 
     With help from UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Tuladhar and 
her newfound allies created Bal Chetana Samuha (Child Awareness Group), a 
children's rights group with networks of children throughout Nepal. 
 
     Now the WCC has joined the global effort to fight the abuse and 
exploitation of children worldwide. After establishing the rights of 
children as a WCC priority last year, the WCC hosted the International 
Consultation on the Rights of Children in May this year, in which 
Kielburger and Tuladhar participated. 
 
     The WCC has produced a booklet, "We Can Help Each Other" -- based on 
the consultation -- to assist member churches in their child advocacy 
efforts and to foster creation of a global child advocacy network. 
 
     "It is clear that churches can and should do more to respond ... to 
the dramatic situation affecting our children, taking care to address root 
causes," Drexel Gomez of the Church of the Province of the West Indies told 
the Central Committee.  Gomez chairs the WCC committee spearheading the 
effort. 
 
     According to the booklet: 
 
     *     There are an estimated 100 million homeless street children 
           worldwide under the age of 15. 
     *     One million children are forced into prostitution each year, 
           with most of them contracting HIV/AIDS. 
     *     There is an 80 percent mortality rate among children under the 
           age of five born with AIDS. 
     *     An estimated 190 children under the age of five suffer from 
           chronic malnutrition. 
     *     There are several million child slaves in the world. 
     *     At least 200 million children work full-time, mostly on farms in 
           South Asia. 
 
     But increasingly children -- and adults who support them -- are taking 
action to defend children. "It is very important that you know the 
incredible impact a number of organizations are having on this situation," 
Gomez told the Central Committee. 
 
     "We are very happy UNICEF has helped us, and we are very happy that 
the WCC is now willing to help as well," Tuladhar said.  "It doesn't matter 
what religion or color we are or you are," she added. "Just help us." 
 
     Kielburger agreed.  "Believe in us, challenge us and please don't 
underestimate us," he said. "Our generation will surprise you." 

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