Clean Water Posters Arrive!

January is the time to take action to provide access to clean water and basic sanitation to impoverished children across the globe. In 2006, you can provide families with clean water in style with the Adopt a Village: Clean Water campaign poster!

Did you know?

• Waterborne bacterial diseases kill an estimated 1.5 million people every year, the majority of whom are children.
• Approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide lack safe water and 2.6 billion have no sanitation.
• The lack of access to safe water and sanitation denies children their right to an education, especially girls, as they are busy fetching water and cannot attend school.

Through the Adopt a Village: Clean Water campaign, you can raise awareness and raise funds to fight for the health and future of children in developing countries. Once you register, we will send you the Clean Water campaign kit, which includes a wall-size poster, stickers of water drops to track your fundraising progress, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. Each water drop sticker represents an amount of money raised, and when you’ve added all the water drop stickers on the poster, you will have raised the funds needed to develop clean water projects for a village.

Register your Adopt a Village: Clean Water campaign today and start changing the world! To register, and for more information about the Clean Water campaign, visit the “campaigns” section of the Youth Zone at www.freethechildren.com/youthzone.

 

Vow of Silence:
Say it through silence

Are you passionate about ending the poverty and exploitation that children face worldwide?

Through the Vow of Silence campaign, you can fight child poverty and exploitation and change the world! As part of Vow of Silence, youth from across North America will be completely silent for 24 hours on March 1st – Day of Silence. For 24 hours youth will stand in solidarity with the millions of children in the world who do not have a voice to speak out against the social and economic forces that deny them their right to an education, economic opportunity, and safe living conditions.

For each hour of silence, pledges will be collected to help give children a voice by building schools, providing sustainable sources of income, and ensuring clean water and sanitation. The Vow of Silence is a great way to raise money for the Adopt a Village campaign!

You can participate in Vow of Silence as an individual or as part of a group! For more information and to register your Vow of Silence campaign, visit the “campaigns” section of the Youth Zone at www.freethechildren.com/youthzone.

In the “campaigns” section, you can also access the Vow of Silence resource kit, which includes a step-by-step guide to getting started, important statistics, tips on how to work with the media, and more!

But remember, if March 1st, 2006 doesn’t work for you, please feel free to pick another date.

Story to Inspire

Adopt a Village Updates

Hey Global Citizens,

Early on in December, I had the chance to speak to the entire student body at St. Christopher School in Clarkson, Ontario. After my speech, the students were so excited to participate in the Adopt a Village campaign.

When I left the school, these students took that belief and turned it into action, working to fundraise for the construction of a school. In just three weeks, they raised almost $6,000, and are well on their way to building a school for children in Sierra Leone! St. Christopher’s actions were profiled in the newspaper shortly after my visit – check it out in the “Youth in the Media” section of this newsletter.

This is just one example of the amazing efforts of so many youth in schools that are participating in the exciting Adopt a Village Campaign. If you are interested in helping to Adopt a Village by building a school, supporting alternative income projects, or implementing clean water programs, contact our Youth Programming Team or visit the “campaigns” section of the Youth Zone to register and receive an amazing campaign kit! 

Peace!

Jason Apostolopoulos
jason@freethechildren.com
Outreach Coordinator

Craig Kielburger nominated for the World Children’s Prize!

Hey there world movers and shakers,

Free The Children’s founder, Craig Kielburger has been nominated for The World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC)!

Each year, three finalists from all corners of the globe are selected for two unique prizes (The Global Friends Prize and World Children’s Prize) in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the defense of children’s rights.

Craig has been nominated this year because of his ten-year battle to free children from poverty, exploitation and the idea that they are powerless to make a difference in the world. 

Through the voices and actions of young people since 1995, Free The Childrenhas built over 400 schools which provide education to 35,000 children daily, shipped 200,000 school and health kits to children in need and has directly provided heath care services to over 500,000 people in 40 countries by building health care centres and distributing essential medical supplies. These accomplishments truly are a testament that young people can make lasting differences in the lives of their peers.

What is so special about the awards is that they belong to YOU and all other youth who are invited to vote for the recipient of the Global Friends Award, commonly nicknamed the “Children’s Nobel Prize.” Last year over 12,000 schools with eight million students in 80 countries were registered to cast their ballots. This year, even more are anticipated to exercise their voting right.

Check out www.childrensworld.org to find out how your school can sign up as a Global Friend and participate in the world’s largest annual forum on children’s rights. Here you can browse though interactive webpages to learn how Craig Kielburger is taking action and demanding respect for children’s rights. The journey begins with “traveling” to Ecuador, India and Sierra Leone to “meet” the youth that have been impacted through Craig’s work and your efforts, http://www.childrensworld.org/page.html?pid=810.

The award winners are announced on April 18th 2006, so register today and make your voice heard along with millions of other young people who are taking part in this exciting opportunity.

Past recipients of the award include Nelson Mandala, Olara Otunnu, former UN Under Secretary-General as well as Iqbal Masih, who was Craig’s inspiration. It was the story of Iqbal’s heroic tale that first inspired Craig to take a stand for the rights of children and lead to the founding of Free The Children.