Children celebrating at an orphanage in the Klong Toey slums of Thailand.
No one celebrates like children living in the Klong Toey slums of Thailand.
In this place—one of the country’s biggest slums—we know a remarkable group of street children. Many of these children have never met their parents. Most don’t know when they were born. So once a year, one lucky kid picks a day to celebrate "everybody's birthday."
The party is organized by the kids themselves—kids who can't afford shoes of their own but shine other people's shoes. Saving pennies one by one, the kids are able to buy simple things, like watermelon, for their celebration.
At the party there is dancing and singing, laughing and storytelling. The children play games, sing songs and feast on specialties donated by local people. Although the many presents we usually find at North American parties are absent, the joy in the air on this very special birthday is difficult to match.
These are the kids who have inspired Free The Children to 'celebrate for change'!
The new Celebrate for Change campaign is a chance for young people to raise awareness and funds for children and their communities in rural areas of the five countries in which Free The Children carries out development work: Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. This campaign encourages youth to celebrate their own efforts to change the world while celebrating the birthdays of children everywhere!
Samuel, 9, of Mississauga, Ontario, decided to make his birthday a ‘celebration for change’! Samuel and his friends fundraised enough for seven goats for poor families.
The campaign is in honour of "invisible" children. Like the street kids in Klong Toey, millions of children around the world don't know when they were born; some don't even know their ages. UNICEF calls these children "invisible," highlighting their lack of rights in the 2005 State of the World's Children report.
Invisible children are among the 50 million children born each year who are not registered at birth, meaning they never officially exist. Governments can easily ignore or overlook these children, especially when they're engaged in dangerous child labour or fall into the hands of people who sell them into slavery or the sex industry.
Together, we must ensure that the rights of all children are protected. We invite you to gather your friends and continue to make a difference by 'celebrating for change'!
Learn more about Celebrate for Change
Sign up to receive a special gift on your birthday
Read the State of the World Children’s Report
